Opening for Dara O'Briain
Axeman Jim's post reminded me of this one.

My username is derived from a little project which I share with two of my friends. The Supreme Crow was born as a vehicle for comedy songs. I'm aware that comedy songs can get a very mixed reaction, but we seemed to enjoy what we were writing, even if most of it was drunken bollocks. I became the figurehead of said Supreme Crow, because I was the mug who played the guitar and could just about sing them, (I was also the only one daft enough to perform them in front of an audience) and that is why I use the name to this day.

Anyhoo, I did a couple of gigs under this assumed name, and both went rather well. Bored over one long summer holiday, I started to sniff around for more gigs, and got a slot at a singer-songwriter evening in my home town. (I should point out that we didn't have enough faith in the material to try it at a proper comedy night)

It went down a storm, even if I say so myself. After 90 minutes of serious singer-songwriter stuff, I took to the stage and sent up the whole genre with songs about pelicans, bagders, beer, nudity and other such popular topics. The guy who ran the place liked it so much he invited me back a couple of times.

Then, after a while, I got an e-mail from him which nearly caused me to crap myself. He also ran a comedy night at this place, and was restarting the season with none other than Dara O'Briain, plus a few other semi-pro comedians. His request?
"My MC's main concern is that people don't start coming in until after the first act has started. I thought it might be good to have singer on the stage as the doors open, just to get people to come in. Would you like to do a half-hour set for this?"

Of course, I jumped at the chance. And my two co-writers came along with me. The room was packed. Riding high on the success of the singer-songwriter-night gigs, and with the notion that I was, essentially, opening for Dara O'Briain, I was so excited I could have soiled myself a second time.

So I started playing. And this was where the disappointment began. At the previous gigs, people had been laughing quite willingly by the end of the first song. But not this night. The room was almost divided into two - one side would occasionally chuckle at the odd satirical reference. The other side sat and glared at me in stony silence. Unfortunately, the latter were sat closer to the stage.

I dragged my sorry arse off that stage half an hour later and went straight to the bar. There has not been a public performance of The Supreme Crow since.

Apologies for lack of funny and particularly for length, but even my acoustic guitar could not conceal the shrivelling penis of my shame.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 26 Jun 2008, 15:38, 3 replies)

Bad Gig
The thing is, you see, that ALL would-be comedians go through this. Especially if you're opening for a name, because this brings in a lot of punters who can't give a shit about supporting acts, and won't even give them a chance.

I've had the same reaction from audiences, and it was only because another comedian told me "Ignore this shower of bastards, you've got something worth working on, everyone goes through this" that I have kept going.

Most comedians aren't there because they are talented, it's because they got back onstage and weathered the indifference until someone realised they had talent.

So don't let the bastards grind you down.
( Stevedix http://www.stevedix.de/blog, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 12:54, closed)

Yeah
You gotta get back on it! As he said..

Illegitimi non carborundum!
(AndyC4m Eject Eject [><], Tue 1 Jul 2008, 16:41, closed)

Cheers guys,
It's nice to get some positive feedback on this one, and, of course, you're both right: in theory , it's worth giving it another try (though you might beg to differ if you heard it, but who knows...)
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 2 Jul 2008, 21:17, closed)