Socks in Keighley - good unexpected preview

Thanks to the wonderful punters of the Exchange in Keighley for an excellent gig last night, which turned out to be an unexpected first almost-full preview of Minging Detectives. Although next week in Brighton will be the first time we do a 60 minute slot ostensibly showcasing the new Edinburgh hour, last night we did 90 mins comprising 45 mins of ...And So Am I and nearly 45 mins of Minging, and it went marvellously.

The Keighley crowd, who've had us three or four times now, were a full houses again and were made up of 75% returnees. This makes for a very supportive crowd, which meant they went along with stuff with other audiences possibly might not, but which meant the ad-libs really took off. Noah included an improv about God moving in mysterious ways and wiping his arse along the ground like a dog with worms which was just brilliant - the Socks impress me too sometimes - but it's unlikely we'll ever be able to do again. And the improvised songs from musicals had some inspired mis-hearings, including the full song Arse-Spray (a gift from a Yorkshire accent there) and others I can't remember.

(Full listing for part 1 was: Mass Debate, I'm A Sock, TV detective gags inc Luther, Election/Europe/Angela Merkel/MP motion, Song For UKIP, Stereotypes, Noah, Sponsorship gag pt 1, Oh What A Lovely War, Magic routine, Sweary Poppins.)

Then part 2 was almost all Minging Detectives. Still using the Sponsorship routine to string the disparate parts together, and with more material still waiting to be debuted in Brighton, they got the following:

Mumford & Socks (from And So Am I, likely to be retired now)
TV cop audience suggestions - overwhelming, but some good ad libs inc Taggart and Miami Vice
Gangsta routine - excellent. First time out. The costume gets a great laugh and the routine went excellently throughout. If it stays that way it's a perfect opener. Should return to in the rest of the show.
Tie A Yellow Ribbon - excellent. If it goes this well with every audience we have another winner, though it may be too peurile for some, let's see. Even the prop got applause.
Merchant of Venice & gags - okay, but not as good as what they followed.
Dixon - not so good, can go
Z Cars - excellent again. This has been good since Leicester. Needs smoothing into rest of material.
Black & White Minstrels - good, still needs shortening, and they key changing. Too high!
Sponsorship running gag - worked well throughout, but needs replacing
Magnum / NYPD / Morse - very good
The Killing v Breaking Bad - works in parts but nobody got "the one who knocks" gag.
Walk On Wild Side - thrown in to bring the laughter back up
The Sweary - excellent until the last few lines, punchline not strong enough
Fallout / Time Of My Life - excellent, but has to go cos it's from And So Am I
The Heist - excellent. For the first time it now incorporates Duel (revived from 2010's Period Drama sketch) which is perfect. And we were able to end there, no song needed.

So the Socks and I came away very pleased having made an audience laugh for 90 mins without doing too many old favourites (apart from Magic, Sweary Poppins and Walk On Wild, this was all material from the 2014 & 2015 Edinburgh sets) and boding well for Minging Detectives' progress. Oh and did I mention I'd done a day of classes in a school in Bradford beforehand, and that I'm doing more again today, and I'd been up at the Brad Lit Fest awards dinner on the Thursday night following a day at a school in Lincolnshire before that? Solid days, no rest for the wicked, blah blah. Onwards and upwards.

May 15 Exchange Keighley
May 22 & 23 Brighton Komedia
June 25 Cheltenham
June 27 Old Joint Stock Birmingham
July 17 Carriageworks Leeds
July 19 Sheffield New Barrack Tavern
July 23 Spread Eagle Croydon
July 24 Porters, Cardiff
July 25 Bedford Fringe
Aug 5 - 31  10.30pm Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe