Imagine it: Standing there in front of a sea of faces demanding "make me laugh".
It is the stuff of nightmares, I reckon.
A good friend, who's really a rather shy and sensitive chap, does it for exactly that reason. Because it absolutely terrifies him.
Comedians are a funny breed and I've been enjoying the Fringe Comedy Club at XII Below over the past couple of nights.
Although, Raybon Kan had an evening to forget at the premiere of his Awesome $ecrets of Winning Thru £aziness at the Comedy Club.
"There wasn't a reviewer here, was there?" he anxiously asked after the show.
Kan is one of New Zealand's most experienced comedians and it was surprising to see him stumble through his routine.
But when I rang him yesterday, he had a pretty good excuse - his slide projector had broken down minutes before the gig.
"It's just one of those things," he sighed.
"If the audience can lose themselves in the content then you're away. But when it's bad, it's like a job interview or a really bad first date."
Kan is back - with working slide projector - at the Comedy Club tonight and tomorrow, followed by Sarah Harpur and Tarun Mohanbhai.
Tonight is your last chance to congregate at the Church in Dundas St for AntiSocial Tap's irreverent Fresh Talent Stand-ups at 6.30pm, Big Names at 8.30pm and Du Bist Ein Uber Show at 9.30pm.
Taking bows tomorrow, are Once Upon A, Love You Approximately and Scared Scriptless L.O.V.E. in the Fortune Theatre Studio, Don't Look in the Octagon and Flat 1/15 Melville St and The Secret of Capping Show's Success and I Heart at the Globe Theatre.
The Festival Club at Bennu has been packed every night of the Fringe so far.
The Barons of Tang on Thursday was an astonishing gig and last night was a wicked fireside serenade by the Devil's own troubador, Delaney Davidson.
Tonight, from 10, it is Bird Wizdom, with ivory improv artist Nick Knox and the indomitable Raybon Kan.
The living statues in Still Life at the Station will be well worth a look at the Otago Farmers Market at the Dunedin Railway Station from 9am to 11am today, while one of the acts I've been most eagerly awaiting, the Eastern's No Depression (in New Zealand), is on at 7.30 tonight in the Glenroy Auditorium.
The ever-popular Pecha Kucha is back at 7.30pm tomorrow in the Glenroy.
Speakers include Mishca Rhys Hill, John Egenes, Mark McGuire, Ian Chapman, Jonathon Cweorth, Martyn Roberts, Jinty McTavish, Lara MacGregor, Stanley Manthyng, Nina Katchadourian, Jamie Hanton and Lynn Vare.
Get in quick, because tickets always go like hot cakes.
Fringe programme
Today
• Daily: A Boy had a Mouth Full of Glitter (Chipmunks car park)
• Daily: Animae (Octagon and University of Otago)
• Daily: Who Let the Monkeys Out? (Queens Gardens)
• 9am-11am: Still Life at the Station (Railway Station)
• 9am-5pm: Cooee (Stairwell, 130 Stuart St, top floor)
• 10am-5pm: Don't Look (Octagon and Flat 1/15 Melville St)
• 10am-5pm: From The Mountains To The Sea (Tangente Cafe)
• 10.30am-6pm: Pattern and Paradox (Gallery on Blueskin)
• 11am: Pick of The Fringe (Octagon)
• 11am and 1pm: Once Upon A (Fortune Theatre Studio)
• Noon-6pm: YYYEEESSS (284 Princes St)
• 6.30pm: Fresh Talent Stands-Up (the Church)
• 7pm: The Secret of Capping Show's Success (the Globe Theatre)
• 7pm: Awesome $ecrets of Winning Thru aziness (Comedy Club @ XII Below)
• 7pm: Love You Approximately (Fortune Theatre Studio)
• 7.30pm: No Depression (in New Zealand) (Glenroy Auditorium)
• 8pm: AntiSocial Tap's Big Names (the Church)
• 8.30pm: I Heart (the Globe Theatre)
• 8.30pm: Master's Curious Delirium (Sammy's)
• 8.30pm: Harpur's Bizarre - Immortal Combat (Comedy Club @ XII Below)
• 9pm: Scared Scriptless L.O.V.E. (Fortune Theatre Studio)
• 9.30pm: Du Bist Ein Uber Show! (the Church)
• 10pm: Punch Lines Not Included (Comedy Club @ XII Below)
• 10pm: Festival Club (Bennu Restaurant)
Tomorrow
• Daily: A Boy had a Mouth Full of Glitter (Chipmunks car park)
• Daily: Animae (Octagon and University of Otago)
• Daily: Who Let the Monkeys Out? (Queens Gardens)
• 9am-5pm: Cooee (Stairwell, 130 Stuart St, Top Floor)
• 10am-5pm: Don't Look (Octagon and Flat 1/15 Melville St)
• 10am-5pm: From The Mountains To The Sea (Tangente Cafe)
• 10.30-6pm: Pattern and Paradox (Gallery on Blueskin)
• 11am and 1pm: Once Upon A (Fortune Theatre Studio)
• Noon: Pick of The Fringe (Octagon)
• Noon-6pm: YYYEEESSS (284 Princes St)
• 4pm: Love You Approximately (Fortune Theatre Studio)
• 6pm: Awesome $ecrets of Winning Thru aziness (Comedy Club @ XII Below)
• 6pm: The Secret of Capping Show's Success (the Globe Theatre)
• 7pm: Scared Scriptless L.O.V.E. (Fortune Theatre Studio)
• 7.30pm: I Heart (the Globe Theatre)
• 7.30pm: Pecha Kucha Night (Glenroy Auditorium)
• 7.30pm: Harpur's Bizarre - Immortal Combat (Comedy Club @ XII Below)
• 9pm: Punch Lines Not Included (Comedy Club @ XII Below) •
