It's not the winning...

This week Richard Herring and I are both feeling down in the dumps.

Richard is moaning because, once again, his nomination for a Chortle Comedy Award failed to turn into an actual award.

Meanwhile, I am moaning because I couldn't win a bloody silly gong show.

Not only does this illustrate the gulf that lies between me and Herring in terms of expectations, but it also illustrates one of the pitfalls of performance.

The problem comes when you forget about your relationship with the audience and start focussing on your act in relation to other peoples. That's when it all gets a bit painful.

My memory of Monday night was that I hardly got any laughs and that I didn't enjoy myself. However, the recording of the night includes lots of laughs and, hey...look at this picture - I'm smiling.

It seems that my bruised ego rewrote my memory of the night. The Buddha was right - ego does make you miserable. Lesson - stop trying to win things - just have fun and be funny.

Sam

Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian

The Show Must Go On etc etc

I feel like a proper trouper!

Last night was a big night for me. I was doing a "try out" gig for an agent. This was to be my first big step towards paid comedy work and another inch closer to my dream of earning a living from making people laugh.

The agent in question was Agraman "The Human Anagram". He has helped launch the careers of many a comedy legend including Peter Kay, Eddie Izzard and Lee Evans.

So this was a big night for me. Shame then that at 4pm that very day I was full of a cold and off my head on Night Nurse.

It could have all gone terribly wrong. But adrenalin is a wonderful thing. In the end I managed to lift myself and pull off a decent performance. Decent enough to prompt Agraman to bring up the subject of paid work... (job's a good 'un!)

The evening was made sweeter by the presence of Mrs Brady who was watching me perform for the first time. She thought I was amazing. (But then she is my wife.) We also managed to smuggle in my friends, Arthavadin, Chandana and Jane - even though all the tickets were sold out. Great night all round.

Hope you enjoy the audio.

Love

Sam x

Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian

Leicester Comedy Festival

On Saturday night I did two gigs at the Leicester Comedy Festival. And I had the time of my ruddy life.

Originally I was booked to take part in a Gong Show as part of the festival at 10:30pm. I also managed to blag an open spot in an earlier show. So now I was doing two gigs at the same venue, one after the other. The only problem was that some of the same people might come to both, so I needed different material for each show. And, let's face it, I don't have very much material to choose from.

"Never mind," I thought. "I'll just have to ad lib a bit."

OK, so it was a high-risk strategy. But how can you learn if you don't take risks? It could have all gone very badly wrong. But, on this occasion it didn't. Most of my biggest laughs of the night came from ad libs and from interacting with the audience. And what's more, it was a million times more fun than trotting out that same old tired material.

I was helped by two great characters in the front row. First there was a man called Paul who had an 80's mullet hairstyle with blonde streaks. Then there was a lovely woman, who I dubbed the "Lady Mayoress",  who was absolutely trolleyed.

Here's a clip. Hope the wonderful atmosphere comes across.

love

Sam x

Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian