This week, I was at Mama Jong's at the Horse for a little election night stand up, and in the political spirit, Ian from Human Resources made an appearance, but with a new career in the civil service.

I'd made a few minor tweaks to the routine to fit with the election theme, and had spent much of the night before frantically rehearsing, which helped quite a bit. I'd also dropped some of the weaker gags, bringing the routine well under five minutes, so overall I felt a lot more relaxed going into the spot.

The room was a little subdued, and I think everyone was struggling to get a big reaction, but everyone was attentive and seemed to be enjoying themselves. The first couple of minutes of material didn't seem to get more than polite titters, and I really think I paused too long on a few occasions waiting for a laugh. Things had warmed up a little once I got to the blunt instrument of the list of sexual practices, and I managed to go out on a bit of a high. I'd thrown in a new gag as a bit of an experiment, and that probably got the best reaction of the whole set. As it turns out, pop culture references work surprisingly well, even references from the mid 90s.

So all in all, not the greatest night I've had, but a lot of fun. There's still some mileage in Ian's character yet, and having to re-work the routine to fit a theme was a great way to make me change the whole routine for the better. Ian will be back in his Human Resources guise next Tuesday!