I feel like today has slightly got away with me. My girlfriend came up to visit and stay with me for the rest of the run and I spent most of the day excited about this.
A lot of that went into nervous energy before the show. Today was the first day since the start that I've felt sick/cry nervous. I think tiredness is also part of it. Yesterday I was totally exhausted and went home for a nap after my show, then ended up pulling a midnight gig because I knew I needed sleep. I've had late nights which have absolutely paid off promo-wise (one being ACMS and one being Dave's Comedian's Night Off where my agent got me a guest spot on Dark Room[!!!!!]), but now it's time to rest. But I didn't flyer on Tuesday at all, and I felt guilty and that fed in.
What I did do was get in early and go over the show for 45 minutes. It cut into my pre-show flyering, but flyering at 11am isn't as useful to me as it is for other timeslots. People aren't as about, if it's raining it's dead at that end of town. I have gotten more audience members (that I recognise) from the previous day flyering on the Mile or Niddry Street than hour-before flyering near my venue. This is great because it means I can be so much more flexible with my time. I really want to keep this slot/venue combo for next year, I've got really lucky with it.
I promised myself yesterday a slick show and it's pretty much what I did. I had 6 lovely people in, who were wonderful and generous. In particular, my friend Ben MacPherson enjoyed himself immensely- so I do have some fessing up to do here. Ben lost it at one of my jokes way more than the rest of the audience and it was wonderful, but I had to address it and I STOLE A JOKE. I said "alright Ben, I don't come to your shows and laugh", which is lifted wholesale from an interview with Jimmy Carr where he'd gone to see Nick Helm with his distinctive laugh, people noticed, and Nick Helm used that line on him. Never do this, but it was perfect for the moment so I've fessed up here. Phew. I feel better now, absolved.
I got a review from another comic, Mark Quinn, which was really complimentary- and the best thing is as well as tweeting it he posted it in the Comedian's Comedian Podcast Facebook group. ComComPod is a longform interview podcast with comedians discussing their craft- with focus on nuts and bolts and theory rather than being funny. It's been my bible, especially when writing She Festers- I joined the Insiders Club subscription to get some juicy Paul Foot details and never left. Having such a good review there, backed up with lovely comments from other people who saw me at ACMS and Wil Hodgson, will get me the best of the best audience: super comedy literate fans of the art form, not just weekend punters. I wouldn't trade this for a single broadsheet.
I MISSED 2 JOKES, ONE OF WHICH WAS STRUCTURALLY IMPORTANT, THE OTHER WAS VERY SILLY. But I still think this was my best one, the swatting I did beforehand made the beginning run a lot slower, it's just the ending.