On Monday, I was booked in for a five at Comedy at the College, at the College Arms near Goodge Street. They were a little short on acts, so Dave graciously allowed us each to do seven minutes. So I had the chance to try out a couple of new bits without dropping anything.

A good few of the punters from the bar had been coaxed downstairs with the promise of free comedy, and they proved to be a fantastic audience, really eager to have a laugh. Nobody really died, and energy stayed high. While this might have meant I had a slightly easy ride of it, it also meant that jokes that didn't work probably wouldn't work anywhere else.

I'd juggled my material a little to put most of the puns towards the start. I think I prefer it this way, as I can fire them off in quick succession to keep the momentum up, and it somewhat sets an expectation so longer form structured stuff later sets up a nice contrast.

Delivery seemed key with this one. I tried changing around the emphasis on one joke, to set up a rhythm and add a bit of "punch" (impact rather than opposite of setup) and it worked really well. Lines that got a lukewarm response previously were getting some good laughs. Unfortunately, it works both ways, and something new I'd come up with that day (and not really rehearsed) fell totally flat, so much so that I had to abandon it completely. Luckily I had a line in a similar vein that I could throw in to rescue my momentum, guess I'm gradually getting the hang of this thinking on my feet lark.

Listening back to the recording, I really need to work on my delivery more, keeping the energy up and being more sure of myself so I don't throw in too many "errs" and "umms". A lot of people have told me I seem very confident on stage, so I'm partway there, all I need now is to seem competent.