Last night was the first night at Palatset (translates to The Palace). Why the place is called Palatstet, I have no idea. It must be a very sorry monarch who lives in a palace that boasts 5 pool tables, a golf simulator and Falcon on tap. Still, I had put together a royal evening of comedy for the venue who want to try out a few nights and see what the response is.
There were a couple of hiccups in the afternoon as I tested the sound. Not least because it turned out that neither of the guys who ran the place knew how the sound worked. It also turned out that the amp had some kind of safety mechanism to protect people’s ears which meant that music could not be turned louder than a tinny tinkle in the background. So much for the thumping tune to come onstage. But these were all minor details.
The landlords had worked hard to fill the place and although with some clever table placing we could get another 20 or so in next time, every seat was occupied. The audience were new (to me). In other words it is an audience independent of my nights at Café M, which means that the two nights should be able to work in tandem.
The night kicked off well, I did some old stuff and worked the audience a bit. I did a bit of banter with people on either side of the audience. It’s always good to have a couple of victims/allies in the audience that you can refer to when a joke goes well or badly. I even managed to get a little bit of whooping laughter in the first 5 minutes, so I felt that I made a connection with the crowd. I even got a big wet sloppy kiss on the cheek from one lady in the audience.
First on was Danny, introduced as ‘Motala’s Biggest Comedian’, which in terms of size, he definitely is. And in terms of material he’s a strong contender. When Danny is good he is brilliant and last night was one of those nights. He came on and owned the stage. The audience were literally crying with laughter, wiping tears from their eyes as he described his ‘romantic’ experiences on the Finland Crossing.
Next up was Palle, who didn’t quite hit the mark, but was good nonetheless. I think his act has become a bit too clumsy recently and he needs to sharpen it up again.. but he’ll be back on form soon enough.
After the break, Emil released his all new character on the audience. Emil is another local guy who took a break from comedy for a few months, had a good think about what he was doing and has come back with all guns blazing. Last night he blew the audience away and had them howling with laughter before he even said a word. I’m looking forward to see how this new character develops.
Finally Zeid headlined and was great. She did some stuff that I haven’t seen before, particularly a few more cabaret style bits and pieces. The stand up purist would say that you shouldn’t rely on props and gimmicks, but actually, I think that Zeid read the audience well and that they responded well to (for example) her Pippi rap (replete with pigtails and flashing glasses). Zeid’s act finishes with the best showstopper of all: A singalong to the tune of ‘Ha Va Nagila’ with the lyrics replaced with ‘Oh Min Vagina’. Classic.
So the future at Palatset looks bright. I’ve got two weeks to get them to sort out their music before we are back. In the meantime, back to promoting my other nights at Café M and Sagateatern… just waiting for the postman to turn up with the printed tickets for Kiwi comedian Al Pitcher at Sagateatern on 19th March (plug. plug. Pay attention, people of Linköping)
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