I am exposed to comedy!

Real comedy by real comedians not these half arsed comedians who write 'funny' blogs because someone in their office once told them they were "dead funny". Although I don't know how anyone can be funny at 11:30pm on a Saturday - in fact we left My Canadian Girlfriend's City Centre Crash Pad about the time we both normally go to bed.

I am going along to see if I can learn any tricks of the trade (Shorthand for - can I steal some jokes). We sit down towards the back - not too far back to make it look like we're hiding but far enough back not to get picked on. This was especially important as there were only about 30 of us in an auditorium for 200.

First up - Jo Caufield; a tall skinny blonde who moved the microphone stand because she was worried it made her look fat. She was very funny and looked like your best friend's mum, her delivery was very fast paced and yet thoughtful. Her jokes mainly revolved around girly things like TV, slagging off her husband and shopping. She also told a wife swap joke which sounded very familiar.

Sample Joke: "My local shopping centre is a huge glass building which looks like a Burberry Bomb has gone off inside it."

Next was Reggie Hunter - the reason we were here. My Canadian Girlfriend and I had seen him on "8 out of 10 Cats" and booked tickets for this show almost immediately. He started well by picking on two easy comedy targets - organised religion and Wigan. He used some very rude words too. And then he admitted he was a bit drunk. And high. And his act went downhill from there. Which is a shame because he provided a couple of the best laughs of the night. I'm sure he'd be amazing if he was on his game.

Sample Joke: "So what blasphemy is, is that you're offending God. Here's a supreme being who created all the Universe, the trees, the animals and the stars and then gets offended by what I say - how insecure is that?"

Ben Bailey closed the show and was really very funny - I would highly recommend catching him if you get the chance. He talked about funny little things in life like dialing the wrong phone number, how a donkey sent him an email and how to make sure no one sits near you on public transport. His focus on the strange foibles of the English (U.S.) language and the intricacies of human behaviour was very impressive.

He also asked if there were any illegal immigrants in the audience. Despite me prodding her and trying to raise her hand, My Canadian Girlfriend decided not to reveal herself.

One encouraging point to take from the night was that every now and then I heard a joke that I thought I could improve on - either by adding a line or by giving it a different emphasis. Another thing I will take from the evening is that the show must go on. Even if you're only performing (or blogging) in front of 20-30 people then they have a right to be entertained. Not everyone can perform to packed houses every day.

Hmmm, this is getting too introspective and live-journal-y.

So I'll finish with the cheerful thought that the nights are now drawing in and we're on a march towards Winter.