Networking is not working

An enjoyable evening, which could have gone either way - Storytellers Club followed by a BBC party thing. Storytellers Club intimidated me a little cos I'm most comfortable telling made-up jokes, but it was a lovely club, a lovely audience, and I made the most of it by telling a true story about a time I went to Holland to meet a young lady. Anyway, I stitched about 4 stories together, and I reckon I've got a few bits I can crowbar into this year's Edinburgh show, so I'm chuffed with that.

Then dropped in on the way home to a BBC launch do, plugging a new live night they're doing. And it was nice in that there were lots of people I knew there from different places - a guy from uni, comedians from the circuit, various producers I'd worked with on different things, some writers I holed up with for a week a couple of years ago, some actors I'd written something for once, a good three or four people I've know idea how I met...

And yet I felt that odd conflict over writer/comedian. Because...

Writers, some writers at least, seem to relish meeting up, because writing can be such a lonely job. So it can be nice to catch up, bond, gossip, moan, etc. But...

Comedians, some comedians at least, don't like networking or hobnobbing - it's a bit too 'industry' for comics, who seem to just stick to people they know.

I still can't decide which I'm more of, so given that I'm a 50/50 split of writer/comedian, I found myself last night relishing the chance to be there, and then finding I didn't want to network. Paul the writer really enjoyed himself; Paul the comedian was socially awkward from the minute he got there and kept trying to leave, until Paul the writer convinced him to stay. (I should say at this point that I haven't got a split personality, and neither have I.)