Just the one gig this week, but definitely a good one. This Wednesday's 5 Minutes of Fame was fantastic fun, with an audience full of characters - some of whom weren't even acts.

Brad Zimmerman had graciously agreed to MC this week, so I got the chance to do a normal spot for the first time in a few weeks. So I figured I'd take the opportunity to tighten up some of my existing material, and cut out some unnecessary waffle. This would shave some time off that I could use to play around with the audience a little, exercising some of what I'd been practicing during my compering gigs.

I'd been noticing that some of the more surreal or "performance" based routines would be received differently by different audiences. So I tried to throw in a few additional gags to top and tail them, and it worked pretty well. The additions to the Pirate routine went down great, and injected some much needed humour into a long set up.

I kinda lost it a little in the middle, and some of the energy I had at the start dropped. It became apparent to me that I was focusing on one side of the room too much, and when I started to extend into the neglected areas, things started to pick up a little, so I at least managed to go out with some decent laughs.

I felt much more relaxed on stage than I had in a long time, and free enough to inject some banter with the front row - it was certainly easier to pick out someone who'd already been talked to by previous acts. It was even easier with the members of the audience who had nicknames, a device Brad set up and I will certainly have to toy with the next time I'm MCing, as it gave a great sense of continuity to the night when acts could easily make references to prior goings-on.

So, all in all, a great night, and plenty of thoughts to take away.