This was a little bit of a full on day and when I nearly fell asleep at 4pm I wasn't sure I was going to be firing on all cylinders for the podcast tonight, but once we got going I forgot about my weariness and had a fucking marvelous time, chatting to the intelligent, hilarious and fairly jammy Tim Minchin (I hate it when people use their talent to get good luck - it's not fair on the rest of us).
But I guess I am pretty lucky myself, because by pure chance I was getting to interview Tim at a very interesting time in his career - although his rise to fame has been steady and impressive in the last few weeks it's been revealed that he's going to be appearing in the final series of Californication, playing Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar and Matilda has been winning every award going and is opening on Broadway. He's on the cusp of superstardom. It's a fascinating thing to be able to observe in the eye of the storm - he's an amazing down-to-earth guy and I can't help wondering (and hoping) that all this success will break him and ruin his life and then that will teach him for being much better than me.
The real reason I am doing these is that I don't get out much and so it's nice to force people to talk to me for an hour or so with no recourse for them to escape and go and chat with someone more interesting.
I had been looking forward to these podcast - it's a simpler format than AIOTM (aiotm) and less stressful for me (unless I have to drive home from Wales beforehand), but the guests I have managed to book are people I should be able to have funny and fascinating conversations with. If you listened to the Edinburgh ones then you'll know that they can be full of jokes or quite serious, but for me, what sets this idea apart is again the fact that there are no edits - you get everything and no one else's decision on what is worthy of broadcast. In the 80 minutes we did tonight there was very little that wasn't funny, interesting or entertaining in some way. But I think it's great to show the failures along with the successes.
The place was packed and unusually for a podcast the audience had more women in it than men. Usually it's 95% male and 5% other. I can only assume that all these women had turned up because now that I am married I am sexually irresistible to them all. I am sure that's it. Can't see any other explanation.
The acronym for this show RHLSTP (rhlstp) is a bit awkward and difficult to say (though I think that's a good thing and there's no way I am stopping that joke now after so many years), but the show itself was very fluid and enjoyable. Oh yeah, Tim might have been on Desert Island Discs yesterday, but I didn't see Kirsty Young getting straight into it and making the first question the one that everyone really wanted to hear, "Have you ever tried to suck your own cock?" It's journalism like this which will see all other media apart from podcasts wither and die.
There was lots of fun and lots of contemplation and I couldn't believe it when I looked at my watch to see that almost an hour had passed (though we carried onwards for a bit). I even forgot to ask the crucial Keith Allen query, but maybe the self-felation one should know replace that. As long as someone's cock is being sucked (or not) then that's all that matters.
I hope they are all as much fun as this - you'll be able to hear for yourself, hopefully by early Tuesday afternoon, at
The British Comedy Guide, or subscribe on iTunes.
Tim is coping admirably with his heavy workload and all that is about to happen to him, though when we went out for a drink after the show I joked with him that this was the last time he'd have to commune with little people like us. But I suspect that this might be one man for him fame does not transform him into a golden idol of a twat. I hope not. He is a wise and calm man and he seems to have his head screwed on, even if his hair looks like it might fly off in a strong breeze. He's still a man though, so open to all the temptations of twatdom that fame will bring with it. I like him very much and am delighted by his deserved plaudits, though I am standing outside looking in and I feel breathless and nervous as I watch him reach critical mass and all his dreams come true.
What a lovely job this is - I can't believe I get paid for it (oh hold on) and it wasn't until I got home at 2am that I remembered how tired I should be.
Now I just need to find someone for next week's show!
