No definite news on the two comedy drama series yet. The silence from Channel 4 is ominous and probably indicative of a negative result, but I have been asked to write some treatments for a series for "You Can Choose Your Friends" which means it is at least still on the cards. So seems one coin has come down with a no and the other has landed on its side.
I was gigging in Islington for the third night in a row. I started thinking that maybe I should have booked into a hotel up there, as it's a slight pain in the arse to get to from Shepherd's Bush. But I managed 50 minutes at Fat Tuesdays and things are getting better every time. Even the fight story worked pretty well at full length and it is amazing how much of a stand up show is done on stage. I haven't really done a thing on it in the daytime, but each night I have another crack at the stuff and every night it gets closer to being right. Although it almost ground to a halt at points, I came off stage feeling pretty pleased with myself. There's over a month to go and I seem to be gigging practically every night until then (I need to update my gig guide, but all the dates are listed in the right hand column of the website) so hopefully I can keep up to the high standards of menage a un. It's a bit more annecdotal than the last show, which means there is less pressure to produce a big laugh every minute, but I quite like it for that. It's quite sad in places in fact.
But my smugness was soon tempered slightly when I watche Phil Nichol who was also previewing his new show after me. Although it is still in its early stages it is already a mighty and brilliant hour (well hour and twenty minutes at the moment), a heartwarming and sprawling story about making friends with strangers, madness, stalkers and snogging. Nichol is such an engaging and original performer (I was blown away by his
"Nearly Gay" show a couple of years back), who was justly rewarded with the big Edinburgh comedy prize last year and watching him is like seeing someone at a different level, talking a different language to most comedians (and it is the language of fuuny). He is poetic, thoughtful, honest, flawed and hugely likeable and the crowd were held rapt throughout this weird 80 minute true story about him befriending a Japanese stranger at one of his gigs. If you're going to be in Edinburgh then book your tickets now because this will be a huge hit. And it is inspiring to see a comedian doing something so interesting and unique. There aren't too many comics who I watch with my mouth gaping in undisguised awe at their inventiveness and increasingly there aren't many comics who make me feel dull and ordinary, but Phil Nichol is one who does. Daniel Kitson is another. They really show what a limitless medium stand-up can be in the hands of a true master and make me realise that I really have to pull my finger out if I am going to excel at this branch of my job.
