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I was missing my family today, but thanks to the magic of FaceTime I got to see them and say hello. Phoebe blew me a kiss, but she did not seem too perturbed by my absence, or all that interested in seeing me on screen. She mainly got on with carefully attempting to stack her stacking cups. Happiness and sadness collide at a time like this to make a whole new colour of emotion. So amazing to see them, but it made me long for them more.
I have been keeping myself busy to keep my mind off this bitter-sweet feeling. I put the finishing touches (which makes it sound like I do anything more than blather on until I run dry) of the first episode of the Happy Now? tour podcast. You can hear it here
or on iTunes
It’s already got me the most accurate review of all my work on iTunes "Just a middle aged man wittering on and laughing at his own jokes…” That’s going on the poster.
After paying in the SCOPE money (an amazing £523.40 from the people of Leeds), we headed over to Salford where I was going to be a guest on the Radcliffe and Maconie 6Music show (though it was sans Radcliffe as it turned out). We checked into our hotel, where I was on the 16th floor with a vertiginous view down to the street below. I wondered about checking the strength of the windows by running full pelt into them, like that guy in America did, discovering that whilst the glass was unbreakable, the whole thing could still pop out if enough force was exerted - RIP. I wondered what ran through his mind as he fell which somehow made the desire to emulate him all the more desirable. But I resisted and stayed alive. For now. I am sure I will die in an equally embarrassing and comical way. I am just annoyed that I won’t be able to share the joke. But if I am falling I will attempt to podcast my feelings.
There was a mini-bar in the room and I am not a rich idiot so I never use these (unless I am really hungry and there’s some posh crisps in there). It had a sign on it warning that it was electronically operated and that if I even picked up any of the drinks inside I would be automatically charged for them. It piqued my interest as to what was inside and so I decided to have a look at the mechanism and what drinks were on offer and opened the fridge door. Three bottles of drink toppled over and fell on the floor. I hadn’t opened the door roughly, so they must have been leaning already. But was I going to be charged for these drinks? I mean that’s quite a clever scam. I picked them up straight away and put them back on their pads more securely, hoping it would be like Mission Impossible and if I was fast enough then the sensors wouldn’t activate. This was at least four seconds after the drop though. On the other hand, I thought, if the hotel did insist on charging me for this booby trapped minibar then that would make an excellent Metro column.
The interview went OK and it wasn’t long before it was time to walk across to the theatre. The show was already sold out, which was great news. There’s been at least a couple of years at the Lowry where numbers have been good but there have been seats left, so it’s nice to get another upswing. And it’s worth remembering that even as recently as the Christ on a Bike: Second Coming tour I was playing the studio theatre here.
But most excitingly Shrek the musical was in the main theatre tonight. I hoped that a shrek might crash my show at some point, but it didn’t happen.
I did another interview, had a cheeky Nandos and did the show.
I dropped more stuff but it’s still getting longer. It was a good reaction. I hope I am just not blowing all my old packed shows early in the tour, but looking ahead sales seem mainly robust (with a couple of glaring exceptions). The next gig is Liverpool and there are currently only 5 tickets left for that. It feels strange to be doing so well, but if I had to choose between this and playing to 30 people in Carlisle in 2001, then I would obviously choose Carlisle. I’d be 34 again. It would be awesome.
But as I can’t travel back in time and have to stick with stupid old 48 year old me, then I guess it’s pretty satisfying to have my live audience building and my show going well. Please spread the word if you liked the show, especially to any friends you have in Croydon and Stafford.
You can listen to me talking to David Baddiel about his new Discovery Channel show here.
