MY TWO FAVOURITE UK GIGS EVER

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

A lot of my blogs of the last year or so have talked about hell gigs in both US and UK, but it should be noted that there were plenty of wonderful gigs on this side of the pond, or else I might have headed back to US a good ten years ago. There were many one-offs that were exciting by a combination of good money and/or fantastic audience response, but the two venues that I think of with the most reverence were ones I worked multiple times and each time I hated leaving the stage, even after one or two encores. Both rooms still exist with comedy nights, happily surviving the pandemic, and both rooms were and are primarily live music venues.

The first one was The Empire Room in Belfast, which would manage to fit about 250 people in a room with a seating capacity of maybe 150. The shows were on Monday, and they paid airfare from London as well as providing lodging. Even though it was a Monday night gig, the club was always jam packed, so they could afford the travel and lodging. Also, those without seats didn’t seem to mind standing for 2-3 hours. They would get quite drunk, but it was the type of drunk that was still orderly, and their energy went in a positive way towards the performers.

One of the interesting things was how the crowds tended to be a bit cold to English acts, which I felt was unfair. It had only been a few years since The Troubles had been settled, though I didn’t know enough about it to determine whether that played any part in the animosity. For me, an American performing during the time when George W was president, there was a built-in advantage. What tended to work for me in all of UK, apart from my knowledge of so much music that I could keep the Stump The Band segment going for better than half the set, was the idea of an American mocking his own country, which let’s face it, the country deserved. It made the Brits feel better about where they were in the world, though there were a couple times I dealt with audience members that thought Bush was a great president. (In this respect, I’m a bit relieved I didn’t do that many gigs during the Trump years. I met Brits in the past few years who liked Orange Anus, and was not particularly kind to them.) As for The Empire, I did the venue a total of five times, and the last time I did it, in December 2011, was sadly the only time I didn’t get an encore.

The other great venue was clear on the other side of UK, The Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth. My first time was just over 20 years ago today, on a Friday night, and I was doubling up that night, first doing an early spot at Jongleurs, then cabbing it over to Wedgewood to close the show. Again it was a case of the American/musician having the advantage over the English monologists. I got two encores that night, plus people bought me drinks, then offered to pay for my cab back to the Holiday Inn I was staying at. I declined, as I was paid in cash for the gig and could afford to book my own cab.

The second time I worked it, two years later, I was working in the middle section, with the closer being someone I’d had issues with previously. I had another great set, and probably would have gotten an encore if I had been closing. I also had been asked a couple days earlier by the bookers if I minded driving this same guy from London and back, and I said I’d be ok with it if only he and I got along. They didn’t press the point any further, and he got a ride with the emcee. Before I left to drive back home, I had what I thought was a friendly chat with him. Turns out he’d worked in San Francisco, and knew some of the big name comics from there. So I thought all was well and drove home.

A year later I was working it my third and final time, back to closing. The manager of the venue took me aside and asked me if I’d heard what happened after I left the club the previous year. I said no, but he said he wished I’d stuck around. Turns out the closer that night did a complete betrayal of me, entering the stage and proclaiming “I’m not American and I don’t have a guitar. I just do straight comedy!” Someone in the audience shouted out “Hey we LIKED that guy!” and a few other audience members seconded the emotion. His reaction was to say “Well I guess you’re not going to like me,” and they agreed with him, apparently, because he walked after a few rather uncomfortable minutes. I had another great set that third time round, and drove home feeling triumphant on more than one level. As a post script to all that, that same comic and I met in a non-comedy situation six years ago, and had a friendly reunion, so the hatchet is buried.

Maybe it was because they were music venues was why I did so well there, but it’s better not to over-analyse. As I said earlier, both rooms are still functioning as full time music venues with one night of the week devoted to comedy. The only change is that The Empire has its comedy night on Tuesdays. Then there’s that little detail of me just being too doggone old to make a trek outside of London to do those types of gigs. Not that I’m completely retired from comedy either. I have a gig in Camden, London, on October 7, just 33 days shy of my 72nd birthday!

September 25th, 2022



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