Edinburgh looming on the horizon like an iceberg in the darkness. The Fringe programme is out today and although I haven't seen a copy there is apparently a mistake regarding one of my shows. Luckily
What is Love, Anyway and
RHEFP are in correctly, but I am also doing a recording of Richard Herring's Objective for Radio 4 on August 15th and the website stated that it starts at 8.15pm, but the real time is 3.15pm. I am hopeful that they will manage to sort that out before the tickets are distributed, but thought I would mention it just in case. Many thanks to @h2osarah who spotted this error. It's not as bad as the year that my Hercules show was listed at the wrong time - that show had enough problems already (like being in a new venue that no one seemed to want to walk up to), but it's still annoying.
Also this afternoon I got the proofs of the first draft of the new tour programme, which is always an exciting day. Media Junction have worked their socks off to turn it around in time and it should be going to the printers early next week. And then soon I will have 35,000 copies of it blocking up my hallway. There are still around about 5000 copies of the Christ on a Bike programme there already and when I mentioned this on Twitter a few smart arses said that maybe I should only order 30,000 copies this year. Turns out they weren't as smart as they thought, because last year we had 40,000 copies. And it's actually much better to have too many rather than too few in any case, as the previous two years we've had to reprint and doing 2000 programmes from scratch costs a lot more than when you do them all in one go. Luckily the programmes do have a life after a show has finished - you have the option to buy them with the DVD at gofasterstripe which makes at least £500 a year for SCOPE and I am happy to send out old signed programmes to anyone who will donate to
my justgiving site. If you want signed copies of any of the programmes from the shows Talking Cock, Hercules Terrace, Someone Likes Yoghurt, Oh Fuck I'm 40, The Headmaster's Son, Hitler Moustache or Christ on a Bike just email me at herring1967@gmail.com, letting me know which programme(s) you want and donate £5 a programme to the site. You'll help me get some floor space in my house and almost as importantly make more money for SCOPE. There are a handful of menage a un programmes left too, but due to their rarity these are £10 each whilst stocks last.
And I am loathe to throw any boxes away (though I have recycled a few of the Christ on a Bike one) because there's always a chance that I might do the shows one last time at some point in the future and it'd be a shame not to give out the programmes. I will probably do Talking Cock again next year and although there will be a new programme, I will have programmes to give out for all the previews.
But I can't imagine I will ever get through the Christ on a Bike surplus. So if you want a box do let me know!
It's great that the programmes continue to generate income even once a show is dead and buried and I am loathe to throw stuff away, because we did that with loads of Lee and Herring merchandise and I know people would have loved to have had that if we'd held on to it.
But if I never throw anything away I may find I am living in a a house made out of programme boxes (or a Ferrero Rocher pyramid with furniture made from papier mache programmes).
I pushed on with the script today - though it feels however much I do the thing doesn't get any longer - and then went out for another preview. Incredibly without having done any sitting down and working on the Edinburgh show I already have over an hour of material. It needs a lot of work as it's just a list of stories at the moment, but that's quite an achievement. But of course I am only in this position because I have been doing the work, without really realising. I have an hour largely because of things I have written in this blog. So that sitting down for 45 minutes a day and tapping away at the keyboard really pays off at times like these. For my stand up shows and especially my last book, Warming Up has been a godsend. It doesn't really feel like work when I do it (maybe occasionally) but it is. The problem with a show about love is that it's hard for me to find the entries which mention the subject, because "love" is a word used so regularly that when I search for it thousands of blogs come up. I don't know if there are any lost gems in here that I have forgotten about, but it is reassuring to see how well the ones I have found or remembered are going down. If you remember a good one about love then feel free to let me know!
