Taking New Zealand By Storm......

Hi.

How are you? I hope you are well.

Firstly, let me congratulate you on making it along to another blog. Congratulations.

Crikey, what a HUUUUGE response I've had to my plea for more interaction. I've been absolutely overwhelmed by it all and I'm extremely grateful. Two comments. That's two thirds of my entire group of followers. I'm beside myself.

Don't take the sarcasm to heart because it does genuinely get me excited when I see I have a comment.

Right. Down to business.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to grab a spot at The Fringe Bar a couple of Mondays ago, when I was hopeful of getting a last minute gig arranged. But I went along nonetheless and had a jolly good time. I managed to spend quite a lot of money on alcohol, which in turn, made me enjoy the comedy all the more. Everybody wins. Except my bank balance.

However....drum roll please.....I did attend my pre-booked gig last Monday and have now officially performed stand up comedy in two different countries. Just not my own, yet.

I was a bit rushed to get to the gig as it was also my first day at a new job and getting back was a struggle. But I made it, checked in and saw I was on second. It was a lot more nervous than any other gig I had done for a number of reasons. Firstly because I was wildly underprepared to perform a brand new set. And secondly because it was the first time I had gone on stage without the Melbourne open mic-ers in the audience. At least with them there, I knew I'd get some sort of pity laughter if it went horribly. But no-one here knew me so if it went badly, it would just be me and the tumbleweed.

The girl who went on before me was a bit poo (it works two ways, I don't know them either so I don't need to be nice to them). This enstilled me with a bit more confidence because I knew I wouldn't be the worst person on that night.

My gig went pretty well I think. I managed to remember the whole set (just) and got quite a few laughs. There were some jokes that didn't get any laughs and I was faced with a brief wall of silence. But they were just the "Filler" jokes. The jokes in between jokes that are just supposed to keep the laughter ticking along. All in all I was pretty pleased with how it went. I think the new set has potential but needs a bit of work to strengthen it up a bit. Oh and if you are reading this and you are either Dil or Rob.......I'm seriously debating cutting the "Mum story" out of it all together because that was one of the bits that got tumbleweed. Or at least come up with a stronger punchline than "same".

That will make no sense to anyone other than those two people so just ignore it. Or nod and smile along politely as if you know what's going on.

There were six comedians on that night, and when I came off stage after being on second, I really felt that I was the best so far. That lasted until the next guy got on. I couldn't really hear what he was saying because the MC was telling me how he used to work as one of those human statue things that you see busking. But he seemed to get a lot of laughs. And the guy after him was awesome. Before he went on, he was telling me how he was a Christian and had only performed at religious festivals and I thought he was going to be gash. But he made me lol. In fact I lolled a couple of times. I was very pleasantly surprised. Although, I did find out later that night that half the audience were there to see him. But he was still my favourite of the night.

I don't know if it's the competitive side of me or what, but I always like to rank everyone who performed to see where I came. I didn't win on this occasion, but it was a biased audience so what can I do? I think with a bit of fine tuning and a bit more practice, I'd smash it.

I can now tick Wellington off the list of places I've gigged. I'm moving back to Auckland next Saturday for a new job during the Rugby World Cup so I'm hoping to be able to grab a few more gigs while I'm there. There are a couple of venues that do regular open mic nights so it shouldn't be too difficult to get one arranged.

If you have any ideas for a joke I could use, feel free to post them because it would be my honour to take credit for your ideas.

Oh and real quick before I go....I've just started writing the script for a comedy musical show that I've decided I want to perform somewhere like Edinburgh Fringe next year. Obviously I can't play any instruments so the "musical" side of it will be down to my closest friend Rory. But I really feel like it could be genious!

In the mean time, thanks for coming along on the ride.

And I'll catch you next time.

Sean