The Lamp Tavern -12th Jan

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This was my first gig at the Lamp Tavern in Dudley and I was impressed. This is a great venue, good sound and well organised by local comedian, compere and all-round promoter Phil McCullogh (Hilarious Comedy). He runs a good night and apart from being a confident and competent MC I was especially impressed with his time-management; he kept the evening running well and made sure nobody ate up too much time on stage. The joke competition was a welcome bit of light-relief and all-in-all the audience got great value for money and good variety.

With just a strict 10 minutes I did a condensed set and provided some of the "edited highlights" although this meant I missed out some of the narrative (recurring Dave's carpets gags & website & email stuff) it still worked and I was pleased with the response. There were seven ladies on the front row who seemed to have trouble keeping up and didn't seem to get it! My suspicions were confirmed when I heard that afterwards one of them had thought I was a real Health & Safety officer - I will take this as a compliment and assume my acting skills are improving.

I'd give the room and venue 9/10 and my own performance 7/10 - not bad at all and one I'd be happy to do again.

edited highlights

Who am I to Argue?

A review of my recent gig courtesy of SiChadwick:

"How do you follow Johnny Sorrow? You don’t – you have a break and let everyone get their breath back. Then, when they have, you hit them with the genius of Jimmy Frinton’s new character Ian Crawford. This is another one that loses so much in translation to the written word. When you think of the premise, or try to describe it to someone who hasn’t seen the act, you suddenly realise just how bloody clever Mr Frinton’s creation is. Ian Crawford is a passing cutlery salesman who’s taking the time to educate the general public in cutlery safety. Hilarious huh? Well, yes it is actually. Proper laugh-out-loud hilarious. How someone can wrangle 15 minutes of gut busting comedy out of knife and fork safety defies belief, let alone description but Ian Crawford does just that. If I try to describe it it won’t appear to be funny and may put you off seeing him so just take my word for it and judge for yourself."

.....who am I to argue ;)

See original review here:
West Midlands Comedy Forum

The Hollybush, Cradley Christmas Special - 27th December

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I was squeezed in after the great Johnny Sorrow, a tough act to follow but I was very grateful for such elevated billing. I had a cracking time, went down well with the packed house and managed to add a few new extra bits of material, although I forgot to use the "fickle fairy of fate" (next time maybe!). There was a small kefuffle during the last 2 minutes of my act as somebody collapsed at the back (...from laughing too much I should think!) but this didn't spoil my set too much and judging from the reaction my new act is developing well, thank you.

A cracking line up compered by local cheeky chappy Simon Chadwick, the ever so funny and Magic-Al Rudge, Stephen Doddy "How many Reps?" Dodd, the supersonic award winning "Don't talk to mea.." Johnny Sorrow all topped off with a dollop of the comedian's comedian Mr David "Dinzzy" Dinsdale looking battered and bruised after failing to follow the Drinkaware.co.uk advice recently. At the end some p***ed up bloke calling himself Bruised Foursides stumbled onto the stage and monopolised the microphone for what seemed like about 3 hours as he turned over some cards; annoyingly the landlord (Mr Dave Francis) was nowhere to be seen (probably polishing his pipes), oh well at least we had some sausages to keep us entertained. I saw Bruised outside and after the torture he had inflicted I couldn't resist kicking him in the knees, but my mate kicked him somewhere a lot more painful, and to be honest - he was right to go higher!

For any experienced comedian there'd be a problem if you didn't do well at this friendly, welcoming and comedy savvy unique venue. I love it and hope to return very soon, if only for the complimentary sausages and bread!

Think Once, Think Twice, Think Fork, Spoon and Bush!

Comedy Genius - it's Official!

Many thanks and much appreciated! - It's not every day I get a rave review from the comedian's comedian and star of the Stourbridge News! They say it takes one to know one, so Mr Dave Dinsdale I bow to your comedic talent, judgement & insight!

