Joey Del is an aspiring stand up comedian and a freelance writer. For more info check out www.joeydel.com!!!

The 10th (milestone?) instalment of the ‘From Zero To…Somewhere Slightly Higher Than Zero’ Chronicles!!!

Hello!

I mentioned at the end of the last article that I was heading off to compete in the ‘Quest For The Best’ Preliminary Final last week and that I would talk about it in this edition of the ‘FZTSSHTZ’ chronicles (not the best acronym in the world but what can you do).

It was a great night of comedy at The Roxbury. Peter Meisel was the MC and he did not disappoint. The 160 person strong crowd was whipped into a frenzy long before the first act was on. One of the things that impressed me most about Peter was how he offered the entire MC solution, the MC work did not just stop when he was on stage he spent most of the breaks chatting with the crowd offering his thoughts on life to any that would listen. I spent most of the break trying to say hi to my mum who was nice enough to come down and support me but I could not pull her away from Peter for long enough to achieve this goal. After all they both came from teaching backgrounds and both had spent time in New York, apparently far more important topics than talking to her only son.

Due to the massive crowd that was on hand to watch the comedians performing were unable to sit inside. We had to watch from outside the room, stealing glimpses of the competition whenever possible. Due to this fact I was unable to watch the whole show however what I did see seemed quite good.

The first act on stage went by the name of ‘Le Dasher’. I was quite shocked when she walked up on stage dressed in full salsa gear including a metre high frilly head piece. The gist of her performance was that she was a stereotypical bogan girl who had always wanted to be a dancer. The last few minutes of her set were spent with her performing a dance routine. It was an excellent start to the competition. I could not stop laughing as I watched through the door.

I was unable to see the acts that were 2nd and 3rd on stage although from the noise I could hear from the crowd I am sure they did a great job. In fourth place was Danny Morgan. I have been lucky enough to perform with Danny on a few occasions. He is the kind of guy whose company you enjoy as much chatting off stage as you enjoy his performance on stage (although to be fair I am yet to meet someone in the comedy industry who I don’t like). Danny did a set of his I enjoy about the NSW Police. The crowd seemed to like it as well.

I was the fifth comedian on stage and I can honestly say I was very happy with how I went. The start was a little shaky as either Danny or Peter (who came on in between acts) had somehow managed to twist the microphone cord around the stand six or seven times. It took me a little while to unravel this but all worked out well. I have found a few problems in my set and have been working on them a lot of late. I personally felt that this performance was a marked improvement and one of the best, if not the best one that I had done. I was really happy with it and I hope I can continue to improve on these points a lot more as I go on with my comedy ‘career’.

I am not sure who followed after me but another person who I have worked with a few times Ben Mcleod was first up after the break. I like Ben a lot, he is responsible for moving group sex out of my life wish list and putting it into the list of thing that I laugh about as soon as I hear mentioned. Other comics on show were the excellent Des Smith, Emma Markezic who performed well enough to advance to the finals, Daniel Nour who offered hilarious comments on Masterchef, Sam Marzden, Toni Starks and Scott Abbot.

Scott did a routine on refugees that I have seen a few times and that I have always enjoyed. I noticed he is sporting a new moustache which I assume is either for ‘Movember’ or for a career as a porn star he is starting off in. My sister told him that she thought he was the funniest person there that night. Um…Hello? I was there too remember sis! Apparently little things like ‘blood’ aren’t that important to her. But he was funny so it was very hard to argue!

All in all it was a great night. I would like to say a big thank you to the family members and friends that came and supported me. I would also like to say an extra big thank you to the people who I had never met before who came up to me after the show and told me how much they enjoyed my set. Other comics will agree that this is without a doubt the nicest part about comedy.

The finals are in just over 2 weeks (25th November) so I have a lot of work to do in order to prepare myself for that. I have a show at the Laugh Garage on Tuesday and at the Raglan on Wednesday so hopefully these will help me get in tune. I look forward to talking about these and so much more with you next week!

Have a great week!

© Joey Del

Similar Posts:

• JoeyDel On The Laugh Garage Competition, Rick Shapiro And A Week Being A Long Time In Comedy!!!
• Joey Del On The World Bar, Flight Centre And Kneecapping!!!
• Joey Del Dips His Toe Into The Comedy Pool
• Joey Del On Bright Lights, Red Cards And Being A Lamb To The Slaughter!!!
• Joey Del On The Aftermath, Stalking Tammy And Man Crushes On Tommy Dean!!!