It's a win
I won the Comedy In Your Eye Worst Chat-up Lines competition, where you had to submit a video of your worst chat-up line (here’s my entry in case you missed it). Thanks to everyone who voted for me on Instagram!
The final result was determined by a clap-off at the Comedy In Your Eye night. They showed the final three entries to the audience using a projector. After they played my clip, I stood up and said “I just want to make it clear that woman is an actor. I’m not a sex case.” (Thanks to Carly Lindon-Forrester who totally nailed it).
Here is a video of the clap-off:
I’ve also put up a video of outtakes from filming the clip (paid subscribers only, but don’t forget it’s only £3.50 to subscribe and you get access to a dizzying and ever-growing array of premium content).
As the winner, I get to do a 10 minute spot at Comedy In Your Eye on 20th April (so that’s a date for your diary, keep an eye on this newsletter for details closer to the time).
I’m working on editing a much longer, unrelated video sketch thing which I filmed on Friday. Paid subscribers will get early access to the rough cut.
Gig dates where you can see me on stage
I’ve got a shitload of gigs coming up.
Monday February 21st 7:30pm - Double Bubble, Dalston
Fun format where the audience gets to vote for which act is best.
Free, reserve your seat here:
https://dice.fm/event/ox5pg-double-bubble-comedy-21st-feb-the-victoria-london-tickets
The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Road, London E8 3AS
Tuesday February 22nd 7:30pm - Dark Delights, G&B, Kings Cross
A special dark comedy night where I will be going way over the line.
This is a bringer - I have a couple of people planning to come but do let me know if you are interested.
https://gab-comedy.co.uk/event/gbs-dark-delights/
Star of Kings, 126 York Way, London N1 0AX
Wednesday February 23rd - Sam Rhodes Comedy Explosion, South London
This is not in the Star of Kings as I mistakenly put in a previous newsletter. All I know at the moment is that it’s in South London.
Thursday February 24th 8pm (doors 7pm) - Monkey Business, Camden
Upstairs room above a nice cocktail bar.
Tickets £7.50 from: http://www.monkeybusinesscomedyclub.co.uk/content/thur-24-feb-new-act-new-material-fun-fun-night
CHANGED VENUE:
Heroica Live, 37 Chalk Farm Road NW1 7AJ
Tuesday March 1st 8pm - Comedy Lab UK, Hackney
Pay what you like, reserve a seat at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/comedy-lab-uk-tickets-230743398717
People's Park Tavern, 360 Victoria Park Road, London E9 7BT
Tuesday March 8th 7:30pm (doors 7pm) - Love Comedy, Old Street
Free tickets from https://www.designmynight.com/london/bars/shoreditch/loves-company/love-comedy-club-with-happy-hour-deals
Loves Company, Unit 1, Imperial Hall, 104-122 City Rd, London EC1V 2NR
Thursday March 10th 8pm (doors 7:30pm) - Quintessential Comedy, Camden
This is a bringer which means I must bring an audience member with me to go on. So let me know if you fancy this one. The pub has a great selection of Belgian beers if you’re into that kind of thing.
https://www.facebook.com/events/249001987390534
Quinn’s, 65 Kentish Town Road, London, NW1 8NY, United Kingdom
Mrs Maisel S01E01 review
As part of a half-formed plan to write an essay about fictional depictions of stand-up comedy, I watched and enjoyed the first episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
It’s set in the golden 1950s era of American stand-up: the days when as an aspiring comic with a day job, you had a beautiful, funny Jewish wife to bring you a change of clothes to the office and bribe promoters with her home-made brisket and take notes on which of your jokes got the biggest laughs.
Except it turns out that you’re not the main character at all, because you’re a hack who is just doing Bob Newhart’s act and you leave your lovely wife for your bimbo secretary. It’s your beautiful, funny wife who is destined to be a comic.
I really liked the semi-plausible depiction of Midge Maisel drunkenly doing her first stand-up set; the audience don’t understand what she’s talking about at first, then she manages to be funny by talking about what’s happening in the room, and then wins them over by talking about her life.
I was totally on her side and loving the show, and then the scriptwriter decided to have her talk about how hard she worked to keep in shape for her husband and then get out her big perfect tits, which leads to her being immediately arrested.
The tyranny of beauty standards is obviously going to be a theme in the show (Midge has to go to bed late and stay up early so her husband never sees her without makeup, and measures herself every day to make sure she’s the same size as she was in college), but that scene seemed kind of misjudged and demeaning. Why does Rachel Brosnahan (the actor who plays Midge) have to get out her big perfect tits to get the character in trouble and advance the plot? Wouldn’t it make more sense for her character to get in trouble for saying something ‘obscene’ by the standards of the time? It’s established in the very first scene that she has a penchant for shocking jokes. Lenny Bruce is literally a character in the show. If you’re going to use your period-set show to comment on the pressure for female entertainers to be hot as well as talented, something that I’m sure persists today, is it actually helping anything to make the beautiful actress you cast in your lead role demonstrate that not only is she beautiful and charming, but she also has big perfect tits as well?
Not that I object to seeing Rachel Brosnahan’s fat naturals. It just felt weird that the show was pandering to me like that. I should have to look them up on Celebrity Nudity Database afterwards, and feel an appropriate amount of shame for doing so.
Also, it was cool to see that they cast Gilbert Gottfried as a compere. I can’t tell if they digitally deaged him or he just isn’t aging. For a moment, I thought maybe he really was a comic in 1958, but it turns out he would have been 3 years old at the time.
Recommendations
Neil Scott wrote a good piece about cognitive decoupling and people getting outraged at jokes. I’m definitely a high-decoupling personality.
Empire magazine did a great interview about the making of Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, which you can listen to as a podcast.
I finally got round to seeing Ghostbusters Afterlife. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It relies way too heavily on nostalgia and I really did not like the digital necromancy at the end, but at least it has an actual script with some well-written lines, instead of a series of awkward improv skits. At least it changed up the setting and plot a little. At least it was made by people who actually liked the original Ghostbusters, whereas the 2016 Lady Ghostbusters seemed to hate the original movie, fans of the original movie, and men in general, while lazily regurgitating 90% of the original plot at half the pace.
A lady Ghostbuster shooting a giant version of the original film’s logo in the dick. This actually happens in the 2016 film, presumably because of what Freud termed ‘penis envy’. If you haven’t read it yet, check out the novel Hope: A Tragedy.
Last minute recommendation for tonight
I’m going to see Yellow Christmas at Angel Comedy tonight at 8pm, unless I’m too tired. This isn’t something that I made up, they decided to call a showcase of Asian comics (that was delayed from the festive period) “Yellow Xmas”. I would have gone with “Yellow Snow”.
Glad you enjoyed it and congratulations on the win!