The late start for the show is not totally helpful. There's been a smattering of slightly drunk people in both shows so far and it's hard to keep the energy going as 11 o clock approaches, both for me and the crowd. I think at the weekend the shows will be way better as less people will be worried about getting up for work the next day and both shows have been fine. But maybe next year I should insist on having the early slot if I do a run here.
It was still fine, though I felt there was a bit of a dip in the second half. But there were slightly fewer people in than yesterday which makes this quite a hard room to play. It looks like I might be heading for sell out shows on Friday and Saturday so they should be a lot more fun. But do spread the word to Londoners. I am only here for two weeks and then I am gone and it would be a shame to have too much demand for the last few days, when there's seats available now.
Funnily enough the rowdier group of lads were sitting in almost exactly the same spot as the rowdy guys from yesterday and as I headed behind the curtain at the end of the first half I could hear them shouting out about Fist of Fun and Stewart Lee, just as had also happened yesterday.
But I saw the possibly slightly tipsy men on the way out and they had clearly enjoyed themselves.
Someone asked about the walk in music, which was put together via the iTunes search function with "Hitler" and "Moustache" being the pertinent words. This is the track list:
"Springtime for Hitler" from The Producers
"Moustache" by Sparks
"Hitler's Cock" by Beehive and the Barracudas
"Living With Hitler" by Adam and Andrew
"Even Hitler had a Girlfriend" by the Mr T Experience
"Moustache" by Les Freres Mignault
"Little Tiny Moustache" by Stephen Lynch
"Moustache" by Amy Fix
"The Man With the Black Moustache" by The Monochrome Set
"Little Hitler" by Nick Lowe
"Moustache" by The Boy Cruise
"Who's This Geezer Hitler" from Blitz!
"Mr Hitler" by Leadbelly
The post show music is:
"Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler?" by Bud Flanagan
"This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us" by Sparks
"Smile" by Nat King Cole (written by Charles Chaplin)
And of course I come on stage to Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner.
Why not go to iTunes and download them all yourselves and create your own soundtrack album for Hitler Moustache?
As I came out of the tube station on the way home tonight, just as it was all closing there were vans parked up on the pavement and a couple of dozen workmen in fluorescent jackets milling around about to start work on some job (presumably inside the station). The only time my moustache really garners any kind of comment is when I am spotted by men in a group, when presumably they feel the safety in numbers to mock or engage with the possible crazy man with the Hitler tache. One of the workmen spotted me, "Oi Hitler!" he shouted, but he was some way behind me and I hadn't made eye contact so I just kept on walking.
"Hitler!" he shouted again, "Hitler! Hitler!"
He was trying to get my attention clearly, but were his motives jocular or would this be the point where I was finally to get the pasting I had presumed would be coming to me. I could swing round give him a smile and a Seig Heil and that would probably be enough to diffuse the situation. But there were lots of burly men around and few other people and if these tough men of the night were in the wrong frame of mind that might be the spark (or the Sparks) to ignite an incident. I carried on walking, my head down, hoping that none of the men I was now walking past would hear the shout and connect it with me and join in either verbally or physically.
But I wasn't scared.
I had been scared when I first grew this bloody stupid thing, but now I feel more confident about it. And my reasoning was that as long as I kept moving I'd be fine. And I could always break into a run if needs be. After all these men were about to start work. They almost certainly didn't have time for a ruck.
I ran the gauntlet successfully.
I got home to find that the Collins and Herring podcast was at number 3 in the main charts and at number 2 in the comedy ones (subsequently
it has topped the comedy charts and is second in the main ones) which is great news.
I also found that the show had had its first 3 star review (it has been solidly four star up til now, with a couple of internet based five star reviews) in
The Times. The review is positive overall and won't do me any damage, although I wish the journalist had gone into a bit more detail about what the respectable arguments against immigration are. I have not heard or seen anything like that in all the reading about the BNP I have done and I think I pull apart two of their more popular arguments quite effectively and also give a good case for proving that Britain is and always has been a nation of immigrants and that the BNP's notions of Britishness are false and fanciful.
But you can't win them all.
I also take issue with the idea of my Michael Jackson "jabs" being lazy. I think sometimes journalists can get it into their heads that making jokes about a subject that lots of people are joking about makes your jibes obvious and boring. But I think that to find something different to say in an area that has been well covered elsewhere is actually quite tricky and I think I achieve that with Jackson, who I am largely defending in fact, aside from a couple of implications about his sexual proclivities that pay off later. The Jackson bit has important elements regarding race and the way a symbol can change overnight that are crucial to the argument of the show.
But there's no need for me to get defensive. It's just a slight shame for me that possibly the only review I have had from someone who displays their "immigrant credentials" is a little sniffy.
To balance things a little, here is a review of the same night
from The Arts Desk.
And a nicer surprise was waiting for me as well as I had received an email from one of my childhood heroes Kevin Toms about the mention I gave him in Monday's blog. He had the exciting news that
not only does he have a blog but that he is working on an iPhone version of the game that I frittered away so many of my valuable teenage days on. In the podcast, by the way, I had been talking about the fact that because I used to play such games with the Acorn Electron keyboard on my lap, I wonder if that is responsible for the fact that hair doesn't grow very well on that part of my upper leg. And then considered that maybe the radiation from the computer might also have made me infertile. I have, as yet, failed to reproduce (though I have been making fairly concerted efforts to prevent that - though abstinence obviously mum. I am waiting until I get married before I lose my virginity). So maybe Kevin Toms has turned me into a Jaffa.
Who knows?
But I am happy to plug his produce in any case. And if he has indirectly caused my infertility then that just gives me more time to play his game, without any annoying sprogs to interrupt me.
Funnily enough I am currently spending most of my time in the dressing room playing the iPhone game "Conquest" which bears more than a passing similarity to Risk. But it's odd, I suppose, that a man with this moustache is preparing for his show by attempting to take over the world with his vast and dangerous armies.
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