Warming Up

366 days without alcohol. Only 134 til 500 so might as well hang on for that now.

So I’ve made it to my 7th decade, but somehow Warming Up is only on its third. How does that work? Neither seems mathematically accurate.

I decided to have a day off, even though deadlines are pressing and I haven’t quite got as far as I hoped over the last couple of days (partly because I’ve decided to split one script into two - it means it isn’t quite so easy to do the second draft, but it means I am well on the way to having five scripts ready, instead of the four I hoped to soup up by the new year).  It’s good to step away from work sometimes and as this sitcom is a celebration of family, it seems a bit hypocritical to ignore mine on a holiday day because I have to work.

We went for a dog walk in the woods after lunch

As neither of us are drinking in January and we both feel we are wasting too much time watching trash TV and letting our brains rot, we decided to read by the fire tonight. Very mature and grown up, but it hurt my brain after about 45 minutes. Which shows how much I have let it turn to sludge. I was having a go at Other Minds  - a book about the evolution of the octopus and how intelligent life had developed in a very distant evolutionary branch from ours. HG Wells noted that Octopus as an almost alien like creature which is why the Martians in War of the Worlds are of a similar genetic make-up and though I am not too far into this book now, due to my brain not being fit for purpose, I think I am going to enjoy this. I used to read a lot about evolution and Darwin was the only subject that really gripped me at University.

Funnily enough may friend Mackay sent me a scan of an essay on Darwin that I had leant him back in the 1990s when we were having an argument about who knew most about the man. Mackay used to play him at the Science Museum. This was a very rare essay from University where I put the work in and it was strange to look back and see how clever I once was, especially as I was struggling to get my grey cells working again. It was also hand written, which makes it feel like a document from the distant past too.

If someone asked me “What was the ideological background to Darwin’s 'Origin of the Species’?” now, I would have trouble giving them a sentence. But back in 1989 I could have a decent crack at telling you.

I regret wasting that academic opportunity of University in some ways, even though the stuff I actually got up to was much more useful for my eventual career. I hope that by reading a bit more I can recapture some of the intelligence that I was once capable of. But just as I will never run around Cheddar reservoir in under 15 minutes again, you can’t claw back everything that you once had.

Reading by the fire with my wife and not even having a drink. The 1989 Richard Herring would surely scoff. I’d like to call him an idiot, but he clearly wasn’t. 

RHLSTP with the loveliest man in showbusiness (and as he proves in this he’s also extremely funny) Mark Olver

Listen here 

Or watch here 

It's a good one.

There will be another one from Bristol out on Friday - even though we recorded them on two separate weeks, we’re putting them out in the same one.

The stalls for the Birmingham RHLSTP in March have nearly sold out. Book soon.

And there’s only one ticket left for the Norwich late show in April (and early show is sold out)  

Winner of end of year monthly badger draw was Michael Sheldon for Bracknell. Could be you next month, but only if you become a badger. 

Also new stand up shows just gone up in the secret area as one of your awesome extras.