Backyard Comedy Club

Last night and tonight, back with CT - and the Backyard Comedy Club! Always a great atmosphere.. Tonight, my sometime companion from Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) was joining me at the same venue. We headed to the local Nando's beforehand.

Well, she got there first - I had to navigate a maze of buses! Honestly.. I should have got there in two buses, but each was delayed - in fact, there was no indication of the second bus coming at all! Enter Plan B, and another two buses.. and then there I was, waiting for the third bus, and all indications that I was going to have to wait another quarter of an hour! Happily, all indications were wrong - it arrived sooner than expected, and in the end I wasn't too late! Honestly though..

The Nando's is a nice one - as I discovered when I found the door! (Look for the chicken sign.) We had a nice booth, there were friendly staff, and our food was delivered promptly - and at the same time, although we'd ordered separately! Nice touch. My app needed restarting before it'd work - but otherwise, my only quibble was with the chicken, and indeed the garlic bread, being a little burnt. But we were well, cheaply, and quickly fed.

And so up to the club - but I was completely turned around, didn't realise I was coming at it from the opposite direction from normal! So we passed it, and had to retrace our steps. Never mind, we still arrived in plenty of time - got our wristbands, and waited with the crowd. They were late opening, as usual, and the bar was packed. Hey-ho, when we got in, we got a table, and weren't picked on..

The host, Matthew McAloone, was pretty much the funniest thing about the night! which isn't a bad thing really, considering we saw more of him than of any of the acts. He's from Northern Ireland.. and when he found a compatriot in the audience, also from Northern Ireland, he naturally started a wee conversation with her! Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of a group of lads at the back - also Northerners, by the sound of them - who, as he duly explained to us, "lost their minds" when they heard him, as a Northerner, conversing with another Northerner. I have to commend his ability to deal with hecklers! They quietened down pretty quickly when he turned his attention on them.

As to the acts - the first couple were.. interesting. They had some interesting ideas, but I wouldn't exactly cross the road to see them, as they say. Prateek Kohli, third of the four performers of the night, stood out for me as truly funny. And the last, Robert White, spent ages, before he came on, setting up his keyboard.. he declared himself as gay (and, constantly, as autistic), so the ladies in the audience could relax as he focused on every man he could see. And then, quite cleverly, found rhymes about people to add to his song..

Yes, another chaotic night at Backyard Comedy! I enjoyed it.. and the house was packed, encouragingly. Roll on my next visit..

The weekend, for me, is all about horror - tomorrow, I was planning to go to a film, and could have chosen something higher rated; in particular, Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life), which is top of my list in terms of ratings, looks a striking film, based on the true story of an Indian man who went to Saudi Arabia in the expectation of a higher paying job, but ended up being effectively kidnapped by a local goat farmer, and spending literally years in the desert, paid nothing and treated worse than the animals! He finally managed to escape - on foot. Seems an epic tale.

It also seems not that much fun. And when I saw that The Hideout, who are headed to The First Omen that evening, had a space available in their group - they'd been full when I last looked - I jumped at that instead. They're going to the Vue West End. Honestly, I'm not completely optimistic about it, on foot of the trailer - but gee, I do see that the rating is now soaring from when I first read it! 6.9 at time of writing - a very encouraging rating for a horror film.. you never know. It is, of course, a prequel to the classic The Omen.. so, many references to that are to be expected. Bill Nighy shows up as a cardinal, Charles Dance plays a priest.. not Father Spiletto, famous from the previous films, although he appears in this too.

Sunday is also horror - I'm going with the London Horror Film Group to the Satanic Spring Market. It was good fun last time, although I didn't find anything to buy..

On Monday, I'm back with North London Friends - they have tickets for The Comeuppance, at The Almeida, and I got the last of theirs. It's now sold out for that day.

On Tuesday, I'm back with Over 40 Living the Life - a more dependable dinner date this time, at Greenwich Yacht Club!

On Wednesday and Thursday, back with UITCS - my longest Meetup streak in a long while! On Wednesday, we're off to An Actor Convalescing in Devon, at Hampstead Theatre.

And on Thursday, we're at The Ballad of Hattie and James, at The Kiln. And then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again.