Wow, what a day. Not only did I see Jedward just outside Oxford Circus tube, just walking around like normal people. With ridiculous hair. I also got to take part in a Friends of the Earth benefit at the Hammersmith Apollo,
Laugh of the Polar Bear Gets It. It's cool to be helping out such a terrific charity and the team there were lovely (I got interviewed by a lady in a quite poor polar bear costume), but it's also a rare pleasure to perform on the Apollo stage. Ever since I saw Billy Connolly at this theatre (in the late 90s) it's been an ambition to play here in my own right. Connolly made this massive room (3000 capacity I think) seem intimate and playable. It hasn't happened for me and though there are probably 3000 people who would like to see me in London, getting them all to the same venue on the same day might prove too difficult. Given that I haven't quite sold out the 140 seater Soho theatre every night for 5 nights, then that dream will have to stay on the to do list.
I have always claimed that the ideal size for a comedy venue is 500-1000 people. You get an amazing atmosphere, but everyone is close enough to be able to feel like part of the show and pick up on all any subtleties. But then again I have only played to over 1000 people about 5 times in my life (always as part of a mixed bill) so what do I know?
Tonight I had to go on first so that I could hotfoot it over to the Soho theatre, but compere Greg Davies did an amazing job of getting the crowd to fever pitch and encouraged them to welcome me, it seemed, at a level they might usually have reserved for the return of Jesus. I can see why so many big comedians become mentally ill egomaniacs and no, it's not just because most comedians start out that way. It's an exhilarating and bizarre experience to be greeted with such enthusiasm. Even though I knew that the majority of this crowd didn't even know who I was, that kind of adulation could go to your head. And I ended up doing almost a 20 minute set, so was about a fifth of my way to my dream. 20% is a fail in most circumstances, but getting to do my Ferrero Rocher routine to this many people was a real buzz. I could get used to this. But luckily for my sanity I probably won't have to. Though I think I am old enough and realistic enough not to get my head turned by such things.
Just seeing Jedward in real life would have been enough excitement, but the party kept on going as I then went to do my show in a more intimate setting. It could have felt like a comedown to be in a comparatively small room, sharing a packed dressing room with the cast of the previous show, but it's not the size, it's what you do with it and perhaps buoyed by the adrenaline from earlier I went out and gave the best performance of this show that I've done since Edinburgh. In previous days I have been conscious of the late start and the lack of an interval and wanted to keep things moving fast to keep a late night audience focused, but I relaxed into it a bit more today. I could see the people at the back of the room and I could respond when a man went to the toilet just after I'd been discussing stalkers - "Are you off to get back the frog you left for me at the box office?". A man on the balcony, perhaps a little worse for drink, but clearly enjoying himself commented on the proliferation of Ferrero Rocher chocolates saying, "You should have thought about that earlier." Given that was pretty much the point of the routine I was able to gently lambast him for stating the obvious, but also point out that if I had thought of it earlier then we wouldn't have had the routine and so he'd have been sitting there for 10 minutes watching me saying nothing. So in a way it was good for us all that I hadn't thought of it earlier. It was good natured, but rather electric and exciting, the audience feeding off the ad libbed nature, laughing at the man, who was also enjoying it, holding his head in his hands at his now regretted interruption. I was able to call back to the remark as I talked about my girlfriend's reaction to first seeing the routine, pretending that she'd told me that I should have thought of it earlier too.
It was all a slightly different buzz to the one of being greeted like a hero by thousands of people, but nights like this make me so pleased that I do this job and really make those years of graft and failure and ambivalence feel worthwhile. But most importantly I saw Jedward. Did I mention that?
And to get an idea of what walking out on stage was like
check out this video.
