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Not a natural EmCee
Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008
I had a weird night last night.
I was asked by Mark Freeland of BBC Head of comedy fame to perform at the BBC Comedy Presents gig in Soho. It?s a good idea that comes from their nightly shows in Edinburgh. Michelle Farr suggested that they keep the flame burning on a monthly basis in London, showcasing new talent and was given the go ahead. Mark asked me If I would emcee last night?s show because he wanted to bring a diverse package to the audience: Kojo, Shappi Khorsandi, a new sketch troupe called United colours of Comedy and a surrealist guy called Milton Jones. After some arsing about on my part ? mainly because I?d only just got back from Oz and was still feeling the lag ?we committed to last night?s show. Now there are good and bad things about working in Soho with the BBC: the good part is that, well, you?re in Soho so you?re not far from decent parking or edible food; the gig?s organised by the BBC so it should be good and run smoothly-with a good P.A. system and lights etc; the audience is mostly BBC executives and independent producer9s, so they?re not unused to going out on a night to see comedy. The Bad parts are: you?re performing in a strip club and don?t know if it?s safe to touch anything; it?s a tiny room ? I get freaked by tiny rooms and small audiences ?you can see their faces, brrrr. I like the anonymity of big rooms; if you forget something in a small room ?everyone knows about it cos they?re real close and can see your mind working ? in a big room it looks like you?re messing about; did I say you?re performing in a strip club- they have one dressing room- which is par for the course for tiny gigs. All the acts congregate in this one room and drink beers and eat the nibbles and chat and laugh ?and there?s no where to think about the show in peace and quiet?
Still, despite all that, and me being all over the place, I thought it was a good night. I thought Kojo was very strong and confident. He?s a natural performer who relates to the audience incredibly well, plus he looks good up there-got that youthful vitality?. bastard!
United Colours of Comedy went down pretty well; It?s hard for sketch troupe?s in a small venue ? there?s so many of you all trying to be funny in this little shoe box. They did well though so that?s all right. I think with sketches20?especially post League of Gentlemen and Little Britain, the big idea you?re either buying into or not buying into is whether you create a world where all your characters belong. You can go back to the kind of show I used to do which was sketches and stand up ?all unrelated, perfectly fine ? or try to create some kind of cohesive shape/playing field where all your characters keep popping up.
Shappi Khorsandi, the Anglo Iranian comedienne was next and she went down a storm. It?s only a matter of time, I think before she gets that comedy wildlife programme that she so desires! You go girl.
And finally Milton Jones, the master of the surreal one liner-operating in the style of Stephen Wright, you could say: he does stuff like, ?I watched Mary Pippins so much when I was a kid, I got this problem with my sight- I had Umdiddleiddleiddleumdiddle Eye.?
He
tore the place up and even managed to handle a drunken woman, who felt that it was time for her to be involved with the show?it was a masterful performance and a joy to watch.
As I found with the Rock With Laughter shows ? emceeing is a bastard to get right. You?re on all night and you have to make the evening flow. You have to be very generous and fluid when you?re the emcee. You can?t get paranoid ?I?ve been on too ma ny times ?they hate me now?; you?ve got to keep the evening rolling. I remember seeing Alexei Sayle at the Comic Strip back in the day, and his ace in the hole was that he had endless little bits and skits of material that he knew backwards/upsidedown/inside out ?that he could break out at any opportunity. Same with Ben Elton ?Ben had lots and lots of 2 minute, 3 minute, 1 minute, 5 minute segments of stand up that he could easily juggle to keep an evening at the Comic Strip or Comedy store moving; it?s what Emcee?s do. However, when you?re not an Emcee ? you get a bit used to doing your own show ?you don?t think in terms of one and two minute segments of stand up ?you operate by thinking about the whole show, all the time. I guess when I started I was obsessed with short sets because I was always doing them on TV; three minutes on New Faces or on the Golden shot or on Wednesday at eight or on the Ronnie Corbett show or whatever. I only ever did 12 minutes when I was on the Black and White Minstrel show, then graduated to 15 with Cannon and Ball. My life was in short bits and usually the same bit. The idea of generating lots of material that worked was a bit alien to me at that time. It was hard enough servicing the act that I had, never mind coming up with lots of little bits that could slot in and work f irst time. It wasn?t until I worked with Kim Fuller and David Mackellar that I realised that I had grown too dependant on old stuff and needed to start all over again with new material and it was a blessing.
Jasper Carrot told me that Emceeing is an art form and I think he?s right. I?m not sure it?s for me, because it demands a fragmented concentration and the memorising of lots of little bits of self contained segments /bits /schticks?. I don?t want to be an Emcee?
The very sad news over the weekend was that Geoffrey Perkins had died in a road accident.
Geoffrey was probably one of the nicest men in show business; a producer, writer, performer who worked with Douglas Adams on the radio version of Hitch Hiker?s guide to the Galaxy, Radioactive with Angus Deayton, and in the great migration to TV on shows such as Saturday Live, Father Ted, The Catherine Tate Show, Spitting Image and too many more to mention.
He was head of comedy at the BBC when I was working on Chef and I found him to be a good listener, with much common sense about why or why not a scene or sequence might not be ?just right yet?. He was a strict collaborator, who, although laid back, charming and funny ?was also a stickler for true comedy.
My condolences, of course, go out to his wife and family, who will miss him terribly.
God love you Geoffrey, you were a mensch.
Peace
Len
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