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Sunday 30th September 2012

Always weird returning to the stage after a break. It's been over a month since my last gig in Edinburgh and I had resolved not to do a single gig in September. But web-king Rob Sedgebeer asked if I could do a spot at a fundraiser for Kids (the charity, not just kids in general, many of whom deserve nothing) and it would have been churlish to refuse just because September wasn't quite over.
But it felt like a long time since I'd done any comedy and I wasn't sure that I was going to remember anything, plus it was the afternoon and I'd had a pint of beer and even when I was on stage it felt a bit like a dream or that I was some kind of hologram projected into the room whilst I was elsewhere.
Before the gig I was having an internal debate - should I start with my usual crowd-pleasing one-liners or take a punt and have a go at ad-libbing something based on yesterday's blog? I veered between bravery and caution in my head, half of me thinking how brilliant it would be to do a brand new, never-performed routine to this audience (many of whom I suspected were familiar with my regular set) and half of me worrying that it would be a disaster and that the first gig back was not the time to be taking such risks. I had been idly thinking to myself that the obscure observational comedian might make a good hour long show, where I tested the audience, examined the notions of what makes familiar nostalgia funny and why remembering some thing is not amusing. I am obsessed with the things that people don't remember and how and why certain stuff gets forgotten totally and other sometimes less-deserving stuff is lauded. But it would be fun to try and create an observational routine about genuine stuff that no one remembered. I saw it as Peter Kay trying to do Family Fortunes Observational comedy - trying to match with as many people as possible - whilst I would be aiming for Pointless.
In the end I opted to start safe, which was possibly a shame, though I felt so detached on stage that I wasn't even totally convinced that the right words were coming out of my mouth. It was going OK, but having briefly steadied myself with this security blanket I decided to launch off into this vague new routine.
"Does anyone remember stuff?" I asked, "Or maybe I should ask does anyone not remember stuff, because if enough of you don't then I can just repeat the first two jokes and fill my time that way." I then had a crack at exploring the ideas in yesterday's blog from memory, admitting that ultimately I wanted to remember something that none of them did - it turned out Rocket Robin Hood was enough to flummox them (by the way Phil Fry got in touch to say how he still remembers that song and often sings it to himself when he is cycling in the rain, for some reason that even he doesn't fully understand). It was exciting trying to put something new together and the 9/11 memory went down particularly well - I guess more people remember that than Rocket Robin Hood, but it will be interesting to see if that is still the case in a hundred years time. I suspect that I might have another crack at it in one of Monday's podcasts.
And as I don't know too much about Rob Delaney beyond his excellent Twitter feed tonight I decided that I should probably watch some of his stand-up. Following the Louis CK model, you can download one of his shows from his website and it only costs 5 dollars (though the joke is on him because we don't even have dollars in this country). I am so used to his Twitter avatar that is was weird to see him with a head and in actual clothes rather than his swimming trunks. It's a good show (but for five dollars it's probably worth taking a chance on anyway) and I hope more comedians will spread their work in this way (You can download a few of my shows already from gofasterstripe with hopefully more to come (though you only get the shows and not any of the extras). Due to a different distribution deal, Hitler Moustache and Christ on a Bike are available on iTunes, but neither I (or GFS) don't make any money out of those, so buy the discs from GFS if you can. I suspect the other shows will follow soon enough. Unlike Louis CK there has not been a massive demand for my downloads, but it's good that this stuff is out there and accessible for anyone who wants it and great to see comedians controlling distribution.
Very much looking forward to meeting Rob (and Peter Serafinowicz who will be my other guest). Still a few tickets if you want to come along Book here. The next two shows look likely to sell out so book now.

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