So this one was perhaps a little bit too close to the wire. I was up at 8 trying to turn the rough ideas I had into a 45 minute script of new material that I'd be trying out for the first time ever in front of an audience THAT NIGHT. It wasn't exactly a nice feeling, but it did force me to sit in front of the computer and write stuff and luckily some funnyish stuff was coming out. And also some weird stuff that I wasn't exactly sure about, but that I was looking forward to trying out. And in a way it was freeing to be able to splurge out a long idea over several pages and not have to edit it down. Because in any other medium that would be too long and no one would take the chance on it, but today I was able to explore the idea I'd had on Saturday, that my moustache made people very subtly prejudiced against me because they thought I was a racist (though the joke of it all is that in reality I am almost certainly, but not entirely certainly, being paranoid). The idea probably needed to be as long as it was, and when it came down to it it took a couple of pages for the audience to totally get what was going on, but it was worth doing at that length, because it wouldn't have been funny otherwise and in the end they really got it. It was satisfying to see that happen in the space of 24 hours, especially given it was more the kind of sketch I had anticipated being in the show when I came up with it - an incident from my life with a mixture of action and internal monologue, but based entirely on true events.
I was still putting the finishing touches to the script when the cast turned up at 2.30 and there were some blank spaces in what I gave them for me to add some more jokes in later. I would, as it happens still be writing something to fill one of those gaps (listen on the podcast as I have to turn to the back of the previous page of script to deliver the BNP joke and it takes me a second to find it - I'd already crossed out a joke that I had written an hour before in the gap provided). We did a read, but Emma and Dan didn't laugh too much. But Dan keeps his cards close to his chest and Emma mainly either chuckles quietly or, on rare occasions laughs with tears rolling down her face (but only Gonka Bajonka and dwarves wanking in ears have really got her going that far - she has unusual tastes). It was too late to do too much about it now and though I tinkered a bit with what I had we were just going to have to go with it.
At the theatre we were joined by Christian Reilly, who had written us a theme tune and who we tried to work out some stings with. As he was staying to be in the show I should have got him to sing the stings, but thinking of weeks when he wouldn't be there, I just got him to play the music and then Dan spoke the words. As you'll see this didn't work. But it was great to find that out live on stage, with no editing available. Genuinely it was great. This is why I love this show. There is a definite danger of actual failure, something eliminated from most comedy shows by the fact that it's edited down from 3 hours and has ten script writers. Or at least it should be eliminated by that, but it isn't is it? It makes the failure of the polished show all the more remarkable by comparison.
We had less people in the audience today - over 100, but not too many more than that. Such low numbers might mean that the project can not run more than the ten weeks we have in (not that I'll be able to do any more for quite a while anyway). I am hoping that as the weeks progress people will want to come and see the show live. It's a fun experience. As it was at least half of the crowd didn't seem to know what they were coming to see. Hopefully that will change.
And amazingly, given that most of the show had been written today it went really well. I was a lot more confident, though annoyingly making loads of little fluffs, but not to too much detriment of the show I hope. Some things worked, some things didn't, but it was an entertaining 50 minutes and I was still left feeling that there was something unique and special and groundbreaking about it. There is still a way to go until we've got it completely right, but by being about the comedy rather than the production and being the product of an individual writer, rather than a team, (though Emma, Dan and Christian and our producer Ben certainly play a part in creating the finished article) it does feel different and exciting. To me at least. Aside from Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, I am struggling to think of any modern comedy show that is created and written by one person and one person alone. In some way the team thing can be a good thing, but in a lot of ways it means losing individuality and a voice and inevitably falling back on stock gags rather than having a solid philosophy or intent.
Failure is very much an option with this new show, but I can't suppress the feeling that there is something good going on here. Which isn't to say that anyone else will notice that. After all I've been involved with some good things before that have gone largely unremarked upon. But we'll see. The Culture Show are coming to talk to me about it next week, so obviously some people have noticed that something is going on here. In front of 100 people, some of whom are a bit confused, in a central London theatre.
I still struggled to find sound effects at the last minute and it made me laugh as we looked for a punch effect a) how much you were expected to pay and b) how useless the effects were. Please take a listen
to some of these and consider whether you couldn't possibly do a better job yourself for free with your own hand (as in fact we did).
Dan was laughing about the fact that the script had GRAMS in it, which is radio script language for music. During the Nando's sketch I had called for Barrel Organ Music to play underneath, but made no effort to find any music or to play it in. Was I imagining that if I wrote it in the script it would magically somehow just happen? I said that when I did that in radio scripts everything just played in and had assumed there were some sound effects pixies who made it happen. Now we don't have the BBC facilities or pixies I realise that that is not the case. But maybe we will get there. Though it's pretty hard to find music and sound effects when the script is only completed four minutes before the recording.
If you want to listen to the show please download from iTunes or go
to the British Comedy Guide. And if you find yourself in London on a Monday night in the next eight weeks, then I'd be very appreciative of your attendance at one of the shows.
Book tickets here.
And if you enjoy the podcast, please tell your friends about it. We've slipped to 4th in the charts (which is still incredible and I can't believe we've maintained such a high position). It's more important to me that people enjoy it than we make any money. Which is lucky really.
