Fast-Paced Week

A very fast-paced week, this.  Faster than I'm used to.

The last two nights were spent in Wales for the Pete Firman tour, and both were lovely.  Aberystwyth, so I'd previously been informed, is apparently the gay capital of Wales, though this seemed like news to the people of Aberystwyth when I told them.  While this wasn't the case in the slightest, I had fun speculating which of their potential sensibilities I may have offended.  Homophobia as I had referred to their home town as the gay capital of Wales or their proud Welshness as I'd more specifically referred to it as 'the Brighton of Wales' and they all considered Brighton to be 'the Aberystwyth of England'.  I jest, it was all in good humour and easily one of the nicest of the tour so far.

Rewind to the start of the week and it was the Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival Awards on Monday.  I've already made mention of the fact that being nominated for Best Show was a huge, though pleasant, shock particularly when I saw my fellow nominees.  So you can imagine my utter delight and further surprise when I actually somehow won.

I am still beyond made up.  Given my considerable trepidation in embarking on a full length solo show, this really is the best thing that could have happened.  So thank you if you came and laughed, it's much appreciated.

Also this week I found out that I will be definitely taking the show to Edinburgh for the Fringe in August.  I'll be in the Attic at the Pleasance Courtyard at 5:45pm 1st-27th August (with possibly a day or two off among that) and am very much looking forward to it.

So if you're about Edinburgh during the Fringe it would be lovely to see you.

And, to round of this rather packed week, a rather pleased-with-myself photograph:

Radio

I'm finding listening to the radio to be thoroughly irritating recently.

This is just an example from a few days ago.  It's not Jeremy Vine's fault, he has to play some music in his show but I'm not sure the best way to get us to take his debate show seriously is by playing 'Love Shack' by the B-52s.

"That was 'Love Shack' by the B-52s there.  Now, what if you woke up morning and you were blind?  That's what happened to our first guest."

"That's right, Jeremy, I did wake up blind one morning but might I say; TUUUUUNE!"

A Sort of Calm Worry

Hello.

Have been a bit busier than normal of late.  I've not really got the time to work on the script I want to crack on with, which is a pain, but I am enjoying doing stand up.  The practicalities of it might be getting me down a bit, as they occasionally do.  Lots of travelling is meaning an ever decreasing bank balance and we're moving in a few weeks so I'm trying not to think about that whilst still thinking about it otherwise we'd end up right fucked.

But the actual doing of the gigs is a lot of fun, even the tough ones.  Of which there have been a few recently.

As well as gigging and driving and non-writing, I am waiting to hear back from venues with regard to doing 'Napkins' at the Fringe.  It's a sort of calm worry, that one.  I know which one I want to go to; they might not accept my application; that would be a big blow.  However, there's nothing I can do but wait so it's useless fretting over it just now.

On Monday I find out if the show has won Best Show at the Dave Leicester Comedy Festival Awards.  I'm still extremely surprised and incredibly grateful to have even been nominated for it.  Needless to say, whatever the outcome I'll update here with the news.

Somehow, Don't Ask Me How...

I was going to blog about how the show in Leicester went (which I will still do) but in between the last update and this one, I found out some rather excellent news regarding it.

Somehow, don't ask me how, it has been nominated for Best Show in the Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival Awards.  I haven't yet figured out a way of telling people without sounding like I'm showing off.  Probably engaging in polite conversation before blurting it out and getting rid of the banner would help.

Anyway, it goes without saying that I am beyond made up.  I wasn't expecting to get nominated at all and am extremely pleasantly surprised to be.  And I am in good company too - the other nominees are Tony Law, Ian Stone, The History Girls and Andrew O'Neill.  So hearing that made Friday a really nice day.

The show itself was a lot of fun.  Newer bits worked, other bits can be jettisoned and I enjoyed doing it so I'm very much looking forward to working more on it and, hopefully, doing it in Edinburgh in August.  Currently there are some more previews booked in and any more will be added to the gig list.

Thanks very much if you came along and laughed at my show, it's much appreciated.

More Prolific an Online Presence...

Right, that backlog?  Got quite large didn't it?  Now, along with a bit of retroactive blogging from notes I've scribbled with notebooks, it looks like for a couple of days I'll have to update more than once.  Because I've only covered a bit of January so far, I'm not going to let that stop me from becoming more prolific an online presence in 2012.

I've already forced myself to use Twitter more often and while I have started to use it more frequently, I'm still woefully inept at it when compared to some of my fellow comics.

Currently, with the show at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival done, I'm back to gigging and working on a script I've been playing with for a while now.  Until the end of March I am supporting Pete Firman on his Jiggery Pokery tour as well as doing a couple of other gigs around and about so there'll be a lot of miles covered.

There is now a new page on this blog for gigs and where I will be, should that interest you.  I've tried to spruce it up with start times and ticket prices and, where possible, links to where to buy tickets.  It's not something I'm good at, self promotion, but it's necessary innit?

I thought I'd end this update with a photo of what was looking down on me in the dressing room in Bromsgrove yesterday...

A Nice Image

I found out yesterday that on the same day as my show for the Leicester Comedy Festival, the EDL will be marching in Leicester.  Also that day Unite Against Fascism will be doing a counter march.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

That's right - passing trade.

I'm sure the show will have elements that will appeal to both groups.  The EDL can sympathise with the character of my manly uncle and UAF will probably quite like my bit about the crying unicorn.  They will see their differences through laughter and all will be alright.  Isn't that a nice image?  The English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism laughing together?

The utopia is near.

Tweets Calling Me a Paedophile

Got a bit behind again with the old blogging, increasing the backlog of updates I need to do but I'll get there.  I've got until 31st December after all.

