Fables, Chuckles and a Bohemian Dragon .


Wednesday 8th March



“Want free tickets to a show?”
“Yeah why not? Thanks”

This was how I chose to see this show. It promised it was “Showcasing the hottest new talents in stand up comedy!” How could I refuse? The free tickets also included entry to the show I had just bought tickets to only minutes before, so I didn’t feel as guilty accepting free entry to the other show. I recognised the comedian handing out the tickets as the guy on the flyer of the show we had planned to see, and wondered if the likes of Jimoen or Dave Hughes would be out on the streets almost begging people to come and see them. I think not. Ahh…to be famous. I suppose the famous were here once.

Arriving at the venue, I entered the building and there wasn’t a soul in sight. Did I have the right place? Right time? As my eyes adjusted to the gloom I saw someone directing me to a spiral staircase. It was so dark I had trouble making my way up the stairs and found my self at the top looking at an equally deserted room with couches around the walls and tables and chairs in the middle. Where were all the people? Anyone? Hello…Someone appeared behind the empty bar and asked my group to take a seat. Settling on one of the couches we waited for the rest of the audience to arrive, and a few minutes later they did, both of them. This was such a weird sensation. An audience of five people. I felt conspicuous. This was going to be stand up comedy. With only five people to direct the jokes at, I began to think this was going to be very uncomfortable.

We were introduced to the first comedian, Tommy Dassalo, and asked if we wouldn’t mind moving to the tables and chairs in the front so the comedians felt like they had an audience. This request didn’t seem unreasonable so we moved, just as a few more groups of people arrived and took our couches. Wow, we were eleven now, and a bit miffed at losing the comfy couches to the late comers. Tommy was really struggling to make us laugh. He was very young and didn’t appear to be able to improvise that well, but the flyer for the show said he was “Raw Comedy Runner up 2005” so maybe he was having an off night. I felt somewhat relieved when his time was up as his non-connection with the audience was uncomfortable.

Enter Justin Lodge. I have not laughed so much in a long time. Obviously this guy was delivering my kind of humour. He poked fun at us and I didn’t mind, he poked fun at others in the room and they didn’t mind and he poked fun at himself and he was hilarious. He delivered his humour with a sense of innocence and light heartedness, without the smut I’ve come to expect with the average stand up comedian. We were told that he had a 'Bohemian Dragon' backstage, hence the name of the show, but funnily we never got to see it. He linked the end of his performance with the topic he began with generating a sense of coming full circle and completeness, and left us laughing. I felt this guy deserved his own show and an audience much larger than the one he was playing to.

The final comedian entertained and engaged the audience, which was beginning to swell now due to the next performance scheduled at the venue. He returned to the smut and sexual innuendo common to stand up performances but was funny and entertaining. Perhaps the larger crowd helped him to engage the audience and I began to feel a bit sorry for the first guy, with such a small, un-warmed up crowd to work to. This brought my thoughts back to the flyer and his previous accolades and made me wish he would come back now for another go. We discussed this amongst our group and wondered if these three comedians took turns going first or if Tommy just happened to draw the short straw when they planned the show. Then I thought about the famous comedians who don’t have to hand out free tickets to their show and wondered if they ever had to ‘go first’. It seems a tough way to earn a buck, but then I don’t think that is what drives these people. They seem to crave the attention of an audience.