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The RHLSTP on tour adventure continues. This was the first one we’ve filmed outside of the Leicester Square Theatre, so the crew descended on Bath from London, Wales and Hertfordshire. It’s been a tough and tiring week for me, but RHLSTP is nearly always terrific fun and today was no exception. There were about 400 people there to see it (a good 100 more than I usually get on stand up tours) and two (technically three) great guests, Peter Lord and Kerry Howard (though we were all there to meet Morph).
Peter Lord is a true genius, but one of the most modest and down to earth men you will ever meet. His story is inspirational, building a world beating animation studio after beginning on a kitchen table as a 14 year old. It’s always a huge pleasure to meet him and I think the reason is that he is just so content. He had a vision and a dream, but reality surpassed it and Aardman produce consistently excellent and interesting work. We had a lovely chat backstage before carrying it on on stage. And as well as bringing Morph he casually made another as we talked. Plus there were insights into the Sledgehammer video and the Oscars red carpet that were worth the entrance fee alone.
Kerry was great value too - a very different energy to Peter, but open and funny and rude. There was some inappropriate interaction with the crowd too and it did feel special doing this show in a different location. We’ll be announcing loads more soon and it’s very gratifying that they’re all selling so well (as well as annoying that my crafted stand up shows don’t do this well!), but it’s also a great introduction to the podcasts for newbies - at least one lady dragged along by her husband remarked on how much she’d enjoyed it
It’s going to be very interesting to see how 2019 pans out for the podcasts. You’ll be hearing about some other changes soon.
The drive home felt impossibly long and tiring, like it was never going to end. It’s been an exhausting week and with two more podcasts at the other end of the weekend it wasn’t ideal to be getting to bed at 2.30am. But apart from that this is just a dream job and it’s incredible to me that it’s doing so well. Peter Lord has been working since he’s 14 on his company. It took me til I was 40 to start on this particular journey and I am not sure I have enough road left to turn this into a massive studio producing content, but I am keen to see if we can do a lot more stuff. And massively appreciate your enthusiastic support for this stupidity.
