you can take that to the comedy bank

I've been out of the loop for few days. No bad thing as I found myself getting overly introspective and backwardly focused. Over it now.

Took the reigns and decided to get back onto the stand-up circuit. Called a mate who runs a club in north london. Got me a gig and stood up last night.

Deep joy!

Great to be back in front of a live audience.

My set was woefully out of date. My technique was rusty. The audience was sparse. But it was a GREAT experience.

I went through all the usual trauma beforehand. From blind terror. total self doubt and many 'what the hell was I thinking?' moments. You're never less funny than just before you go on. But as soon as I got on the stage it kicked in.

My aim last night was to hold their attention and entertain - laughter was a bonus. And indeed they did - sometimes.

I had taken a lot of older material and tried to update and augment it. Some of it still worked but a lot needs to be put out to grass. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to know beforehand which is which.

My writing has improved and is coming more easily which is lovely. All the ingredients were there. However, the only way to tell what works is to get up there and do it. It's like baking a cake. You can mix the raw ingredients any way you like but it's only when you subject it to the fire of the oven that you prove that it works. Some of my comedy souffles did indeed sink - but not all.

I still suffer from the classic actor-turned-standup problem of being over scripted and somewhat over characterised. Rather than just getting up their and dealing with whatever happens my instinct is to hide behind the script and impose myself on the situation.

Also I think I came over as somewhat overly aggresive. My current set does require some 'tude but aggression can also be a little cowardly - best form of defence and all that. I need to sit back a little.

The key to that is a greater breadth of material and gigs.

So, cake baked, it's inspired me to re-write the set, get writing in general and, more importantly, get gigging again. No bad thing.

You never know, I might even post a video of my first gig if I'm feeling sufficiently narcissistic. I call it my 'Bush Meat' set.