Comedy news: On The Road with Carl Donnelly in Thailand: Pattaya and Bangkok

In part two of his mini diary of the Far East, Carl Donnelly heads from the laid back town of Phuket to the lions den of Pattaya and on to witness the protests in Bangkok.

Pattaya

 I think there should be a sign as you enter Pattaya saying “WARNING – Sexually aggressive prostitutes roam wild. Stay in groups” as nothing could have prepared us for our post show wander. This was probably the quietist of the gigs in that half of the town was deserted due to the volcanic ash cloud hovering over northern Europe.

Most visitors had to delay their journey meaning the hotel we were staying and performing in was pretty mush deserted. Despite the small numbers, the audience were great fun and again allowed for us to mess around a bit more than in Hong Kong where it felt like a gig you really had to get to the point!

After the show was when the real fun/terror started. We went for our ritual post-show drinks and decided to head into the busy bar area of Pattaya. We came to a corner and looked up a road that seemed to have loads of bars and looked like fun so we agreed this would be the route to take. Within twenty yards of entering the road the first group of prostitutes attacked.

Like tigers separating a group of Gazelle we were split up and groped individually while they tried to convince us to enter their establishment (this is meant literally and as a euphemism)! We managed to fight through and re-group only for the next group, this time of lady-boys to jump us.

They were equally as aggressive but also equipped with the strength of men making them some sort of super prostitute! Basically over the next 300 yards and what felt like an hour we fought off group after group of sex workers. Initially we were laughing and joking about it but by the end we were pretty much sprinting for the end of the road! 

A few drinks settled us down before we took a different route back to the hotel as had an early set off to Bangkok for our final leg of the tour.

Bangkok

We were warned off going to Bangkok by a lot of people as the night before there had been a bomb attack on a major train station as part of the anti-government demonstrations that had been going on for a fortnight.

Over breakfast though we agreed that “It’ll be fine” and then off we went into the danger zone. Based on the BBC news reporting I was expecting us to be driving in through burnt out cars and bodies but the truth is that in Bangkok it was business as usual.

The city carried on as if nothing was happening, the gigs were full and at no point did we feel in any danger. It is a testament to the Thai way of life that even when bombs are going off they are still cheery and chilled out. London grinds to a halt if there is an inch of snow! 

The first nights journey to the gig was fun in that we were stuck in traffic on route and it was looking like we were going to be very late so had to hop out and jump on the back of motorbike taxis. Imagine the site of three comics and a promoter being delivered to the venue like a pizza!

The gigs in Bangkok were the perfect end to our tour. Both nights were full of funny eccentric ex-pats who were great fun which meant we had as much fun as they did during the show.

All in all it was my favourite overseas tour I’ve ever done and will be hard to beat. It was also the perfect trip to kick me back into gear as sometimes as a stand-up you find yourself complaining that you have to travel a lot and go to places you might not like but it is tours like this that remind us just how lucky we are doing what we do.

For details of these gigs in the Far-East check out www.punchlinecomedy.com/

Carl Donnelly is currently touring the UK with fellow Fringe Award nominee Pete Johansson, for more information and tour dates visit: Carl Donnelly's Official Website