"There are no gags and you will have a hard job explaining why it is funny the next day. But, it is incredibly funny. In my opinion this man is a genius".

http://wmcf.phpbbhosts.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=924

Charity Night - Comedy Hut, The Mitre Stourbridge

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Oh what a night. It was a privilige to be part of this fantastic charity night organised by Frankie Peoples; with 23 comedians on the bill it was sure to be a comedy marathon. The separate room upsatirs is a joy, a lovely little stage with its own separate entrance for acts means this is one of my favourite comedy venues so far. There were some excellent acts (too many to mention!) and I was on about half-way through the evening. I was grateful for a 10 minute slot and was even more grateful to be well received by the friendly crowd, I managed to squeeze in a little banter to wind up a young chap using his phone and also accused soemone returning from the loo of coming back from "polishing his spoon" which went down well. I was aware of having to keep an eye on the time so I cut the act short but with plenty of laughs and a rip-roaring round of applause it was well worth doing and helped to confirm that I really did have something to offer and that this Ian Crawford character is worth developing even further. Personally for me I would say another 7 out of 10 BUT 10 out of 10 for a great night for a great cause.

see Comedy Hut

Red Box Comedy Club @ The Crown, Nuneaton 7th December

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The Crown is a big friendly pub by the station, near to Asda and pretty close to the centre of Nuneaton. The room upstairs is an excellent venue with plenty of seating and a good stage area. The only slight moan would be it was a little chilly at first (am I getting a bit old!?)although it did warm up later. It was a good night all round and this being the first night in a new location it was well attended, by a warm and receptive crowd. I wish I could remember everyone who was on that night - but I can't! The evening was managed and cajoled along by the warm, funny and very professional Colin "nice suit" Harris! Top of the Bill was Lozi Lee, this is the first time I have seen Lozi and although you would be hard pushed to find a nicer bloke off-stage I am not sure if his act and material were up to the billing.

I was on (as Ian Crawford) just before Lozi, and it was worth the wait, after a gentle start I was soon sharing the joy of Cutlery with the Nuneaton crowd. They seemed to buy into the Health & Safety angle pretty quickly but this may have been because we had the local fire service, the H & S department from Network Rail and the local stewards from Nuneaton Football club all present. I deliberatley rejigged my act to help it flow a little better and got some really good laughs throughout. With the compere and the organiser (Tim) both laughing in the wings and a really good reception overall, I felt like I was back on form and back where I belong. A big relief and overall I'd rate this one 7 out of 10.

Thanks to Tim at http://www.red-box-entertainment.co.uk/  for his support and for organising a cracking gig

See here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Box-Entertainment/216332345055689 and here http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002391564401

Teknicolour Smoof, The Crown Inn, Telford

Teknicolour Smoof, The Crown Inn, Telford Sat 19th November


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This was only my second gig with the new Ian Crawford character and material and after such a great start and fantastic reception at the Holly Bush last month what could go wrong!?

The Crown is a down-to-earth friendly and warm real-ale pub, the gig took place in a small, cosy (max audience 25?) room at the back. The gig was free to get in (whoops!?) it was in a room open to the rest of the pub, and it was on a Saturday night. I must resist the tempataion to blame the audience, that would be unfair and a bit of a cop-out, the only thing to say is that they were a kind and quite mature bunch of locals, some even older than me. They proved that they could laugh and the experienced and talented compere Paul Savage, the new but going places with some great material Doddy, the hilarious pun-meister Masai Graham and the extremely accomplished, octane-fuelled "don't talk to me-a" Johnny Sorrow proved that there were laughs to be had. Unfortunately the audience weren't as tickled by the joy of cutlery!

Did I get any laughs? Ans: a few but not enough! What went wrong? Ans: nothing! For a second airing I was happy enough, it was a good solid performance and I enjoyed it. Of course "storming" it and being carried aloft on the audience shoulders as the new king of comedy is nice (see last month at the Holly Bush) but just because my crown slipped for a night that doesn't mean this gig wasn't worth doing. The humour in my act comes from the lack of jokes and the fact that cutlery isn't interesting, but I know I can still find more opportunities and triggers for the audience to laugh, and I need to work on that and let the material evolve even further, it's still early days.

In hindsight (Heinz Sight?!) I might have cut some of the waffle, I might have reduced the tedium and I might have moved on to the case histories sooner. BUT (never start a sentence with but) I have a feeling it was just not Ian's night. I actually have a feeling that the night didn't need me, and my material was a step too far beyond this crowd's expectations. However it was great to see some old comedy pals and meet some new ones and I was grateful to Mr Swift who stormed off stage to the funniest line of the night "they're not getting it, it's not working".

I was also encouraged by the chap on the table who leaned over after I rejoined the audience who said he had really enjoyed it and would be using "spoon sense" from now on! So maybe laughing out loud (LOL) isn't everything? If it is then Ian is finished, but cutlery fans don't panic, because this really is just the beginning.