The Wrong Show is an independent and alternative comedy night in Leeds. This is our blog. Here you will find comedy reviews, features, and interviews. We were formally known as HOWL. First Wednesday of the Month, The Fenton, Leeds.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
SO YOU THINK THAT’S ACCEPTABLE?
This is a post by Callum Scott that I have taken from his blog. During the Edinburgh Comedy Festival Callum performed at the (awfully named) So, You Think You’re Funny? Competition (I added the comma to apply accurate tone to the name of the competition). Callum is a very funny comedian that we all love here at HOWL, and when he received feedback from the judges they decided they would raise issues with his sexuality. I don’t think this is right, and so I thought I would share his story.
Taken from his blog:
Right. Here’s the difficult blog. I’m going to do my best to explain this, and see both sides. Not really! I’m going to be really difficult and unprofessional. Yay!
So, the 6th August saw my eagerly awaited So You Think You’re Funny Semifinal. I really enjoyed the gig. I had a shaky start, but the rest was brilliant, and playing to a room that size was fucking brilliant. All the acts were good, and I didn’t even care that I didn’t get through to the final. The gig itself I couldn’t fault, and I entered the Gilded Balloon bar with a spring in my step and a song in my heart. Although it would later turn out that that song was a morose minor key version of YMCA by the Village People.
Something I found really interesting and beneficial about SYTYF was that we could get feedback from the judges . I like getting feedback, and I felt I’d get a useful perspective on how to improve, and how I was currently getting on. But I was told the same thing independently by three very important people in comedy, and it unsettled me a bit, I guess. I was told that I should open with my gay joke, and make more of the fact that I’m gay. My sexuality was being talked about as a selling point, and I felt pretty shit about it. One of the judges even used the toxic phrase “I had no idea until you mentioned”, which if you didn’t know, is HOW GAY WORKS. Not OK. It really surprised me that the feedback would have a message that I viewed (rightly or wrongly) as quite regressive.
After the feedback debacle, I sat in the bar and considered my future. My options seemed to be to write a big stupid gay set, or to remove all gay jokes from my set to avoid accusations of hypocrisy. This was not how I wanted to feel after the biggest gig of my life. I felt like I’d never get anywhere unless I changed my act to suit the way that people in ‘the industry’ apparently felt. I couldn’t help thinking that the fact that in the set I performed, the gay joke was also the least ‘alternative’ (another argument for another day), was also relevant. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to consider that I even had any integrity, let alone whether or not to ignore it.
And then, something happened. Who should walk into the Gilded Balloon Bar but Andrew O’Neill, possibly the most ‘alternative’ comedian working in the UK (not getting drawn into it).
He does well. He does well at fucking Jongleurs. Fuck dumbing down.
I’ve written some gay jokes that I like, and want to perform, about being stereotyped, and about how “I had no idea until you mentioned” is, repeat, NOT OK. I even got told after a gig that it was ‘really important that I’m talking about what I’m talking about’ (it’s not). But seriously, it’s 2012. What a tedious and outdated issue to have to talk about.
You can read more, over on Callum’s blog. You can even follow him on Twitter: @callumformetal
Mitch Hedberg - Scary Situation
I’m in Seattle to do a private party. A potentially scary situation. The money is good, but who knows if there will be a microphone. Most likely there’ll be one guy I can’t make fun of. He’ll also be the person everybody looks at to see if he’s laughing. I bet he only laughs occassionally. He has a position to uphold. How can you laugh at everything and still be a leader? The Dali Lama seems to laugh a lot but we are about as west as you can get. The show starts at midnight. A very cool start time if you ask me. But I have to judge a drink making contest first. The private party is for a bunch of bartenders. Judging means I have to arrive early. And mingle, more or less. Not my style. Whenever I arrive to a club early it’s because there’s a greenroom I can hide out in. Mingling means I’ll be known as the comedian before I hit the stage (if there is one). People will be expecting me to be funny already. Funny already. A test I’ve failed many times.
“Hey, there’s the comedian. He doesn’t seem funny.” No shit. Because I’m trippin’ out, man. Here you are surrounded by those you know well. And here I am, fish outta water struggling to breathe. Tell you what…you be funny now. I’ll be quiet. A quiet guy is not necessarily unfunny. Think of Charlie Chaplin. The space shuttle soars through space. But most of the time it’s parked. Maybe on a launch pad. It is still the space shuttle. You can’t dis it because it’s resting. I’m on my launch pad. Soon the countdown will begin. I love funny people. I was funny in social situations. Still am. But when I turned that into my job, I eased off it in everyday situations. Tonight I’ll go onstage and make people laugh for 45 minutes. And I bet the funniest person you know, if you added up the amount of time in one day that they had people cracking up still wouldn’t add up to 45 minutes. “He doesn’t seem funny.” Fuck off.
THOM MILSON: I've Only Ever Been Considered Cool Twice
I gave up on being a “cool dude” a long time ago. Somebody who spent most of their school years absorbing video games and Buffy was never going to be “cool”. I think I might have been considered cool twice, and both times I was either considered dead, or soon to be dead.
The first time, was for…
Read the full post over at Thom’s Blog
HOWL #1
Last night HOWL officially kicked off, and what an awesome night it was. We had a nice full house, and the cool sound of Jazz. Peter Marshall did a fantastic job warming the crowd up, on what was a chilly, chilly evening. He kept the crowd at bay with charm, and extremely effective wit. He was able to create a great relationship with the crowd, that grew stronger, and stronger as the night went on. Literally a MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Eddie French was first up, and took to the stage like a bad boy Clark Kent. Eddie set the bar for the night with cool confidence and sharp, precise wit. Couple that with an array of spot-on impressions and his ability to become the envy of every smoker in the room, and the night was off to a flying start.
Enter the surreal and amazing darkness that is Simon Gutherless. Simon has the ability to make the audience feel comfortable with the uncomfortable in the best way possible: sharp one-liners that explore the darkness of the human soul through a demeanor of charm. The only comedian we’re aware of that brings a shovel, and rubber gloves for his opening. Fantastic. Thom Milson is me, and I feel weird writing about myself. I think I did okay: people laughed.
Rich Austin is not the million dollar man, but his performance was worth a million dollars. A family man in the truest sense, Rich is not afraid to talk about the sinister fantasies of fatherhood that many are afraid to admit. Imaginary friends, Horse murder, and Venn Diagrams, make Rich Austin, and infectious and highly entertaining comedian. Si Finnigan then graced the stage with his presence, kicking off with some left-field moralistic tales and quips. To the point and extremely effective, Si was loved by the crowd.
Michael Sterrett is hilariously honest, and lovingly perverted. He says it exactly like it is. To see a comedian open up this personally is a treat, at Howl, Michael was just that. I can’t watch Apocalypse Now Redux again without thinking of Michael. Jed Salisbury has a habit of being the funniest man on the stage. Energetic and Hilarious, he was the perfect way to end the night. If you get chance you should see him (as well as the other acts here) you will not be disappointed.
Next month we will be bring you the same high quality, and awesomeness. If you want to come down, we’ll see you on Thursday 8th March, Bar Santiago, Leeds, 8pm.
