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It felt like ages since I’d done RHLSTP and it took my brain quite a while to get back into gear with it. But luckily I was blessed with interesting and/or crazy guests: Bob Mortimer and Lou Sanders. I’ve met Bob a handful of times, but not seen him for many years and delightfully he didn’t even remember doing the Radio 4 pilot quiz show “Bob Says Who?” that Stewart Lee and me wrote part of the script for with questions like “Jason Donovan said “There are too many broken hearts in the world, but how many too many are there?"
Bob is a charming and unassuming man, having brought along his own cans of reassuringly weak lager for the show and I had discovered that he was born within a quarter of a mile of my grandparents house in Middlesbro (and he claimed Chris Rea lived on the very same road as my Nannan and Grandad), so we chatted about this strange and desolate town as well as getting some behind the scenes stories from Shooting Stars and the other many amazing shows Bob has been involved with. There was plenty of time to discuss terrorist atrocities, dishwasher etiquette and titles for Lord Sugar’s autobiography too though.
Bob had wanted to go on first and was a tough act to follow, but I had managed to find one of the only comedians in the country who might be more absurd than Reeves and Mortimer: the delightful and barmy Sanders. It’s hard to know where her real self ends and her stage persona begins, but she was bamboozling, inappropriate and hilarious in equal measure. It’s about a year since we stopped doing the Fubar radio show together and I’ve missed catching up on what crazy stuff she’s been doing, living my life vicariously through her drunken madness and feeling avuncular at the same time. She’s so full of bravado, but totally honest which makes her strangely vulnerable. She was able to confuse some Reeves and Mortimer fans which is quite an achievement. I love it when these nights balance present and future comedy greats. I was a bit off the top of my game and tired, but the awkwardness that that engenders probably adds to the whole.
These will start going up from next week if all is well and should keep you entertained for the next 18 weeks, by which time I should have started the autumn run of the show. There should be new RHLSTPs for the next 36 weeks.
It’s a real pleasure to do this show. I really like the team we have working on it as well as the staff at the theatre and there’s a nice level of piss taking and buried respect for each other, so I am delighted that the kickstarter worked and we could afford to employ everyone again. Do come along and watch one live if you can. It means you won’t miss the libellous and contentious stuff that we’re not allowed to broadcast. Next week’s guests are TV’s Emma Kennedy and rising star Romesh Ranganathan. And there’s lots of exciting guests to come.
Buy your tickets here
Richard Hayes won the monthly subscriber monthly prize draw and will get a hand made t shirt and a signed SDP mug and some scripts and DVDs as well, I expect. To be in a chance of winning and get access to our secret channel of extras
donate a pound or more a month here. There’s some fun backstage stuff with Bob and Lou coming up. And I will also be sending out the monthly newsletter soon, which will include the first draft of the first chapter of a comic novel I started writing a few years back called “I’ve Wasted My Life”, which I doubt will ever be seen anywhere else. Your pounds go towards making a new series of AIOTM in 2016, but I hope I can give you excellent value for money with such freebies (on top of all the podcasts and blogs etc). Massively appreciate your support.
