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A fun morning recording an episode of the Gargle and continuing the tradition that I only speak to Alice Fraser when we are being recorded. We got to discuss whether agreeing to appear on Cameo is better or worse than being in a porn film and why the USA needs a National Yacht Association to rival the NRA. I guess it's out next week. Not sure. Alice is an amazing and very witty host, so worth a subscribe.She had come hotfoot from performing on stage at the Melbourne comedy festival. It feels impossible that anyone has been doing that. But soon, hopefully, it will seem super normal again.
I had intended to get into some proper work, but the afternoon slipped by. And then the news came in that Prince Philip had died and so obviously it didn’t feel right to work or have normal programmes on the TV for a month (hold on, is this going to affect tomorrow’s Pointless episode cos I’ve waited a long time for that?). I just sat and thought about what Philip had meant to me. It turned out that it wasn’t much, though I liked him in The Crown. Having recently spoken to Paxman about what BBC presenters are expected to do in the event of a Royal death, it was interesting to see that in practice. I was both appalled that the BBC chose to shut down BBC4 and turn over all stations to the news AND that some channels were showing regular programmes. I am impossible to please and that’s why I should be a journalist.
I decided that the greatest possible tribute to both Prince Philip and my right bollock was to attempt a stone clear this afternoon. It was the most exercise I’ve done since the operation, but I coped OK with the walk and the throwing and kicking involved. I live streamed the experience on Twitch to one of the biggest stone clearing audiences I’ve ever had. Which just showed how desperate the world was for some non-Prince Philip based entertainment. Nearly 800 people watched at some point.
If anything one less ball in my pants makes exercise more comfortable. All serious male athletes should consider this.
I guess that this year I came as close as I’ve come so far to not being able to finish the job I started. Thank God the operation was a success and so I now have a chance to complete my life’s most important work. Comedy and children are fine, but the only way any of us are going to be remembered is with a massive wall of cleared stones. It will go up as a podcast and on the YouTube channel over the weekend, but you can catch up in
Twitch videos if you want (I see there’s already been another 1200 views for this).
It feels like things are getting back to normal. Snooker back on Monday. And then we can forget all about balls.
