The first set.

Did my first set in a long time last night. Have to say it went pretty well, although it did feel like I'd rang Rent a Crowd, with at least 75% of the audience being people I had brought along. If I hadn't invited anyone there would have been about 15 people, 9 of them comedians. Because the audience belonged to me the compare made me the headline act, probably afraid that if I went on early people might leave. I also didn't need to travel far like the other acts, being local and all, so I was in no rush to get home.

Being the last act meant there was a long wait. I was already nervous not knowing if any of my material was in any way funny but the build up made it worse. I think now I know what jokes work I would be quite happy to do them again with no nerves. I think a lot of being a stand up is finding confidence in your material and that is something that will only come in time.

I filmed the performance so I could watch back what worked and what didn't. It's interesting because when you're on stage it's hard to remember how the audience are reacting. The most obvious reaction is when there is no reaction, but other than that I found watching back the footage very insightful as I couldn't have told you how much people had laughed and at what.

It's very exciting piecing together the good material. I enjoy being critical of my work, it's satisfying to say 'that one is a keeper, that one is never going to be heard again'. In time I will have a stash of quality material that I will be able to use to create a winning set. Then some time after that I will have twice and much, then I just need to double it again and I have a show!