Tom @ The Stand

Before I sat up late to watch crime thrillers I was at The Stand in Edinburgh. I never seem to do much preparation for these gigs anymore, mainly cos I’m trotting out the same material.

I was on first, which seems to be a permanent spot for me at these gigs. I think that’s 3 times in a row I’ve kicked the night off. I don’t mind though it’s a good spot to be if you can do well.

And it did go pretty well. The audience went for it from the off and I actually enjoyed myself on stage. In fact it’s a shame that I wasn’t on for longer. They were a nice crowd and seemed to enjoy pretty much everyone that was on.

Aaron Barshack ‘The Comedy Terrorist’ was also on the bill. You may remember him for this incident a few years ago. Or maybe even from this one. He finished the evening’s first section with a routine based mainly around religion and the Middle East.

With a long beard, even longer hair and white robes, he’s still a passable young Osama bin Laden. His stagecraft and microphone technique may have been the worst I’ve ever seen. Frequently he wasn’t even speaking into the mic. He also brought with him a 5 foot tall shepherds crook that he leaned against the back of the stage. It repeatedly fell to the floor. It was never apparent why he brought it with him.

Although he had but two good jokes, he managed to over-run by 5 minutes, with the tech guy furiously flashing the light at him, while the compere stood to the side of the stage.

Some folk in comedy are oddballs who are actually turn out to be geniuses, some folk in comedy are oddballs who turn out to be just oddballs.

The shepherd’s crook reminds me of when I went to see Emo Phillips at the King’s Theatre in 1990. To the stage he brought with him a trombone in its case. Over the course of his set he assembled all the pieces together. ‘He’s going to play it now’ I thought. He didn’t, slowly he took it all apart again, while still continuing with his act. Once it was back in several pieces he began to juggle them all.

That was a really nice trick, during one of the best comedy performances I’ve ever seen. A daft lad in a white robe continually picking up a shepherds crook that had fallen to the floor, while muttering to himself, was a mere distraction while I drank my pint.

I left the night early in order to get the 10pm bus, but it seemed like a good night overall. I don’t know if I’ll jump into doing it again for a while though. I should probably go away and write some more stuff, before I have another stab at it.