A night at Special Guest
Special Guest is a live event with a twist. The audience are the speakers.
Each person who steps on stage gets just 60 seconds, and anything goes. There is no set theme and no script. In a single evening you might see song and dance, heartfelt confessions, furious tirades, half-formed shower thoughts or something completely unclassifiable. Expect the unexpected.
Held monthly in various locations across London, it is an open mic night with a difference. There are no sign-ups and no limited number of spaces. If you want the spotlight, all you need to do is step up and seize your moment.
FLO spent an evening with Special Guest, speaking to the host, Eve, and some of the night’s speakers to find out what draws people to the stage and what keeps the crowd coming back.
Special Guest. Image credit Angelo Mikhaeil
Rahul - “If your soul needs healing, turn up.”
My name's Rahul. It was a poem I wrote as a kind of apology and way of making peace with my girlfriend after she was upset this morning. She just started a job at a hospital in Whitechapel. Very stressful. I texted her a poem just to ease her, basically. It was awesome to read it tonight. Unbelievable. I had no idea about what I was going to share this evening, then I realised that I'd written the poem this morning.
We’re here tonight because I wanted my girlfriend, who has just moved to London, to appreciate that the city has pockets of beauty and community that let you feel inspired, let you imagine, let you dream. There are people here who are interested in what you have to say, even though it sometimes feels like a cold and a brutal city. I just wanted her to feel the energy in this place.
I don't think I've ever been somewhere like this. I've been to a couple of open mics, which are still beautiful experiences, but they are very different to this. The host, Eve, makes the night unbelievable. She cares and thinks about what people are saying. These nights can make you go from laughter to tears in like seconds, man. I don't think I've had an experience like it. If your soul needs healing, turn up.
Special Guest. Image credit Angelo Mikhaeil
Ramit - “This space is safe… everyone was super encouraging, and they were here to listen and participate and make everyone feel seen and heard.”
My name is Ramit. Tonight, I spoke about healing my anxious attachment style. It was about how I've always thought of love from a point of chaos because I grew up watching Bollywood movies and Hollywood movies, and I wanted a love like Aman and Naina, like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Those relationships didn't really work out, so I guess I was chasing the wrong thing.
After going to therapy, it's been hard to figure out what love is. Sometimes I feel like chasing that soul-merging love, the love where you love each other in every lifetime. That hasn't always brought that peace to me. So, I don't know now if I am in love or not.
It was funny to talk about it in front of so many people. I've done public speaking before. I actually did a TEDx talk in November. But I don't think I've ever publicly spoken about heartbreak and my feelings. It's a part of me that people don’t see. Well, people that follow me on Instagram will see all the emo quotes in my Instagram captions. But here tonight, everyone was being so accepting. People afterwards came to me and said my experience resonates with them.
It’s my first time here. One of the things I'm working on is a start-up called Comfy. We're trying to revitalize how we approach social media and how people meet each other. And so, I've been going to a lot of third places. Places like this, community events, to see how communities are run and how people are meeting each other in London.
What Special Guest and Peckham Levels are doing is great because they're letting people who have these unique life experiences come and just share. This space is safe. We’ve heard some ridiculous things today [from the speakers], and everyone was super encouraging, and they were here to listen and participate and make everyone feel seen and heard.
Special Guest. Image credit Angelo Mikhaeil
Atikah - “You don’t have to be a pro. You just be yourself.”
My name is Atikah and tonight I talked about how I wanted to make new friends and to be more extroverted. I like seeing new people. I like seeing new faces. So, I wanted to be out there. I enjoyed being in this kind of space where you can share everything that’s in your head and nobody is judging. I haven't been here before, but I’ll come back, definitely.
I’ve never seen anything else that’s like this. At other events, there’s usually people that come and already have things to say, and they're usually professional, or they are already a speaker, so they're very fluent and things like that. But when you come here you don’t have to be a pro. You just be yourself. I’d tell everyone, just to do it for yourself. Think positive, have a good mindset. Never give up. Keep growing!
Special Guest. Image credit Angelo Mikhaeil
Eve - “All you need to do is bring yourself and that is enough.”
Can you tell us about who you are, about these events, and why you do this?
