I went to see the legendary Arnold Brown at the Stand on
Tuesday night. Very enjoyable. I'm ashamed to admit it's
the first time I've seen him live.
The Stand can often be quite an edgy venue with a prevalent
in-house compere technique of ripping into the audience mercilessly.
Of course this can be hilarious. However it's nice sometimes
just to sit back and enjoy the show without your sphincter trembling in anticipation of being caught in the gaze of a predatory compere.
Arnold does employ a bit of audience joshing, but it's a fairly benign assault,and the fact that he sits down throughout his set adds to the laid back feel of the evening. Anyway, about 90 minutes of quality material followed.
Not too many "fall off the seat laughing" moments, more a long succession of hearty chuckles, but ultimately highly enjoyable, and a pleasure to witness a seasoned pro doing the business.
When I was a kid I used to suppress giggles at my Gran when I witnessed her speaking to TV presenters (while they were on television, as opposed to in real life).
As the news programme "Scotland Today" went on air, the presenter would open the show by announcing "Good Evening".
My Gran, sitting in the "box seat" next to the TV, would reply "Good Evening".
I think latterly she really did believe the newsreader was addressing her personally.
Worryingly I did exactly the same thing last night whilst
watching "Scotland Today".
It just slipped out.I don't actually believe that Shereen Nanjeeami (STV presenter) was speaking to me personally ; but neither did my Gran at first. Perhaps I need to get out more and watch less regional news programmes at teatime.
Jim Park True Tales Episode 1.
When I lived in a communal flat in Bellevue in the 80s, we amused
ourselves by playing the robot challenge.For some reason we came in possession of a large cardboard box.In a moment of "Blue Peter" type inspiration, we decided to make the box into a robot disguise. We cut eye holes and drew a ridiculous big smiley face on the front of the box, and cut armholes on each side. A volunteer was selected, usually on the basis of losing a game of cards or dice.
Wearing the box, the volunteer was required to run down the street and repeatedly cavort across the main road in front of oncoming vehicles in a demented manner, waving his/her arms around incoherently.
This spectacle was observed with great glee by the other flat occupants. The main enjoyment stemmed from the bemused reaction of passing pedestrians and motorists.
I hasten to add that there was a safety element involved, whereby guidelines were set stipulating that the oncoming vehicles were deemed far enough away to prevent the likelihood of a "Bizarre Road Death" headline in the Edinburgh Evening News on the following day.
Unfortunately we didn't secure copyright and Dom Jolly went on to become rich and famous with "Trigger Happy TV".
