Comedy Store~

        (Comedy store entrance!!)

This weekend had been on whirlwind of a time, with flitting between various shows (including Sweeney Todd, which I shall tell you more about some other time) and rehearsing for my own, however I have made it through to Monday now so all is (almost) back to normal :) 

The Comedy Store, Deansgate, for those who don't know, is a wonderful event where a lot of comedy is performed, but not just for the already skilled! Every first Sunday of each month, the Comedy Store hosts an event known as 'King Gong' where comedians of all ages, experience and talent can come and try out their routines to the audience for practice. This event is not as friendly as it sounds, however. The audience are split into three and one person from each section is given a red card to hold. The audience are allowed to (and even encouraged to) heckle at performers and performances they dislike. When the Gong Master and host (Mick Ferry) sees all the red cards up, he will hit the gong, indicating that that will be the end for that comedians performance. The aim of the night is for all comedians/competitors to try and last 5 minutes on stage. The winner receives a lovely £50, as well as the opportunity to perform a whole routine at the comedy store. 

In my opinion, this is possibly one of the hardest comedy shows to do, as nobody particularly likes being heckled and as a just-starting comedian, it can be quite a demoralising experience. However, I believe that it also provides a useful insight into the world of comedy! It provides you with useful information as to what material works and what doesn't very very quickly. It will also help you develop a very tough skin, which is quite essential in any sort of performance experience, as well as being a simy brilliant platform for anyone who does manage to last the entire 5 minutes! 

I attended this event as my friend was performing. It was his third time at this particular event and only his fifth performance overall. I have seen all his performances at the Comedy Store so far and all I can say is that the amount of improvement he has made, not just in the quality of jokes (from what I've heard so far that is) but also in his physical presence and overall confidence is simply overwhelming! Unfortunately he didn't make it through the entire five minutes, however the audience were more than slightly rowdy by this point, however I still think he did amazingly well and am very proud of him! 

Having done a tiny bit of clowning training, I know how hard it is to go onto a stage and try and make people laugh. Different from acting a comedy role, it is vital that you get the audience's interest, if not approval, within the first few seconds. Also, I think it's possibly a bigger blow on the performer if you are not successful as with comedians, it is you standing on stage, telling jokes that you have made to a room full of strangers. So I really do have a lot of respect for people who are interested in becoming comedians. 

Finally I just wanted to say a HUGE well done to everyone who took part and an even bigger congratulations to the winner! For more information at the event, please visit this link

And until next time- Tchüss!

Xxx