Jiggery Pokery Cabaret - week 1

Hurrah. Home, knackered, and the night wasn't a total disaster. In fact, far from it - it was actually pretty good at times if I may say so myself. I seemed to spend too much time stressing about it, desperately seeking the audience approval. Part of me thinks it's a real miracle it works - the Cornerhouse is, after all, just a normal pub on a main road, sticking people on stage and making them tell jokes, and host, and read sketches, and play songs - why aren't the locals kicking up a fuss? But then again, it's a fucking good night's entertainment, for free entry, and part of me is annoyed that some of the content didn't get the rousing applause I felt it deserved. I think this was because we did no promotion whatsoever - but now, with a bit of tweaking, I feel 'Jiggery Pokery' has legs to be a decent night out in Cambridge, which was always the intention. Sadly the bits that didn't work were the bits that me and Alan wrote - the sketches. Carl and Heather did a superb job in acting them, but in a non-seated venue the comedy just gets lost, these things need to be saved for theatre audiences I think. That's a shame, because creatively that is the only input I really have. For this project though, I am just the producer I think, and occasional drummer when one of my bands is on the bill. Once I get my head around that, I'll be okay. And although the audience at times was a bit on the sparse side, tonight really did work - in ways which I thought it wouldn't do. The odd mix of having The Bomb Factory and Trevor Jones sharing a bill worked a treat, having Trevor do 'Name That Tune' was a real winner, Kev as the compare worked his arse off out there yet was brilliant throughout, and perhaps the biggest bonus of all was comedian Andy Higson - last time I booked him (for the Edinburgh fundraiser) he was completely ignored, tonight, with a fairly tough crowd, he was superb. I've even re-booked him for the Christmas special, comedy can work in this kind of venue, if the comedian is good enough to keep that audience occupied - Andy really is, which is great because I had no idea before the show he was that good. Phew! Trevor is a master songwriter, he deserved a more tentative audience but seemed happy anyway, The Bomb Factory were simply remarkable - it's never going to be to everyone's taste, but nobody dared dismiss it either, as my mate Marcus said 'they're more punk than those so called proper punk bands' - I know exactly what he means.

Next week, we do it all again. It's a little stressful, all this, but it certainly keeps life interesting.

JIGGERY POKERY CABARET WEEK 1 - LINE UP
Kevin Wright - intro
Trevor Jones - 3 songs
Stalker of the week (performed by Carl Fletcher, with Kevin Wright)
Andy Higson - guest stand-up
The Bomb Factory - one song
Celeb interview (performed by Heather Yeadon)
Name That Tune (with Trevor Jones)
The Bomb Factory - 3 songs