Lola's Page
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Lola Stands Up - or does she......
I have been performing as Lola for some years now, and many, including myself, regard Lola as my screen to hide behind when on stage. And I have never performed as myself, Stephen Richards, until last Friday 18th May, that is.
I got a call from Andy Simmons, one half of Topping & Butch, last Wednesday. He knew of my upcoming gig, as Stephen, at Soho's Comedy Camp, and wondered if I fancied a chance to make my debut earlier than expected as a guest on their show, 'Pigs Will Fly' at the Udderbelly in Brighton, as part of the fringe. I have to say that I had initial misgivings, as I was nervous enough about the upcoming Comedy Camp show, but after a talk with Andy, and knowing that I would be safe in Topping & Butch'es hands, I agreed.
However, come the day, I was not at all confident about the evening's performance. In fact you could say I was sh***ng myself!! The fact that I was wearing a suit, in order to be as far removed from Lola as possible wasn't helping either. I arrived at the Udderbelly for the tech run to meet the other guests. Queen of the Bossa Nova, Lorraine Bowen, female muslim stand-up, Shazia Mirza and David Shelley as character, Kurt Von Rimmer. After microphone levels for the finale number had been set, I disappeared to the bar for a large vodka as a bit of dutch courage.
There came my next problem. No one, apart from my friend Dan, who was with me and a couple of others knew I was doing this gig. So when I bumped into a couple of friends, and quickly made excuses to leave, I was accused of being very rude. Well they called me a word that rhymes with punt........ I really didn't want to spoil the surprise, so went and lurked in the dressing room before showtime.
And before I knew it, it was 7pm and Topping & Butch had taken to the stage and from the audience reaction, things were going well. Lorraine Bowen joined them and they performed her song 'Crumble' whilst trying to outdo each other on the bossa nova beats. Then came the showing of the video to their song to Cherie Blair, starring Brighton stand-up, Zoe Lyons as the PM's wife and then it was me..............................................................
Well 5 minutes comes and goes very quickly, and I really don't know what I was worried about. The material was all stuff I do as Lola, and went down well to a mixed audience of gay and straight. In fact there were rounds of applauses after some gags! That happens very rarely on the gay scene, believe me! However Topping and Butch weren't finished with me, and set me a challenge to come back at the end of the show and perform a hoedown with themselves and Kurt Von Rimmer, which naturally I accepted. Well it had already been rehearsed! So back I came. Only this time I was in blonde wig, pinafore dress, lippy and blusher. Boy I looked a picture!
And then it was all over. My debut as Stephen Richards, stand up comedian. And it was out to the bar for a self analysis of the evening. I was, and so were my friends, very pleased with the way things had gone. And there wasn't just the material to think about. I had to think about to walking onto the stage - honestly! - and how to stand and what to do with my hands.
It's a whole different science walking in flat shoes, I can tell you........
# posted by Lola Lasagne : 3:09 PM
