Sam Brady Live at the Comedy Store! (sounds good, doesn't it?)

Last week I made my debut at The Comedy Store in Manchester.

I've done gong shows there before (competitions for new comedians) but this was my first spot there in a professional show.

It was a pretty surreal experience. Just over a year ago I went to the Comedy Store as part of a friend's stag night. That night there was a great line up including Rob Rouse, Ian Stone, Steve Hughes and Reginald D Hunter. That was the night my mate Maniraja told me, "You could do this."
I'd been thinking of trying comedy for a while but it was this encouraging comment that tipped me over the edge.

So it was weird to find myself in the dressing room with people I've seen on the telly, including Ian Stone, who was on the bill on that fateful night last year.

It wasn't my best ever performance but I got some good laughs and a couple of rounds of applause. The occasion got to me a little bit and I wasn't as slick as usual. The were also a couple of drunken hecklers who were making a nuisance of themselves all night. I dealt with them and wasn't phased but they were a pain in the arse.

The whole thing definitely felt like I had entered the big boys playground for the first time. I'm entering a new phase of my comedy career now. And I'm only just beginning to understand how much there is to learn.

There's a mountain to be climbed. And I can't wait!

King of Bling!

Do you like my new hat?

Last night I won...let me say that again... I only bloody went and WON King Gong at the Comedy Store, Manchester.

King Gong is probably the toughest gong show this side of hell. The audience is traditionally made up of a very special blend of drunken students, sociopaths, serial killers and baying wolves. Last night they were on good form - slaying the 7 acts who went on before me, booing them off the stage, stripped of every last vestage of self-esteem and no doubt destined for a self-induced watery grave in the canal outside.

I won't lie to you - I was shitting myself.

I don't normally get nervous these days. But when you walk on to a stage and not one act before you has lasted more than four minutes without being sent packing, you do start to question what the heck you think you are doing.

Anyway, I just went for it. And blow me if I didn't go and win the bloody thing!

This is a fantastic breakthrough for me. Not only have I won something for only about the 2nd time in my life (as a kid, I once got a gold medal in a local judo competition), but I now get a spot on one of the pro nights at the Comedy Store, supporting some of the country's top acts.

I also won £50 and a lovely crown made of solid gold(-coloured plastic).

Status Dogs

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a tattooed face is rarely the mark of a lofty intellect.

I saw a bloke today who did nothing to dispel this belief. his neanderthal gait (made worse by the jeans that hung around his knees), his murderous scowl, and his extravagantly aggressive dog only served to make matters worse.

If anything, these factors only served to heighten the overall impression that here was a man who had tattooed his face because - well - he couldn't imagine why this might be a bad idea.

I didn't manage to make out what the tattoo actually was because staring at a man with a tattooed face and a dog that looks like a Tazmanian devil on steroids, is actually an even worse idea than having a tattoo on your face in the first place.

Anyway the point is actually not the tattoo but the dog. Which is why there is a picture of a dog on this blog. And not a tattoo.

Lately there seems to be more and more young blokes walking around with big, scary, intimidating dogs. They are brandished like weapons.

The press have started calling them "status dogs", because the are used by gang members to confer status on the owner. But what about the status of the dog? I should imagine that having to walk around chained to a man with a tattooed face doesn't do anything for the dog's self-esteem. It's cruel. That's what it is. Someone should call the RSPCA.

One thing that I will say for Mr Tattoo-Face though. At least he picked up his dog's crap. So good on him for that. And he didn't kill me. So that's good too.

Instead he just waddled on down the street, his scowling tattooed face staring straight ahead, a rottweiler on a lead in one hand and a Lidl bag full of dogshit in the other.

Brown - Sugar

Congratulations to Sir Alan Sugar (pictured left) on his appointment to the Cabinet today.

Considering he "doesn't like bullshitters", he's certainly picked himself a fine bunch of folks to hang out with.

Sir Alan will be Secretary of State for Empathy and Bonhomie and will be advising Gordon Brown on how to be liked. Good luck to the pair of them.

I'm glad that Sir Alan will be helping to run the country. He has a proven track record of success. After all, every home has an Amstrad computer and Spurs have won the European Cup seven times.

Even this great news, however, can't take the edge off the sad loss of David Carradine, who was found hanging in his hotel room this morning. Maybe it was suicide. Or it may have been a kinky sex act gone wrong. But as a life-long fan of Carradine, I can't accept either of these explanations. I prefer to believe that he was hanging his coat in the wardrobe and forgot to take it off first.

The loss of Carradine is a tragedy. Had he lived he might have been in the Cabinet by the end of the month.

Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian

Guess where I'm off to...

I think voting is boring and I don't want to do it.

On the other hand, I don't fancy the prospect of racist lunatics representing me in Europe (or anywhere else) this year. True, the mainstream parties are a bunch of money-grabbing, blood-sucking, free-loading parasites. But even so, I will be getting off my lazy arse and strolling down to the polls. 

My grandad went through several years of hell in the 1940's. And I think it would be a shame if, having fought a World War to get the Nazis out of Europe, we let them sneak back in just because some MPs stole our money to pay for porn and moats.

*************************

UKIP are complaining of foul-play in today's election. Apparently, those fiendish volunteers at the polls have been foxing UKIP voters by folding the ballot papers in half!

This has prevented all those idiots who would have voted UKIP - but were too dumb to actually unfold the ballot paper - from exercising their democratic right to plunge us all into right-wing darkness.

Unfortunately, parties are listed alphabetically, so the BNP is right there at the top, meaning that their voters are spared the Krypton Factor style challenge of having to unfold anything.

So please go and vote. Preferably for someone who doesn't deny the Holocaust.

Have a good day.

Sam x

Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian

An End To Boring

I have a confession to make.

I am bored with this blog. And if I'm bored with it, then you probably are too.

At first it was exciting to talk about each gig after it happened. But now I think I've pretty much said it all and you have heard it all.

So I'm going to have a change of tack.

From now on I'm going to write about whatever stuff is going on in the world that strikes me as funny. I'm also going to include bits of audio and video. Unfortunately funny stuff doesn't come to mind on a weekly basis so I don't know how often I will post. Let's just see shall we?

I'm going to stop reviewing my own gigs (unless something amazing and hilarious happens). 

Thanks to everyone who reads this rubbish. I love you all (well, I probably would if I knew you.)

Have a happy day.

Sam

Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian

East of Bolton

On Sunday I'm doing the Vulcan in Walkden.

I'm really looking forward to it as I'm supporting Sarah Millican.

Sarah has won loads of awards in the past year and is a rising star on the comedy circuit. She's just come back from Melbourne Comedy Festival and is a regular at the Comedy Store, Jongleurs etc. She is also on Radio 4 a lot - but don't let that put you off.

So even if you think I'm rubbish it might be worth coming along to see Sarah.

Last Wednesday I did the Gatehouse pub in Tyldesely. It was a really good night. I opened the show which was interesting as the audience needed a bit of warming up. But after a slow start the set went pretty well.

I've been working on some new material lately so I'll be trying that out over the next few weeks. 

Sam Brady Stand-up Comedian