Some people say you need nerves of steel to do stand up. Unfortunately, I have nerves of soft cheese, not unlike a Brie or unbreaded Camembert.

My first spot this week was at Horatia, and a part of the ever-growing Comedy Bin empire. They were a little down on numbers, unfortunately, but strategic placement of seating and pillars meant there was the potential to have a nice, intimate gig...provided you could block out the chatter from the bar (which is an easier skill to learn than you might think).

My first couple of gags went down ok, but I tried to sneak in a new joke early on (being a little short on acts, we had a bit of spare time to experiment), which fell pretty much flat. After that, it was all downhill. My timing collapsed, pace slowed to a crawl and horror of horrors, I completely blanked halfway through. The last point was doubly annoying, given that I hadn't changed the segment in question for a few weeks.

I'm going to take this as a lesson. If its going badly, I need to plough on and try harder, ignoring my crushed little ego like a Conservative government ignores the poor. If I start to lose confidence, the audience will start to think I don't know what I'm doing. I don't, but I'd rather they didn't know that.

Tonight, I'll be working my ass off trying to redeem myself at Touching Cloth. Wish me luck!