How do you spell “hungry horse” in 4 letters?
M T G G
Now you know why I’m not a comedian, but when my Nan told me that joke I thought it was very funny. Well, actually, she had to explain that another name for horse was gee-gee which is why I remembered it so I guess I didn’t find it funny.
Still, the reason for the bad joke was a weekend or two ago Rhonda and I went to London for the evening to see a comedy show. It began as a west end musical but the phone line of the show said they’d sold out for every Saturday. Then I remembered my friend Richard. I’ve known Richard for many years, first as a talented script writer, more recently as an Actor and Comidian. True, I’d seen more of him on TV in recent years than face to face but I’d never seen his comedy. From his myspace page I found out he was going to be at a comedy club that same weekend so I booked to go and see him. All of this was a bit of a surprise to Rhonda, this was a romantic weekend away complete with posh hotel. Best of all, I discovered comedy clubs are cheaper than west end shows.
This particular gig was organised by the Laughing Horse comedy club “Upstairs at the Old Goat Tavern” not far off… was it Oxford Street? I’m terrible with London places. Anyway, the upstairs room was about 8m long by 4m wide and comfortably seated all 20 or so of the audience. Intimate? Yes, giving me the feeling it would be very good or very bad.
It turned out to be very good. Richard told me afterwards that this sort of venue is great for testing out material before using it in bigger clubs. There were about 8 performers and a compare who was funny in his own right. I felt that the performances were lined up in order of ability, best last. Although, that may be simply the audience had warmed up more as the evening went on. Come to think of it, there may be a correlation between the amount of Ale drunk and how funny I remember people being.
Best of all, Richard was funny. When I booked I hadn’t considered the possibility of him being rubbish and then having to be honest with him afterwards. Rhonda enjoyed it too, we’ll definately go again.