Stand-up and be counted - Comedy Open Mic Night

Written by Simon Golding Monday, 14 February 2011

One of the unique events of this year's music and arts festival gives you the chance to have a bash at stand-up comedy. It will take the shape of an open mic night in one of the many venues in town. There will be support available to develop or polish a short routine that hopefully you will feel comfortable with. We are aiming to fill spots of 5 minute from anyone from the rusty stand-upper to the first-timer at the mic.

When I was a fledging writer and trainee journalist I turned my hand to stand-up comedy. Whether it was due to weak material or an even weaker delivery I managed to die every night I stood up to do my act. My biggest event was the Midland Cricket Conference in front of hundreds of people – a newspaper described my act… 'Mr Golding, with his Brummie accent, was like a young Frank Skinner – but with out the laughs!' Fair play I suppose and for once the critical press had got it dead right.

I would have given up there and then but for an incredible epiphany moment. Following me on the bill that night was a magnificent orator and comedian in the shape of The Very Reverend Provost Lawrence Jackson. Lawrence was a giant on the after-dinner circuit and was a high profile figure in The Grand Order of Water Rats. He knew personally many of the great stand-ups of our era and had entertained such luminaries the likes of Tommy Cooper, Dean Martin and Bob Hope. On that fateful day at the cricket conference as I sat down to my usual polite applause, usually about one in five were polite – others just sat there, The Very Reverend Provost Lawrence Jackson stood up and spoke for a few minutes on my bravery as a gladiator of comedy. He went on to explain that all the top comedians had died, many times, but they kept coming back, honing their art and improving their delivery. I ended up getting a standing ovation, my first and last, but I felt ten foot high that night. I became good friends with Lawrence until his sad death in 2002.

I would like to say I never looked back from that moment, but that was not the case. I did give up, mainly to concentrate on my writing career. But I will never forget that feeling of pure adrenalin and fear waiting to go on. That desperate few minutes when I lost all confidence in my material and delivery. It is the closest I ever got to an Extreme Sport! It will remain one of the most exhilarating and terrifying experiences of my life and one I will never forget.

Maybe this open mic night is a good time for me to get back in the saddle? Maybe the young Frank Skinner without the laughs should give it just one more go? If I do, the words of  The Very Reverend Provost Lawrence Jackson will ring in my ears - that all the top comedians had died perfecting their art; Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper, Bob Hope and maybe even Frank Skinner?

So come on and stand-up and be counted! Anyone interested in taking part  or even helping us with this event please get in touch.

(Photo used under Creative Commons license from Hardluck Hotel)