Day 1: Friday 19th August 2022

Day one. I'd got an early night and woke up early- too early. Somehow managed to get back to sleep. I felt sick and tearful the whole morning, so I knew the show would be good.

My venue is great! And cos I'm the first on I can set up really early before I flyer, which rules. I got into town for 10 and had my venue ready by 10:30ish, postered the venue and did some flyering beforehand. Really set me at ease on that front.

My room, set up for the first time.

The show was lovely, I had 11 in and they were all great. Super generous from the first gag in the trigger warning announcement, as soon as I heard that all the nervousness transmuted into excitement and I giggled along with them. I knew 2 of the audience, one of whom had bought along a third. I recognised a couple as recommended by Andrew O'Neill but afterwards, a couple said they'd seen me in the brochure and liked the look of it, which is nice to know that zero-effort advertising does work after all.

I did quite a lot of ad-libbing up front at the top of the show which went well, but then I rushed through it because I was so worried about running over. I came in at approx 45-50 mins, so actually, I'm fine. Tomorrow the goal is to slow down, relax, and enjoy a little more ad-libbing as I go. I did a lot of fat trimming on this show, leaving in only the most thematic and funniest bits. Now I have more room to expand back out and play each day while having a solid base to come back to which seems like a damn good way to spend a 10-day run.

I had to look at my notes twice which has been bugging me. I keep telling myself it's better to do a good, intact show with notes than a woolly one without, but also I am here to present on a global stage. I should at least get it all learnt. And it is learnt, it's just that running orders have always been a problem for me. In the original staging of the show, the props and characters were clockwise around the stage, so I always knew where I was. I think I'm going to alter the staging to reflect this, but the front row is literally on my toes, they really cram in the chairs there that's for sure. I might take away the front row and give myself more room tomorrow unless I get a full house in which case that absolutely fucks it. Maybe this is a mid-week experiment.

Took 3 photos of my immediate pre-show. One where I look cool, one where I am doing a big cheesy grin, hoping to reassure myself, and one where I'm blatantly absolutely shitting it.

I had drinks after the show with my friends Eoghan, Tom Rostron and his friend. Lunch with Eoghan and then we saw A World Just Like Our Own, But... by John-Luke Roberts and Nightmare Magic by David Alnwick. Both are great. Flyered a bit and then had dinner with friends. Now it's midnight and I have a headache from the 12 hours of intermittent drinking that doesn't seem much until you add it up. Annoyed at myself that I didn't flyer* more for tomorrow's show, but it's awkward without that urgency. Plus selling a show for tomorrow means it gets put in the pile. Eh, we'll see.

Gonna blitz through a running order but it's probably best I sleep now and get in the right headspace for tomorrow. Got my show at midday and ACMS at midnight. Think I'm going to have a nap in the afternoon and do some flyering for the busy people.

*grammarly wants me to change this "typo" to 'flee' which, like, mood.