I went up to Liverpool today for the first of two visits this week to the European Capital of Culture and Fighting. I was up early today, because I was going to film an little extra for the forthcoming DVD release of "Oh Fuck, I'm 40" (which won't be on sale until September at the earliest). Almost a year after the event, I was returning to the scene of
my infamous fight with a University Lecturer.
Go Faster Stripe supremo, Chris Evans, the man responsible for putting out
all my DVDs and selling old show posters, had come up especially to film me retreading my steps and reliving every flailing punch and testicle kick.
I was genuinely a little apprehensive going back and we had done no forward planning. We were going to go the theatre, see if we could find the pub that I went to afterwards (and I wasn't completely sure where that was) and if there was no one to let us in, or people said we couldn't film, that would be part of the piece.
Despite the fight being funny in hindsight and giving me ten minutes of material, it was quite traumatic at the time and I wasn't sure what I would be stirring up by going back to the scene of the crime. I was going to play up my fears of the city for the camera, though I actually felt genuinely quite apprehensive. It wasn't helped by the fact that I was making myself the centre of attention by having a camera pointed at me everywhere I went. I had instructed Chris to keep filming and not intervene if I got attacked again. It's important that DVD extras are as good as they can possibly be.
As it happens the theatre were happy to let us into the bar to film (though there was a kids show in the venue so we couldn't go in there) and I managed to locate the bar very easily. It felt strange being back on the stretch of pavement that had been so full of incident last time I stood here. The paving stones were all cracked. I wondered if we had done that in our fury, like a pair of Godzillas. The bar was closed, but we could see that some of the staff were in there and I rang the doorbell to see if they'd let us in. The manager came to the door and I told him I was a comedian and we were doing a film about the fight I had at his pub, (it's called
Bumpers by the way) and could we come in. He said he in a rather hushed voice that that would be cool, but could we come back in 45 minutes because he was talking to the police at the moment. How hilarious. Another brush with the law in Liverpool - three out of four times now. He didn't say why the police were there - I wondered if anyone else had been fighting there, or maybe they were finally getting round to investigating the crime that had been made on my person. Anyway we left him to it and came back to finish off our filming later and I went to have a coffee with Chris.
Go Faster Stripe have a whole raft of new DVDs coming out, from various exciting comedians. I told Chris he'd be better selling them on the internet, but he seems committed to the new raft idea. It just seems inefficient to me.
But do keep an eye on the site and support this Welsh endeavour, because they are doing some fine work at promoting more obscure artists and getting their shows out to people at a very reasonable price. Plus at some point they are going to release a book of the first six months of Warming Up, which I've been working on, with some extra information about what was going on behind the scenes and how I view my actions in hindsight. In ten years time Chris Evans will probably be living in a big palace, sitting on a throne and wiping his arse on fifty pound notes, as his tiny Cardiff business turns into a major entertainment empire, but for the moment he is just a hobbit like Welshman selling DVDs out of his living room. And any fan of great comedy should be very grateful to him. I am. Even though I just called him a hobbit.
At the end of all our filming, I felt a lot better about the fight and about Liverpool. Everyone we had encountered had been only too happy to help and although one woman poked her tongue out at me to get on camera, there was absolutely no physical assaults on my person.
The return had been a positive rather than a negative and I realised that I shouldn't be scared of all Liverpudlians just because of one experience. I should, in fact, be scared by all University Lecturers. It is they who are to blame.
And here is some exciting news about the Lyric autumn season
Just a quickie to let you know that I have organised a special deal and an opportunity to buy tickets before the general public for the autumn run at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith
Tickets are £15 per gig or £10 per gig if you sit in the Upper Circle - or buy tickets for all three gigs and get the best seats for just £30 total (3 for 2).
The line ups are really good and there has already been a lot of interest in the November gig so I advise you to book AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to avoid disappointment. Stewart Lee will be roadtesting different material every month for his forthcoming BBC show "Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle".
The gigs are all hosted by me, plus:
Sun 21st September - Robert Newman, Stewart Lee and Dan Antopolski.
Sun 26 October - SPECIAL SURPRISE HEADLINER WHO WE CAN'T NAME YET, BUT WHO IS BRILLIANT, Stewart Lee, Ivan Brackenbury and Wilson Dixon
Sun 16 November - TMWRNJ Reunion Special - Many of the cast of the cult BBC 2 show get together for the first time on stage for almost 10 years. Please be aware that most of these people will be doing their current acts rather than material or characters from the show - including Stewart Lee, Richard Thomas, Paul Putner, Emma Kennedy and Trevor Lock. Hopefully Kevin Eldon will also show up, though he hasn't got back to me yet. The evening will be headlined by a short 10 minute set from defunct double act LEE AND HERRING. This is the kind of gig that only comes along once in a blue moon and will sell out fast, so BOOK NOW!
In fact take advantage of the one off 3 for 2 offer for Lee and Herring fans only and come to all three.
Tickets are only available to fans in the know for the next week, so please ring the Lyric on 0871 22 117 29 and quote "Moon on a Stick" to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
