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It doesn’t really feel like we’ve been away - mainly because the previous series is still going out (Limmy this coming week and Joe Lycett - who referenced one of the emergency questions on the Bake-Off another slice to rub in my face that I have still not been a guest - the week after) - but it’s back, series 8 of RHLSTP started recording today with Stuart Goldsmith on first and Diane Morgan on second. We have been shifted into an unfamiliar 4pm Sunday slot, as Stewart Lee has occupied the Richard Herring Leicester Square Theatre for several weeks and understandably the theatre management want the sell-out audiences that come with those shows. I thought maybe it might be a positive move as it would give out-of-towners the chance to come to the recordings and still get home, but was worried that the atmosphere might be a bit different or that people might not come out. It’s too early to call really. We have a reasonable crowd of 180 in, which is possibly better than usual for a show without a massive star name (with the greatest respect to my two guests), but after only accepting the slot on the understanding that it would allow us our usual open-ended exit time (which in effect would mean not having else on in the room until maybe 7.45 or 8) I was disappointed to learn that we’d have to finish by 6.15 so that the 7 o clock show that followed us could do their get-in.
I was thus restricted to 60 minutes per interview (plus interval) which was probably OK for today’s show, but might prove difficult in other weeks, especially as I think we often get to the real gold in the surreal weariness that emerges between 75 and 90 minutes in. In some sense a 60 minute “tighter” show is probably more accessible. But none of us are doing this to attract people who aren’t committed to it warts and all.
Stuart Goldsmith, my arch podcast rival (with his excellent and cruelly overlooked by Chortle awards - Comedian's Comedian podcast) improbably lives in the house that backs on to mine and has spied on my wife working in her office (he’s seen her in there, but it’s the same thing) and almost certainly egged my garden whilst trying to set up the innocent family next door to me. One of the many benefits of buying my house is that you might get to see him walking around his flat with his wang out. I haven’t seen it personally, but I imagine it’s quite a nice one. You don’t get that in Chiswick.
You’d imagine that we’d have come up with a great podcast sitcom about podcasters flashing their genitals at each other, but it hasn’t happened yet. And I emphasise the yet.
Stuart is (eggs and shitting in my front garden aside) a great guy and it was a jolly start to the series and the audience seemed as up for it as they are on a Monday evening (let’s face it, neither time-slots are great for comedy). And maybe it’s good that it wasn’t a hugely long recording because I felt myself flagging a little bit in the second interview, with the wonderfully dry, but somewhat low energy, Diane Morgan. I was trying out mainly entirely new emergency questions and it’s too early to call on whether they are keepers, but I think Diane may have been a little confused by the odd lines of enquiry, but luckily she was very funny, even if my brain had got a bit sticky and forgetful after a 6.15am start with my daughter. Diane described it as “a bad dream”, which I understood. It often doesn’t feel real up there and when things get disjointed and the questions get odder and the audience are a bit tired and just listening intently, it’s like no other gig in the world. It’s a bad dream in a good way. But there was some of my trademark awkwardness in show 2, which will probably make it a great podcast. I just don’t know.
There’s loads more to come in this series and some fabulous guests. The unsinkable Janey Godley is joining Lee Mack next week. Many more guests to announce (and to be honest, to book), but it’s even more fun when you’re there. If you can’t make it then series 8 will be starting on 14th October on youtube, iTunes and the British Comedy Guide - all for free thanks to our brilliant kickstarter subscribers.
