Another outing for Ian from Human Resources this week, so on Tuesday night I carefully ironed and packed my shirt, trousers and hideous tie, completely forgetting to take the right shoes.

So there I am, arriving at Rudy's Revenge wearing smart clothes one step removed from a business suit, and a pair of beat up Sketchers. If the Shawshank Redemption is to be believed, I could have got away with it, but didn't want to take the risk of someone noticing and having a heckle presented to them on a silver platter. So I improvised.

I spent a few minutes over the night coming up with a pretense for being barefoot, even going so far as to concoct a cheesy rhyme to justify it ("rage can't be projected, when your feet aren't protected"). I was later told this was a pretty good cover. Unfortunately, the majority of my act bombed horribly.

There were probably a number of factors at play: the audience didn't really warm to the character (the only real laughs I got were from some very formulaic gags and funny faces), I was a little distracted by the hastily-added cover lines, and I couldn't find a good way of acknowledging the lack of laughter. Ordinarily, any comment on a failed gag gets at least a small positive reaction (when used sparingly), but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do this without breaking character, especially seeing as the Ian set is ostensibly based at a conference, rather than a comedy club.

A couple of things I can take from the experience: I should rehearse my sets as often as I can, so I can focus on the performance rather than the words. I rekon I could have squeezed a few more laughs out of the set with better timing and by injecting a dash more absurdity into Ian's mannerisms. Secondly, I should come up with some cover lines in case things are going badly - which would have to be tailored to the character and situation. And finally, I should remember my bloody shoes.