I was up at 6, but thanks to the early night I felt pretty refreshed and perky. I knew in all likelihood I was running on adrenaline and the prospect of it all being over and that once I got today out of the way, my body would descend into the post-Edinburgh lurgy that I had delayed by not stopping since the Fringe. Even though there is another AIOTM next week, the end of this long weekend marks a definite break in my commitments and mini-lull until the tour gets underway. Tomorrow will be a better day.
I sat at my desk and worked until 3.30 with little in the way of breaks, though I did pop out to buy the papers at around 8.30 and a slightly surreal week continued. After unseasonal Trick or Treating and unseasonal Christmas cake, I walked out on to the main road to see a man in a dirty white vest, who I have to say did not look anything like a policeman, stepping out into traffic, holding up his hand and halting a car. Was this going to be a carjacking? The driver only had the option to stop or to run him over or maybe to keep driving slowly until he got out of the way. The man did not look like a car jacker either and had a big smile on his face which suggested either intoxication or mental imbalance, but that wouldn't have made me any keener to stop for him. But then with another smile he would wave the car on and step aside, before repeating the same procedure with the next vehicle. It was clear now that he was a danger to no one but himself, though I still didn't feel brave enough to go over to him and ask him to stop and guide him to the pavement. If he was crazy enough to play in the traffic he was crazy enough to bite me in the face, so instead I headed to the police station to tell them what was going on. I wasn't the only one with this idea, but in any case by the time I got out the volunteer traffic warden had tired of his prank and was standing inside the gate of one of the houses nearby. It may have been his house, it might not have been. I was glad it wasn't my house. I wouldn't like to have dealt with him
So as much as God has been toying with me, getting me rained on and raised up from my bed in the middle of the night, He seemed to be teeing me up with plenty of potential material for my show, which was still only a quarter written. In the end this tale didn't make the cut.
I had booked a cab to take me to the Bloomsbury to give me a few valuable minutes, but by the time it came to print up the scripts there were some notable gaps and one of the sketches had no end and there were a couple of bits - like the cloning porn film and the Ben Goldacre Christmas cake obsession - that I intended to have a run at with no preparation at all. I didn't even try and go back over what I had said about them last night. I wanted to keep these bits fresh and unrehearsed and just tell the stories.
I was still incredibly calm though, which was much more preferable to the tension and stress I have often felt, even when the show is much more prepared. The script was much more like what I had anticipated AIOTM being when I started (it's the anniversary of the first recording tomorrow) - about my personal experiences being investigated, rather than dramatic deconstruction and crazy characters - and I realised that as important as it is to have a script that this project is the perfect vehicle to explore my desire to go on stage with no script and just talk about stuff and keep it funny. With Emma, Dan and Christian on board, I also know we can weather most storms and find a funny place to take things, even if the script is unpromising.
In the end I think we sold around about 200 tickets, which is OK, but possibly not enough to justify continuing after these three are done. Even if this week the whole thing was largely done in a day, the stress that has been created and the impact on my other work and the possibility of me having some personal life have been significant. If we could sell 400 tickets a week then the project would probably be financially justifiable and I might even be able to put aside a couple of days to work on it. AIOTM is the favourite of all the projects I am working on, but also the most difficult and the least profitable. Yet it is hard to estimate its worth as I know it leads to ticket and DVD sales. On balance I am sure I will keep doing them (though it will be hard to find any time before May and I am concerned about impacting on my Edinburgh prep), but this one is in your hands folks. Thanks to all those of you who made it along. It was a fun and eclectic crowd as I discovered in the unbroadcast first half here we chatted away and I discovered an opera singer and a woman who treats people who snore in the front row (which was a welcome change from the usual IT workers you can expect with this kind of thing). These bits might end up on a CD one day, but they might not, so you can only join in that fun by coming down live (and they are not as much fun if you're not there anyway). For a show made up on the day I think this is a pretty good value night (epsecially at the Leicester Square Theatre where tickets are only a tenner).
And somehow magically, it was a pretty solid show. We found a fun way of resolving the sketch with no end and made an obvious edit on the bit about the letter from D H (Mrs) and though I didn't tell the porn film story as well as I had done last night, the Ben Goldacre thing was much funnier and more exciting for me, coming as it did from nothing but an attempt to tell the story, with my consternation and confusion building without me resorting to being Ben Elton and saying "the" five times in a row or using "a-argh" as a substitute for a word (or at least if I did that it was a knowing reference).
We got through it and I think even the AIOTM virgins enjoyed themselves. It will be up at some point on Tuesday
At the British Comedy Guide or you can subscribe via iTunes.
And I can't believe I got through the last five days relatively unscathed and having produced work that I am not ashamed of and maybe am even quite pleased with. Thanks for being there - I think moaning at you via this blog has helped me along and hopefully also given you a little window into the creative process. It's not always like this and I am going to do my best to make sure it's never going to be like this again. My week ahead with just one stand up gig, two weekend morning shows and another AIOTM feels positively luxuriantly relaxing in comparison. Forgive me if I take the rest of Tuesday off from writing. I am free!
Oh and whilst all this was going on I was also on Genius on BBC2 - I haven't seen it yet, but it was recorded back in June when I had long hair and was a stone and a half heavier and was (as you'll see) still drinking. I haven't seen it yet, but I massively enjoyed the recording
as you can see from my blog about it. You can watch it
on iPlayer. Please spread the word. It's a really lovely series and it's not getting the publicity or the ratings that it deserves.