Today was an odd one.  For the show in Leicester I've been compiling a slideshow of the screen grabs of the tweets calling me a paedophile and such like which was an odd way to spend an hour this afternoon.  Here is an example of one of them;

I also got sent through the copy of the poster for the show on the 4th, which is as follows;

Spammy Comment 2

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Looking Forward To & Dreading

Tonight is definitely for the unfamiliar bits of the show and trying to get to know them better.  I'm hoping I'll find new jokes along the way too.

The last one of these I did at the Frog & Bucket was a lot of fun and extremely useful.  Tonight I'm running through some of the Uncle Keith stuff (including a few newer bits I want to throw into that section of the show) in preparation for the Leicester show.

Which, by the way, I am both looking forward to and dreading.

And Mine, Obviously

In the interests of actually getting people to come to the show on the 4th February, I decided against doing the more unfamiliar bits at the Other Preview Show last night, so named because this was the preview show that was in a much smaller venue with more obscure names.

It seemed like a scenario to play it safe so I just did the bits I know well, indeed bits that are in my set anyway, in the hope of coming across good enough for people to come and see the show when the time comes.

I enjoyed the gig a lot, and if you are about Leicester during the festival I'd recommend going to see the shows by these acts;

Fergus Craig
Matt Richardson
David Morgan
Jonathan Elston
Sara Pascoe

And mine, obviously.

Plug Away

Tonight I am previewing some of 'Napkins' as part of one of the Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival preview show and am both nervous and curious to find out how some bits will go.  I've done them before but not for a while and the actual show is getting closer and closer so I'm excited about getting certain bits out at the same time as being anxious as to how they will go.

As uncomfortable as I am doing it, you've got to plug away haven't you?  So, for what good it will do, you can get tickets for the show by clicking this link.

Updating in 'Real Time'

You may have noticed, Kenneth, that I have been going back and updating what happened on days where I did not blog.  I've been filling in the gaps so to speak.  With a backlog of four days still to get through, I'll be doing them piecemeal at the same time as updating in 'real time'.

I've also been trying to dip my toe further into the Twitter waters, just because it seems like a useful tool.  And also I like to get screengrabs of 'Chris Stokes is a paedo' tweets for use in the stand up show.

The whole thing still amuses me though.  Social networking is supposed to bring people closer together by facilitating ease of communication.  But because it's done on a keyboard any warmth to the sentiments expressed just come across as hollow.

For example, somebody on Facebook posted how irritated she was that her job interview today had been cancelled.  Cue friends offering sad faces and 'awwws' to help make it all better.  Because reading an 'awwww' will make you go, "Ahhhhh... Everything's going to be alright!"  Scientists have proven that.

Then an elaboration that she has the worst luck with jobs and is actually quite down about it.  Somebody 'liked' it.  Is that insensitive?  I think that's insensitive.  Further, another friend then decided to try and arrange a cheery-uppy meeting.  These arrangements went on for over twice my computer screen, what the best day would be, where would be best, maybe they could go to the gym etc only for the friend who suggested it to say, "Oh, no, actually I'll probably be at work."

Way to twist the knife, eh?  "Can't get a job?  Never mind, let's have a coffee and some baby talk and... Oh no, wait.  I have a job unlike you.  You'd better be miserable alone because I have a job."

Casino Royale (1967)

I've been reading up on, and watching, the 1967 version of 'Casino Royale' for Gag Reels at the end of the month.  I'm hoping I've made the right choice.  There is definitely some comic mileage in it, especially when contrasted with the novel, and the story of its genesis is fairly amusing.

Plus there's the odd apocryphal tale from the making of it that may or may not be true but are funny all the same.

Watching it though it interested me to note (I'd not watched it for ages) that despite it being made to discredit and ruin the official Bond franchise by being utterly and completely ridiculous, it sticks closer to the source novel than, say, the film of 'You Only Live Twice' does to Fleming's novel of that name.  This oddity starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Orson Welles, Woody Allen AND BERNARD CRIBBINS is arguably a more faithful adaptation than 'You Only Live Twice', 'Diamonds Are Forever', 'The Spy Who Loved Me', 'Moonraker' or 'Octopussy'.

And that's even taking into account the flying saucer and Frankenstein's Monster.

Shattered and a Bit Cold

Reassuringly, the gig last night was fun.  There's always the worry that having a gap might make you forget everything.

Getting back wasn't so smooth.  Yes, it was cheap (£6!) but the announcer came on to tell us that the train would be delayed as, "This evening a customer was struck by a train."  In the same way a match is struck I suppose.  Or a Terry's Chocolate Orange.  But then it would have been insensitive to have said, "Obliterated by a train."

I was travelling early in the morning anyway and got back at 8 completely shattered and a bit cold.  I slept for a fair bit and when I woke up I noticed that I had somehow managed to take a phone call and note down in my diary the date and time of a casting for a sitcom pilot.  I'm glad I managed to do this as it would have been irritating to have missed out on it through being asleep when I should have been awake.

An Actual Train

First gig of the new year tonight, and it's down in Lon Don.  I actually quite like London, but then I'm not there very much so don't really get the chance to go off it.  What's more, I've fairly recently discovered how insanely cheap it is to get there from where I live.  £12 return.  And that's on a train and everything, not a Megabus or bale of hay being towed by a tractor.  An actual train.  £6 one way, £6 back.  It's crazy!

With this discovery I decided I'd try and gig there more often.  Judging by how good I am when I decide to blog more it will come as no surprise that the next time I am in London is a month and a half away.  

Having not gigged since before Christmas it will be good to get back on the horse.