Eshaan Akbar overcomes hearing aid failure recording debut special
For any stand-up, filming a debut special is one of the watershed moments of their career, when every aspect of the night needs to be perfect.
So you can imagine Eshaan Akbar's horror when recording his show, The Pretender, as his hearing aids failed five minutes into his set, after he forgot to charge them.
Regardless, the comic, who talks about his deafness in the show and retains about 60% of his hearing, carried on.
"Survival instinct kicked in" he told British Comedy Guide of the recording at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on 28th April. "I was banking on knowing the rhythms of my jokes. And I was trying to see the faces that I could.
"But as it was happening, I could feel in the back of my head another person looking at me, rolling their eyes, going 'oh, my God, I can't believe you didn't charge them properly'. Because I guess when you're getting ready to do your special, that's one of the things you forget.
"I just ploughed on through, waiting for the reaction of the audience. Everything just sounded so much more muted. The laughter sounded like it was underwater.
"Because it dropped out so early though, before I even started talking about my deafness, I'd already got into a rhythm and decided not to mention it."
Fortunately, he only has two shows left of his tour, so knows his routines inside-out.
"I'm confident in my material" he maintains. "And when I left the stage, everybody was like, 'you absolutely smashed that'. I've not watched it back yet. But my videographer has and he said it all looks absolutely great."
Instead of relying on his £2500 aids, which require charging, if he'd had his NHS ones, Akbar would only have had to briefly stop the show and put new batteries in.
"Which wouldn't have been great. But preferable and, I guess, funny" he reasons.
Akbar is currently pitching the special to various broadcasters. And he anticipates it being released in the autumn to coincide with his debut acting role in the fourth series of Netflix's Sex Education.
He still can't share many details of his character but does mention that they're "too chilled out, relaxed and funny" to be considered dark or a villain.
The Pretender tour finishes with a show at The Lowry in Salford on 23rd June and at The Old Woollen venue in Leeds on the 25th of the same month.