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Phoebe's football again this morning (we lost 6-0, but it would have been more accurate scoreline had it been about 4-2) and this sunny spring morning was surprisingly freezing (I'd nearly gone out in just a T shirt, but even the coat I'd put on did little against the harsh chilly wind). So I went to the van to get a coffee to warm me up. As I queued I saw the guy serving clocked me and assumed he had recognised me from my many TV appearances - probably Never Mind The Fullstops. When I ordered my coffee he looked ready for a chat, asking me how I was. Here we go, I thought. It's a tough life being nationally known. "You look like a handsome Richard Branston," he told me. Which made me laugh a lot. As it's both a compliment and some thrown shade at the same time. "I thought you'd enjoy that," he commented. I like it when other people give me show titles - "Someone Likes Yoghurt" being my favourite title- and though I don't think I can quite peg a show on this one, it feels like something you could use as a quote. You'd read it and laugh, think it's accurate, before thinking that's nice, oh no it's not (or vice versa). It's a very strong gag. This guy should be compering Jongleurs, not serving coffee to hungover soccer parents.
Every comedian (seemingly) has an opening line "I know what you're thinking...." followed by a line that mocks their own physical appearance eg "I didn't know Michael J Fox had eaten all the pies." But this would be a pretty strong one for me - maybe a bit too arrogant for a comedian to say it about himself, but accurate enough to get a laugh. Taking down Branson and me in one fell swoop. I opened with it tonight at the Comic Strip retrospective that I was hosting it, adding in the fact that I thought I'd been recognised to take away the mild vanity of the line. It got a good laugh. Thanks coffee man. I don't mind paying you a pound for some water that my daughter hardly drank now. Paid in full.
The Comic Strip thing was a lot of fun. Catie and I turned it into a weird date and stayed in a hotel while the kids went to their grandparents. And even though I was ostensibly working and there were other people around, a date for comedy fans that included hanging out with Peter Richardson, Jennifer Saunders and Stephen Mangan was pretty cool.
A very enjoyable couple of gigs, though word hadn't got round about it so the audiences were a little small (but very enthusiastic). But if I had to choose an event that would blow the mind of the 14 year old me then it would be this one. Not only getting to see the Comic Strip Presents on the big screen, but asking three of the stars questions about it. And then going out for pizza with some of them!
The Comic Strip and Peter Richardson are both very underrated - it's a remarkable series. It's a bit hit and miss, yet every one of the 42 TV shows and 3 films shoots high and the success rate is high. And all of them are interesting (Rik Mayall suggested that they should be called interesting rather than comic as mostly they weren't aiming principally for laughs or at least that would have changed people's expectations). Peter very much likes me telling him how great he is and he is a lot less scary than I imagined he'd be (though I think maybe thirty years ago he would have been more anarchic and terrifying), but still has the heart of a comedian and is still writing scripts. But as someone who has written many scripts that have never been produced, I have to admire this man for getting so many varied and imaginative projects off the ground. He is a wonder.
Jennifer was terrific too, of course and Mangan is one of the nicest of men and is extremely good in the Hunt of Tony Blair, a surprisingly subversive piece, though it wears its fury lightly and is more impressive for that.
There's loads of these coming up - this was the only one I can do, partly due to tour commitments and partly because I don't want to share the stage with Keith Allen. I've done that once when he sabotaged our Edinburgh show in 1988 and that was enough for me!
Go and see one of these. You won't be disappointed.
