10/06/05 Testing Times

Oh dear, after some recent spectacular highs, the good ship "HMS Comedy" has hit some decidedly choppy waters of late.
I was in Glasgow last night doing a gig at The State Bar. It was a heat of the long running "So You Think You're Funny Competition".
I'm not a big fan of competitions. Many of them are dodgy. There are often endless heats with people who've been previously knocked out making surprise re-appearances in later rounds, (like me next week in the Amused Moose heat in Perth). There are suspicions that agency influence has a hand in pre-determining winners etc. They are perceived as attractive money earners for promoters, as only the compere gets paid bla bla bla comedians get too pissed off when they do badly in them, and get too bigged up when they do well in them. One man's meat/poison and countless other anecdotes are all applicable...
I'm just doing them for the stage time and because I've got a show at the Fringe that I need to try out a lot of new material for.
All the comedians struggled last night with the audience. It was like playing to the crowd of Michael Jackson devotees who hang around outside the courthouse, shortly after he'd been found guilty and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. This is not an exaggeration. Very hard work out there.
We don't find out till next month who gets through to the semi-finals. Ho hum.
It was a strange environment. There were pockets of people supporting each act. You got the impression they'd decided only to laugh at "their" friend.
This is a shitty state of mind for a comedy space. You should go along to a comedy night to be entertained, not to show partisan support for one act. It's all bollocks really.
My mood darkened when I found out that the Fringe Programme have cocked up our entry and have our show starting at 9.55pm instead of 9.40pm.
This is going to cause an inordinate amount of hassle and warrants a claim for substantial compensation I'd say. grrrrrrrr.
To make matters worse, Jonathon Ross has been awarded an OBE for "services to broadcasting".
The world has gone mad.
In keeping with the appropriateness of Mr Ross's award, I expect Harold Shipman to receive a posthumous knighthood for "services to medicine".
I know my opinion on Mr Ross is not universally shared. Some normally sane and rational friends of mine really like him and think he's very funny.
Ah well, I'm sure Vlad the Impaler's children loved him as well, and that he was really a big softy behind that ruthless facade?
On a brighter note, I played golf with Mr Mat Clements, samba superstar, and proprietor of www.wherestheone.co.uk, on the hallowed turf of Dalmeny Estate Golf Club.
It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, a delightful sea breeze drifted in from the Firth of Forth. Glorious. On such a day, it seemed unimportant who actually won the match, as it was really just all about the pleasure of taking part. But it was me. I won.
2 and 1. (Just for the sake of completeness and documentation.) No triumphalism from me. Absolutely not...