Tuesday

Tonight there's the launch of a new, fortnightly free comedy night on at The Constitution in Camden. It's not a pub I've been to before, but Alex spotted it in Time Out and suggested that we go. It's a nice evening and I get the tube to Camden Town for 7PM and we wander down to the pub. The Constitution is a friendly-seeming, old-fashioned kind of place (wobbly tables, dartboard, non-gastropub, non-cocktail-wankery - just my kind of place) with a decent beer garden and the "venue" in cellar.

We get down there early and take up a table in the corner. It's funny how the seats in comedy clubs fill up in totally the opposite direction to any other form of live entertainment - the very front seats with the best view stay empty right until the last moment, such is everyone's fear of being picked on by a vicious comedian or compere. I'm not particularly worried about this, though when the compere comes on (a very nice lady who seems like she's from Spain, as well as a little awkward) I become, like everyone else there, very self-aware.

The mood takes a long while to get going - this is probably the result of a few factors. Firstly the fact that it's free, meaning that a few people who just aren't that bothered about the night have clearly wandered in. Secondly, the acts on tonight (there are around 9 or 10 of them) are all either very new comics or are trying out new material, so the night is not without its excruciating moments. There are a couple of very weak acts ("Have you seen the tortured-looking men in Primark? They look like they'd rather be in Guantanamo Bay" - ugh) but a couple are great; including one Russell Brand-esque guy in a tweed suit telling a very funny story about wanking in a graveyard.

The night finishes triumphantly with a man who looked to be at least in his eighties, in a three-piece suit, calling himself Ray Presto (brilliant) telling old-fashioned puns and one-liners (he also does close-up magic, incidentally). It's very surreal, and most of the laughter in the room is either nervous or confused - but he seems to be having a great time. Afterwards we sit in the beer garden and chat with the organisers a little bit, congratulating them on what has been a good night - and, as ever when I go to these things, I resolve to get to more comedy nights in the future.