Stand and deliver!

Today, I went to see a comedy gig at the Camden Head in London. However, it wasn't a normal gig; this was a work-in-progress comedy night. This basically means that all the comedians will be doing largely brand new material, so the quality is likely to be a bit more sketchy in quality than most comedy nights -a fact that is alleviated somewhat by the free entrance cost. I should explain for those of you who have never been to a comedy gig, and this may come as a shock to you: not all jokes said by stand-up comedians work. I can remember before I really knew about live stand-up comedy, having just seen comedians on TV, and actually thinking that every comedian had a 100% joke/laugh radio; this is far from true. What most don't know about the stand-up comedians they see on their TV screens is the many years of bad gigs, the deluge of writing, and the incredible levels of hard-work and practice that has got them to that point.

I decided to go to this gig because it was being organised by and stared good friend and funny-man Pete Dillon-Trenchard; more famously known simply as PDT. His full-name is Peter Charles Sampson Dillon-Trenchard. Here's a video of him being very funny:

As always, he was very good last night. Even the bits I've heard a few times before still made me laugh. I was 80% impressed by the quality of his set last night; the other 20% was jealousy, because he's damn good. I highly recommend you check out the above video; feel free to go look at his other YouTube videos, too. There is a "PDT Goes to Iceland" series, where he just prepares and eats food. You'll either love it or hate it. I love it.

The night was MC'd by ManBuyCow, who I already loved from having seem them at The Freedom Fridge open mic comedy nights, and I found them hilarious as always.The other acts performing sets were Adam Hess, Ian Hawkins and Simon Caine, who all did utterly fantastic jobs. It is a sign of the quality of the night that I felt bad for having experienced it for free, because it really did entertain me more than many films and comedy nights I've paid for this year.

Here's to live comedy. It's bloody brilliant.