Sunday night brought up the big hundred for 2014 and it is interesting looking back on the previous year to note that gig one hundred didn't appear until the 29th of July. I'll have to look back at last year a little closer to know why but I like that I'm a month ahead of where I was in 2013. Even though there have been some mini breaks I've managed to keep a relatively consistent run going and hopefully in the process I've improved as well. I have been booking the shows down at Crown and this was my first opportunity to perform there since the opening night. With every new room there are some teething problems but with Crown they have been quite rare. I had spoken to Brad Oakes about hosting the room and we both came to the conclusion that it is a difficult one to get going. We thought that possibly the lighting in the room was a bit too bright and therefore making the audience feel self conscious. On Sunday we turned down the lights so the audience could feel comfortable in the dark. That appeared to help a little although it was still a bit of work up top to get the show into gear.
With a packed out audience I opened the night as the host and over the course of the evening had three spots to fill. Here is the set list for the night:
Set List One
Riffing with the audience
"I Don't Give a Hoot"
Hushed Angry Conversations
The Kid At Captain America
Invite To Parties
Fix Your Flaws
Hairy Baby
Set List Two
Tram Story
Set List Three
Breaking Up Through History
With a running order that consisted of Tommy Dassalo, Michael Chamberlin, Celia Pacquola and headline act Josh Earl, my job was to get the night moving and keep the show rolling. Over the first five weeks we only had three acts and a host for each bracket but I wanted to squeeze Celia into the line up because she is amazing. Any night that has Celia on board is given a natural boost and considering the rest of the talent on that night it meant we had a cracking show to finish off the weekend.
I don't perform as much with Michael as I used to and I had forgotten how funny and unique he is compared to every other male comic in the country. I think Chambo is a forgotten gem in the comedy landscape and his routines are infused with sensitive takes on modern life and also sprinkled with harsh truths and surreal observations. If you haven't seen Chambo for a while then you should check him out the next time he is performing somewhere near you.
Dassalo has really stepped up over the years and I think a lot of it has come from the confidence he has developed out of his podcast "The Little Dum Dum Club" that he co hosts with Karl Chandler. He is more relaxed onstage and backs his stories and therefore his delivery. I thought he was very funny on Sunday night.
It was great to see Josh Earl headlining too. His spot was full of energy and creative use of music and stand up. I think it is a real shame that Spicks and Specks has been axed because I believed Josh was not only doing well as the host but also improving with every episode. That people didn't give it a go because of the old crew...well, that is just lame. Those guys left because they'd had enough. At Josh can continue to knock it out of the park as a live act and he did just that on Sunday night.
A fun show for me and another night where I was glad that I've begun working on my talking to the audience skills. I managed to squeeze some fun stuff out of a couple sitting at the front. Dennis and his wife were in fine form and he looked amazing for a dude who was in his sixties. If I hadn't talked to him I would have missed out on that and I thought it helped bring the audience into the show. For the following two brackets I brought out the Tram Story again because I knew it was short and would hit the mark quickly. I didn't want the night to drag out so between that story and the routine at the beginning of the last bracket I managed to do the right thing by the night and keep it tight.
A good hundredth gig for the year. I'm curious to see where we'll end the year now especially considering how advanced I am on last year.
Justin Hamilton
24th of June, 2014
Fitzroy North