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'It was like being in a speakeasy during Prohibition' – standups on their first gigs since lockdown

Bridget Christie: ‘I could have said anything’

Lockdown was the longest I’ve not gigged since I started in comedy. I realised how much I’d been rushing around all the time: hurrying up my children, getting homework and dinner sorted, always thinking: where’s that gig again and what shall I say tonight?

I would have been doing my tour now but it’s been put back a year. Everything I was planning for it has been scrapped. The world has changed so much – I won’t start writing the new show until 2021.

I’ve had one gig since lockdown. Driving down to Brighton for it, I was incredibly nervous. Before my set I suddenly thought: why on earth would anyone do this? Then after two sentences, I was having the best time of my life. I didn’t realise how much I needed standup until it was gone. Our jobs are a big part of who we think we are. I can’t imagine a world without comedy clubs. It’s such an amazing, accessible art form.

The audience might have been kinder because they were so happy to be out – we could have said anything and they would have had a good time. It will be interesting to see when comics start having tough gigs again or whether it’s just going to be really easy for us all from now on!

Stephen K Amos: ‘You could feel the roar of energy’

Returning to live comedy has reminded me of the early days. All of us have been backstage going through our notes. You can see the fear and anticipation. Seann Walsh was laughing at me for taking my clipboard on stage because I thought I’d forget my jokes. Then he went on and dried! The audience know we haven’t been doing gigs for a while and they can see we’re a bit rusty.

Backstage, it was interesting hearing the chatter among human beings. I’d spent the previous six months in my garden just listening to nature! I’ve been playing rooms that could usually hold 300 but have 90 people in. You could feel the roar of energy though – audiences are longing for comedy.

I have some material about my dad staying with me during lockdown but unless you’ve got a really clever routine about Covid I would steer clear of it, personally. People have had enough from the news and talking to their friends. I can’t think of anything more dull than watching a comic going: “How about this Covid business, eh?”

‘I hate Zoom’ … Rob Beckett.
‘I hate Zoom’ … Rob Beckett. Photograph: Stephen Pover/Rex/Shutterstock

Rob Beckett: ‘I hate Zoom!’

Socially distanced gigs feel like a rock band doing an acoustic set. There’s not the same atmosphere: a room 30% full will only ever be 30% full. But the audience are so up for it. On tour, you do a bit of crowd work and sometimes they’re into it and sometimes they’re not. Right now, they’re really engaging with other people. We’re discussing stuff as a room, rather than me delivering my show to them.

You get a few people where you notice it’s their first time out. But I don’t find that people have been very awkward or worried in the audience – once you’re there, after five minutes, you relax. The key thing about comedy, forgetting Covid, is you’ve got to make people feel comfortable. If you’re in a club and a nervous opener shuffles on, the crowd can feel like one giant collective bumhole clenching.

I know people have enjoyed online gigs and they’re a way for comics on the circuit to earn money but I hate Zoom. I don’t have fun on it, I can’t connect. I feed off the energy of people – that’s why I love doing standup. Going to a club at the moment feels almost like being in a speakeasy during prohibition: come in here and have all this fun!

‘I need to reference what’s going on in the world’ … Suzi Ruffell.
‘I need to reference what’s going on in the world’ … Suzi Ruffell. Photograph: Andrew Eaton/Alamy

Suzi Ruffell: ‘You’ve got to be braver’

Luckily the early part of my career at the Edinburgh fringe really prepared me for playing half-full rooms. I’ve done around 20 socially distanced gigs so far. When I got off stage after the first one I could have cried – I was on such a high that comedy was back.

Normally I gig five nights a week. Even when I’ve gone on holiday I’ve dropped in to perform at clubs, so I was concerned I’d lose that sharpness. I didn’t feel as confident as normal but I was really excited to be back. It’s like all the nerves of being new, but you’re not as shit as you used to be.

I’m trying out new bits of material about the pandemic but I’ve been doing big outdoor gigs with audiences of 1,000, whereas normally I’d try new material in front of 30 people or so. “A funny thing happened to me. Is it funny?” Usually a smaller group of people would be telling me. So you’ve got to be a bit braver.

To begin with I didn’t want to talk about the pandemic. Now I’ve got a few gigs under my belt I need to reference what’s going on in the world. If I didn’t, the audience would be like: “Is she going to mention the fact we were all locked inside for months? Doesn’t she know?”