One of the presents I got for my birthday was a massage at an Edinburgh massage parlour. Now there are several types of different massage parlour in this city, one just a few doors down from my flat, but alas this turned out to be the bona-fide, rather than boner-fiddly, types. To prove all is above board and beneath towels,
here's the website of the place I ended up going to Not sure that the more local place has a website.
I wasn't absolutely sure that becoming ultra-relaxed would be the best thing for me at the moment and worried that it might adversely affect my performance. Indeed when the hour of pummelling and squeezing was over I felt pretty spaced out.
But within an hour or so I became infused with an energy that I have been lacking for days - haven't been to the gym all week - and my walk up the hill to the venue was sprightly for the first time in a while.
It was the smallest audience of the run so far, at just over 100, but they made up for lack of numbers by enthusiasm of response and I did by far the best performance of the material. As I become more confident with what I am saying I am able to put so much more into the way I do it and there was a renewed energy on stage which brought segments like the fight and the sexual encounter bits to life (not literally, that would have been weird). Hopefully things will pick up for the weekend. I am slightly disappointed to be not selling a little bit better, but it's still up on last year and this first week is usually quieter than the rest and of course many acts would kill to be having the lowest crowd being 104. I am enjoying the bit in the show where I decry the state of my career and ask why it is after all this time that I am not performing to 8000 people in Edinburgh castle, stealing the audience and thus money from the other lesser known comics and then stuffing the money into my already overflowing pockets full of even more money. Because that is, of course, where I would like to be by now.
But after the show I was given a very flattering note from a fellow performer
Ed Hamell who gave me a one man standing ovation at Political Animal last week (still one man more than I have ever had before) and who seems very taken with my stuff. So, though I haven't seen his show yet I will recommend him as a man of rare taste and distinction. Go and see him. I know I am going to!
In the afternoon I had to write a chapter of something called "Shaggy Blog Story" for the Guardian, in which each day a comedian takes on a story written by different ones the days before. I had been annoyed at myself for accepting the commission as I would rather have been sleeping, but in the end it turned out to be quite a funny bit, that flowed quickly and easily. You can see it (and the previous chapters)
by clicking here. It was good to get something done in the daytime though and I am keen to get out and see more shows and do some reading and some writing. But I am also keen to stay up late, drinking and talking to girls, so we'll see which desire wins out in the end.
