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I was up in my office most of the day, trying to get some stuff together for tomorrow's RHMOL. I clawed my way up to having a script and as luck would have it had been offered a last minute slot at a small club in King's Cross to try it out. It was a very nice and intimate spave with an audience of 20 or so, but even in the nicest club in the world at 10pm on a Saturday night it's going to be difficult to get people engaged with a 10 minute deconstruction of the 10 commandments or half-formed idea about why as much as I am against everything that the devil stands for I still quite admire him. I sensed that I had lost the audience a bit when the threesome in the front row who'd been chatting and leaving to go to the loo then started taking photos of each other on their phone. I pointed out that my year's of experience told me that this meant the stuff was not going as well as I had hoped. I moved on. Some bits (usually one-liners) did work well, but people had had drinks and they weren't ready to concentrate on five minute ideas being read out.
In a way it wasn't the greatest idea to do this gig the night before the recording as it made me concerned that none of the material was funny. But it also gave me a bit of a kick up the bum. There is still a lot to be done to make even a half-decent show tomorrow. I have definitely found this show a struggle to put together and none of the others have had this last-minute AIOTM quality to them, but perhaps I shoudln't beat myself up too much. I have to give priority to my paid work and Meaning of Life is an experiment which by its very nature has to be rough around the edges. I would love to put together six Edinburgh Fringe quality hours of brand new material with a through line and a conclusion, but that's not going to happen on this budget or timeframe. And I can't judge if this project has been a success or a noble and well-meaing failure until all six of them are finished and released. The GFS team are working hard on episode 2. I hope it will be with you by the end of the month. I suspect that it might take until the end of the year before they're all available. This isn't an easy job for anyone.
Up in my office this afternoon I'd been able to hear the crowd from Loftus Road meaning I could give my first audio commentary of a match (I think) this season. I managed to keep up with the first half, correcly calling it as 2-1 to Rangers, but the wind must have changed in the second half (play I had to go downstairs for my lunch) as I heard no more commotion, even though there were apparently four more goals. But if I don't hear the goals, then thye don't count. 2-1 to the QPRers is how it ended. I was also distracted, as I am each week, by keeping up with the York City match (though online luckily, not using my ears). It's a particularly exciting season as even though the team almost went into the relegation spot on Boxing Day, they've had an incredible run of form and have been hovering in and out of the play-off places. Today they were winning until extra time, seconds away from a record-breaking run of clean-sheets (not letting any goals in), when Accrington equalised. It took York out of the play-off zone and slightly spoiled my afternoon, but it's hard to believe the team are flying so high. Perthaps they are magic after all. They haven't lost for AGES!
If you fancy coming to see the Meaning of Life on Sunday, you'll be able to buy tickets on the door for just £10. It starts at 7.30. Just as with York City, it's amazing that something that looked like a mountain to climb at Christmas is now near to successful conclusion. Your support is appreciated as always. And supporting me is probably quite similar to supporting City thinking about it.
The Danny Baker RHLSTP is now up on the British Comedy Guide and iTunes. It's another cracker.
