Claire Burlington

What a marvellous example of the power of the hyphen.

Anyway, at the Stockwell gig last Thursday I played with my (guitar) strap on in front of an audience for the first time and it definitely improved my (musical) performance, so this is great news indeed.

I had been to the venue, The Cavendish Arms, before. Many years ago, I went there with a colleague from EastEnders. We played darts and drank beer with a local off-duty copper and a lady who looked after rescued hamsters and had an exceptionally fun night. The pub’s had a major facelift since then and now has leather sofas, board games and a ballroom, which was where the burlesque gig was. The ballroom’s an absolutely lovely space, made lovelier by an audience who were up for a giggle. The bill was a mixture of burlesque dancers, comedians (I counted as one of these) and singers and, from where I was standing, everything went with the appropriate swing, bump or grind. So, The Cavendish Arms seems to be the place for exceptionally fun nights, whatever the decor.

Last week, a friend forwarded me details of a facebook joke/funny song/sketch competition to mark the release of David Baddiel’s new film ‘The Infidel’, which is a comedy about a Muslim who discovers he’s a Jew. I entered my mildly amusing Song About Life (Bugger It) and it was a bit of a crusade to get it uploaded. I had to install the ‘Which Religion is Funniest’ application which didn’t seem to like Firefox, so I tried in Internet Explorer and ended up with multiple windows all telling me I wasn’t logged in. Eventually, I got there and I didn’t even get told off for having a video 3 seconds over the stated length, which I felt was very forgiving.

Now, entering an online competition generally necessitates canvassing for votes so, after I’d finally got the video uploaded, I over-zealously followed the advice and instructions to ‘share’ my entry and thus managed to post it thrice on my facebook page, which I think might have made me look even more self-obsessed than I am.  Anyway, a few days later I received a message bearing the glad tidings that ‘Bugger It’ had been selected as the competition’s Joke of the Week. Hurrah!

Now, I imagine that link will only last seven days so, for the record, here I am as Joke of the Week – with a stunning total of 8 votes!

Claire Burlington - Joke of the Week

I feel I must add that at least 75 of those views had taken place *before* I entered the competition. Just so we all know.

This, sadly, is not a description of my life. It is, however, the title of a show at which I’m a guest performer on March 18th.

It’s at the New Players Theatre, Charing Cross and is a Funny Women show by the sizzling sketch duo Domestic Goddi, hosted by the sensational Suzy Bennett and also populated by folks like me. Here’s the official blurb:

Funny Women presents ‘Sex, Lies and Lots of Cake’ – Thursday 18th March 8.00 p.m.

Roadtest our new comedy formula. Sketch, improv, drama, stand up, music and even some men! Hosted by the irrepressible Suzy Bennett, winner of the 2006 Funny Women Awards, you’ll be taken on a comic romp with special guests and lots of cake!
Funny Women Awards finalists Domestic Goddi entertain with their uniquely-formulated, volume-boosting sketches, starring BBC Comedy Award winner, Helen O’Brien and Stage Award nominee Genevieve Swallow.
Is your house now worth less than your shoes? Has your Nigella chocolate souffle collapsed? Don’t worry – Domestic Goddi will get you through. They’ll be pavement testing a pair of turbo-charged red high heels while competitive mums vie for buggy supremacy.
There’s music from talented newcomer Claire Burlington, magic and comedy mayhem from the spectacular Mandy Muden and improv and sketch from Don’t Tell Jimmy. Kiki Kendrick will perform extracts from Next! her third play which she is taking to Edinburgh later this year. Not to mention those gorgeously gluten free cakes, from Wendy May Cakes.

Tickets £15 (£12 concs) to include tea and cake and a donation to V-day. BOOK NOW.

This show takes place at the New Players Theatre. Doors 7.30 for 8.00 p.m.

Sounds like great fun! Maybe see you there?

I’ve just moved over here from another blog, so I’ll just quickly recap on what I’ve been up to recently.

I’m currently toiling  away at a snail’s pace on a couple of writing projects  – more about these later  – so in late 2009, I decided to do some comedy and cabaret in the meantime. Selected highlights include the Marie Lloyd Variety Box at the Hackney Empire, The COT’s Fantastic Plastic Circus at the Hotbed Studios, Pandora’s Box at the Albert and Pearl, and Funny Women Valentine’s Special at the Leicester Square Theatre. I’ve certainly been having a lot of fun at these gigs, so fingers crossed the audiences have too!