Warming Up

Chris Evans (not that one) posted this excellent picture of the various camera shots for the thrilling Me1 vs Me2 snooker tournament. Hopefully the full event will be with kick-starter backers and monthly badgers before the end of December. You can get this and loads of other cool extras by paying £3 or more a month here.

It was a mufti day at Phoebe’s school where the kids could wear their own clothes if they brought in a bottle for the Christmas fete tombola. It could be any bottle of anything. This was the perfect opportunity to offload a nasty bottle of wine that we had been gifted a couple of Christmases ago. Surely everyone was using this as an opportunity to offload unwanted gifts, just like no one buys presents for Secret Santa and just regifts the junk that they got at last year’s secret Santa. I suspect our bottle of wine might have been in circulation for decades or centuries, constantly being regifted and never drunk. Ironically this might have made this antique one of the most valuable bottles of wine in the world, but who would be the first to notice. It was good to get rid of the cursed bottle, but I feared that if we took part in the tombola tomorrow we might just get it back. For this reason I suspect the tombola will sell no tickets, as all parents try to avoid winning back the boomerang booze that they wanted rid of.

No tour manager for the final RHLSTP of 2019 which meant I had to drive myself to Hull. Which was enjoyable enough, but cut down on my show prep time, but I crammed in the morning and then for the hour or two before show time and luckily I had two good value guests in Graham Fellows and Lucy Beaumont. Some interesting chat with Graham about creating characters and coping (or not) with the mental stress of Edinburgh, as well as the weirdness of becoming older than the character you’ve been playing for thirty years.  Though we And some bonkers stuff with the eminently loveable Lucy about being used as a stepping stone for crows and some revelations about celebrities that we might not be able to put out. Both guests were actors who found their niche in comedy and both are doing stuff like no one else. Lucy charmed the home crowd and I still can’t really work out how much is her and how much is an act, but I love it whatever it is.

I can’t believe the tour is over. It has been a struggle at times, though mainly just the booking process. Thanks to all those of you who came along. More to come in 2020 - but the Norwich and Birmingham dates are selling very fast, so book now if you want to come to those. 

RHLSTP with Ian McMillan has gone up in audio only in double quick time. Listen here