Mick Fanning – 2012 Bells Beach surfing champion – with two fans he's trying to get rid of

Every night an audience has an energy to itself. During a comedy festival you get to see the good, the bad and other things all together unique.

The good

In my show I talk of my love of basketball and in particular Michael Jordan, who I had the opportunity to meet last year. I grew up playing b’ball. I didn’t play football because I was afraid I’d get beaten up by the jocks. I didn’t play netball because I was afraid I’d get beaten up by the jocks.

When I mentioned Michael Jordan being my hero, a gentlemen in the third row reacted by nodding vigorously. I enquired if he also admired MJ. Responding with a Middle American drawl he proclaimed, ‘Well I grew up in the town across from Michael and went to university with him.’

This was the equivalent of a junkie finding out his best friend farms poppy seeds. Parts of me were erect I didn’t even know could react that way. How does your belly button get a stiffy? It’s not often you want a room full of people to walk out on your show half way through but in this particular case I just wanted him and I to fan boy the f#%k out of this conversation (which we did at the end of the show).

The bad

On the night of Good Friday I had an interesting reaction to say the least. Fifteen minutes into my one-hour show I looked down and in the front row a woman was asleep. I’ve been known to talk in my sleep but this is the first time I’ve talked in anyone else’s. It’s good to know my comedy is about as exciting as a footballer’s post-match interview. Miss Narcolepsy had to be nudged by her companion to even react to me. It was like she had used my comedy room as a hotel room and if I’m going to be honest, prostitutes not stand-up comedians, usually frequent an hourly hotel room. At least she was being very Easterly – she was resting on Friday and didn’t look like she was going to rise until Sunday.

The unique

Mick Fanning, the pro surfer who won The Bells Classic just a few days earlier, was at a gig I performed at. Wow. How cool is that? I spoke to him for a bit and he was nice enough to stay awake for my entire performance.

These are just some of the random audience members I’ve met at a comedy festival and I’m sure there will be many, many more.