Saturday, February 23, 2008

22/02/08 I'm in Canada



Hey, am I cool, or am I cool???




Snowboarding is a funny way to spend a holiday.
It's all very exhiliarating and fun, but after a couple of days I find myself perpetually a bit shagged out (with a mild hangover).
I got a board on Ebay before I came out and what a board it is...
It makes my old board look like an antique ironing board.
All of a sudden I can go twice as fast as I used to.
The only downside is that when I fall off it hurts twice as much as it used to.
The slopes are good but we need more snow...please!
The weather is a bit freaky in Banff this week.
Last week it was -30, but this week it is averaging +5. Weird.
With all my thermals on I nearly passed out with heat exhaustion on the first day.
Still...better than working I suppose...

On the Stand-up scene, I found out I'd been reviewed twice here
Interestingly, they were two very good gigs for me...however, he obviously doesn't like me and I get a bit of a kicking.
(although in fairness, he does observe that I was well received by the audience on both occasions)
I do agree with him to a certain extent on sticking a bit too rigidly to my script, and I'd like to get a bit more conversational with the audience, especially at clubs like LemonCustard, (which was a brilliant little comedy evening which I thoroughly enjoyed,quirkily hosted by Dee Custance and Sian Bevan).
I like getting a bit of objective criticism though, and just because you have a really good night in terms of audience reaction doesn't mean that you can't get a slagging.
I know I myself regularly see some comics ripping it up, but don't really rate them as great acts.
But now I must go out to get drunk because that is what decrepit snowboarders do of an evening to ease their painful joints.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

07/02/08 Night Out With The Lads



I went to see my old mucker Jamie Frain showcase his new CD at The Phoenix Bar last night, with Dave Reilly ably accompanying him on bass.
Old Frainto remains a very talented musician.
He's got a great voice and can definitely write a mean tune.
My only criticism would be that his lyrics don't quite engage me to the same extent, but that's a minor quibble.
"Trashcan Secrets" is the pick of the bunch.
Later I had a dispute with Dave's wife regarding her husband's TV viewing habits.
She seemed to think that as I was currently not in possession of a job, it was inappropriate of me to make impertinent remarks regarding Dave's packed lifestyle.
It was all happening !
Another old mucker of mine, Mr Nicky Hind , is across visiting from the USA for a few days,and we have been having a right royal laugh.
He went down to Newcastle with me on the next leg of my UK tour.
The gig went really well even though I thought my actual performance was fairly cack.
"Long Live Comedy" is a great little club though, and I'd heartily recommend it!
We tried to find Hadrian's Wall on the way down, but got a bit lost and only found a little bit of it just before it got dark.
It looked just like a mound of earth, but the sign said it was a Roman Temple attached to the wall.
Impressive.
The new SatNav worked a treat on the way down but then wouldn't charge up for the journey home.
It took a while to get out of Newcastle under manual navigation and I took a short tour of several Industrial Estates in Newcastle. Very interesting.
We've spent a lot of time arguing about politics, the system and "working for the man"...I'd say I won.
I also had a pretty severe haircut...a No. 2 all over...
I like it, but am blessed with something of a potato head and am not best suited to the crew cut look...
My friend Lynne said it made me look 10 years younger ...but she was probably a bit pissed..(I certainly was)

Sunday, February 03, 2008

03/02/08 On Tour



I had a gig at the "QI Club" in Oxford on Thursday night.
It was a decent enough night for me , although it was a slight anti-climax after the last few gigs. But I still had a pretty good time.
I had an early morning flight to Luton. 7am. ouch!
I spent the evening before watching dramatic reconstructions of plane crashes on the National Geographic cable channel.
Just as we were coming into land at an incredibly windy Luton Airport, the lights above the emergency exit doors flashed on.
This wasn't too re-assuring, but we landed ok in the end.
The truly memorable aspect of the gig occurred when one of the acts on the bill recited a jokey poem about the recently departed Jeremy Beadle.
It was a cheeky, joshy ode to JB, and wasn't really offensive.
However, the inclusion of this piece caused major rumblings in the audience as a debate began between the comedian and the audience over whether it was actually ok to do a piece such as this.
He'd recently organised a big quiz night in the QI Club which several of them attended, and it became clear they were very fond of him.
They kept mentioning that he'd raised 100 million quid for charity, (an undoubtedly impressive figure)...
Anyway, eventually the exasperated comedian said..."ok, so what do you want? a 2 minute silence for him or what?"
Most of the audience nodded approvingly.
So we had an impeccably observed 2 minute silence in memory of Jeremy.
It was probably the most surreal moment I've ever experienced in a comedy club.
The gig continued after the silence, and the rest of the night was fine.
I was sad to hear of the death of Miles Kington as well last week.
He wrote really funny little column in The Independent every day.
A typical line from him was ;
"knowledge consists of knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom consists of not putting it in a fruit salad"...
beautiful...!