My second gig of three this week (my busiest week so far, go me!), and my last chance to polish my set a little before Laughing Horse.

The evening was ably MCd by Pete Dobbing (who I'd heartily recommend to anyone looking to book a guest compere), and for once I went for an earlier spot. Partly to give me chance to try my set in a slightly different situation (read: sober audience) and partly because nobody ever wants to open.

Once again I recorded my performance and it seems like I'm getting there. The energy was nice and high and I managed to fit the whole thing into 5 minutes quite comfortably (ok, 5 minutes and 1 second, but what's a second amongst friends?). The first couple of gags seemed a bit rushed, but still got some good laughs. I think once I'd settled into the pace, I could keep the momentum going without it sounding forced, which was useful. I'll do some dry runs in front of the mirror to tighten the opening up a bit.

Directing particular lines at particular audience members seemed to work really well, and helped me get a good rapport with people. It felt like I was telling a gag directly to the person in question, which seemed much more natural than trying to address a whole room at once. That said, to keep that kind of focus was a bit tiring, especially making sure I was giving each part of the room enough one-on-one time. Something to keep practising methinks.

Its getting to be a tight 5 now, but I think I'll need to give myself a little wiggle-room. I've been finding it hard to cut gags that I like, even when they don't get as many laughs as other material. I really need to learn to be less precious about material and be more methodical in tweaking a set. So I'll be sitting down with the whole routine written out, and running through recordings to find which lines I can do without. A couple of my favourites will be on the chopping block, but if they only work for particular audiences, they're not worth keeping in a short set.

So its all hands on deck for the Laughing Horse comp on Saturday. Not really expecting to get through (there are some top-notch comics on the line-up), but want to be able to say I did my best, and having something to work towards has been great for getting me to focus.

Wish me luck!