I’m Eve, host of Special Guest. I started going to these events back in 2018. I found out about it through a failed Tinder match, and I fell in love with it. It became my community. It’s a place where I've found lovers and housemates. I took over as event organiser from the founder because I knew that it needed to continue. I knew that it needed to live and to continue to make a difference in people's lives.
It brings people together. They have this opportunity to share anything and everything: things that are on their mind, things that they haven't shared with other people, like little secret skills, or things that they hope for, or ridiculously insane dating stories.
The audience being the stars of the show creates this core of community where people are being truly present. It's the most human space, right? It's this real connection. People come here to fulfil their dreams, or announce their dreams, or just to tell us about the weird dreams they have. It's a very dreamy space. In the room, it's magic. It's a magical experience.
What’s special about Special Guest nights?
What’s special about Special Guest is that everybody is listening and ready to receive. In a place like London, where people have their guard up, lots of us are craving a space like this. People are craving an opportunity to just let go of the tension and the things that are holding them back from just talking to each other.
I see how it lights people up. I see how people are constantly surprised. I see how people are mind-blown by the experience here and how it has a life beyond the room.
Special Guest. Image credit Angelo Mikhaeil
Are there any moments from tonight or past events that stand out to you?
I have such a melody of different moments in my brain. Tonight, somebody read a poem that she'd written about her mum. It was a succinct, truthful account of grief and what it feels like, the isolation of grief, how the rest of the world keeps moving and you don't. That really moved me.
In the next moment you're seeing people doing belly-rolls because that's their party trick, and someone else is talking freely about their sexuality and making best friends on the kink scene, and then in the next moment someone is just being grateful for being alive.
Definitely the most iconic moment was when somebody got on stage and said that it’s always been a dream of theirs to crowd surf, and the audience helped them do it. That was exhilarating. Only at Special Guest. I bet you haven't seen that anywhere else!
Why should our readers come down to the next night?
I mean, seeing is believing. I hear so many times that there is no space like Special Guest. I hear that people can't believe that something like this exists. You have poetry nights and you have open mic nights where people come to showcase and share a particular skill, but there's people that feel like they can't contribute. They go to these nights just to listen, just to witness, but with Special Guest, all you need to do is bring yourself and that is enough. There's no signing up, there's no limited number of spaces.
When you go on that stage everyone is clapping, and the moment you stand up you claim that applause for yourself. You walk on stage and you feel this sense of connection and excitement. You're probably a little bit scared, but it's only 60 seconds of your life. A lot can happen in 60 seconds. It could be a formative moment. It’s a beautiful way to meet new people and to feel human again in a city that requires you to shut down a lot of your instinct for connection and truth.
Special Guest. Image credit Angelo Mikhaeil
What does it mean to you to host these nights?
It’s one of the most beautiful things. I live for those moments of people gathering around the fire to entertain each other or to ask each other, “Do you feel this too?”.
All I want is to set the tone and open a space where everything is possible. To make people feel comfortable, to make people feel ready to give it a try. I'm just here to give little bit of encouragement, and I'm every single person's biggest fan. That's all that I'm here to do.
I write down notes on each person’s 60 seconds, and do these recaps between each round, recapping what’s been said and done on stage. At an open mic it can be like you are are sharing into the abyss, so these recaps are about capturing these little moments shared throughout the night. A lot of people say that it makes them feel seen.
What have you learned in your time hosting these nights?
It has taught me about humans. Every single month, you don’t know what to expect. You could never guess what’s coming. Every time, you get something different that teaches you about humanity. You find that nobody is boring and everyone has something to say, and they're sitting around you all the time. Like, what if everybody on your tube carriage had one minute to share or do anything? Like how entertaining would that be? This is basically doing that. It's like picking up a group, a group full of randoms and just being like, cool, what happens when we all contribute? Boom.
I love it with all my heart. These nights have my heart. Londoners need spaces like this, and, right now, the only way you're gonna get it is if you come to a Special Guest night. So, you might as well just come along, give it a go, and I think you'll fall in love with it and you'll be stuck with us.
Special Guest. Image credit Angelo Mikhaeil
For more information, visit Special Guest’s website and follow them on Instagram:
Website: specialguesthq.com
Instagram: @specialguestldn; @eveofpoems
Words by Angelo Mikhaeil
