An interesting gig this Wednesday, wherein I learned something about myself I didn't know before. As it turns out, I'm actually rather uptight.

The room was packed and the audience were lively, if a little laddish; some of the particularly good gags were met with cheers of "go on, my son". This was an atmosphere I wasn't entirely used to, and it made me a little uncomfortable. Maybe its something to do with going to the theatre a lot over the last 7 years, or maybe it goes back further, to school assemblies kept in line by conservative-types with a combination of hard stares and the phrase "we show our appreciation by clapping".

As a result, I felt a bit out of my comfort zone and didn't really give enough to my opening. I felt strangely insecure when faced by a crowd who verbalised their appreciation, perhaps in fear that this might distract from my act. After a few lines, I caught myself not really making much contact with the audience, and the slightly muted reactions to this point really hit home how important it was. I managed to get back in touch a bit, and the latter parts went much better (I even managed to get a callback to the previous act in with just a look at an audience member, which was fun). But suffice to say, it wasn't my best gig of recent weeks.

As it turned out, the audience members I was most worried about turned out to be incredibly friendly guys who were eager to thank the acts at the end of the show. And aside from the impact on my own confidence, they had been good for the atmosphere and energy in the room. The lesson here is one I've heard before, that you should always treat the audience as friends. Every audience will react in their own way, and I shouldn't set myself up to fail by assuming they won't like me from the start.

That, and I need to write some knob gags.