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Today I met Zippy from Rainbow before going on a tandem tricycle ride at speed on the streets of London through a group of people protesting against Trump with John Bishop before being showered in confetti like at the end of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire
I think I might have fallen into a coma and these are the last flickering dreams that are passing through my head as I slip into the cold embrace of death.
It seems likelier than this being real. But maybe all of life is but a dream. The writer of Row Row Row Your Boat is possibly the greatest philosopher we have ever known. And gave us the info in a way that was digestible to 2 year olds.
Feeling a lot better today, which was lucky as there was no time to rest up. I was off to do some press at London Live and 6Music and then heading to the Cochrane Theatre to appear on a pilot of ITV’s new Nightly Show. They have been doing these for two or three weeks now, ahead of the proper series that begins at the end of the month. It’s like an American style late night chat show, but with different hosts taking turns. John Bishop was in the chair tonight and he was going to talk to me about my tour and my podcasts - though given the show wasn’t going to be broadcast it was of limited promotional use for me. But I’ve long wondered why we don’t have this style of show in the UK or why John Oliver had to go to America for anyone to give him a topical satirical show and I was interested to see what this would be like. Obviously as it’s ITV, it’s a little broader than something that might be on HBO, hence the guests being me and Zippy and there being a bizarre tandem tricycle race.
I have a lot of time for John Bishop. He’s got a nice little bit of edge to him that you don’t always get with popular TV comics and his opening monologue was a lot more inventive and daring than I’ve seen on other chat shows. I love a comedian who chooses precise words and there was a delightful use of “counterbalance†in one of his jokes. Yet he’s still a man of the people and you gran would like him, but beneath the toothy smile and slightly hypnotic philtrum there’s a touch of darkness.
Backstage I stood next to Zippy. Sometimes puppeteers can have a strange relationship with their puppets. One of the team was telling me how Harry H Corbett used to take Sooty on holiday and once had to turn the car around because he’d left him Home Alone (now that would be a film- I mean it really would - I might give that a crack). But Zippy’s owner/carer or whatever he is, keeps Zippy in an IKEA bag. So no love lost. I was a bit star struck being so close to one of my childhood heroes - one of my earliest memories of getting jokes was enjoying Zippy being rude and having his mouth zipped up. The young man in charge of the social media part of the team said, “So this is the puppet thing, is it?†Aptly as the segment was about things that would nothing to millennials. I was so aghast I almost punched him for his rudeness. I really wanted a selfie, but just like when I met Bryan Cranston I was too embarrassed to ask (Zippy must be sick of it after all - let him live his life), but John Bishop had no such shame and got photos as the puppeteer quite badly hid behind him. I should have asked then. I don’t know what is wrong with me. Imagine having that picture. You don’t get opportunities like that twice
The on screen chat with John was brief and we mainly discussed Cheddar and emergency questions (though there was a question about Me1 vs Me2 snooker and the transgressive arts festival which I think might have been too much for even non-broadcast ITV. And before you know it I was running out of the door and jumping on a trike and haring past some pretend protestors, almost crashing into a glass door and then pelting down a slope towards the stage. I imagined the headlines if we had been killed doing this. Though I suspect they would concentrate mainly on John Bishop.
And then out of breath and full of adrenaline I was off into the night to go home. Wondering what my life is. Delighted that it can come with such surprises. Aptly ones that will never be seen by anyone outside of the theatre.
Be interesting to see how the show goes when it is launched for real though.
