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With the
RHLSTP kickstarter ticking along nicely (but still far enough to go to make me sceptical that we’ll make it, I started the difficult job of booking in guests. I have a few big fish nibbling at my worm already and am still waiting to hear for sure if they can make it, but with 18 guests to sort out and only a month till the first one I have to start working hard. I am hoping to get a good mixture of bigger stars, newer acts and funny non-comedians. I’d love to be able to get some movie stars on the press junket trail or even politicians (though they’ll be less keen to get publicity after next week is done and dusted- unless there’s a second election). Having done over 60 of these things (plus 75 in Edinburgh) I have used up a lot of good people (though am not averse to having people on twice). There are many on my dream list. Some have said no, some have said they’d love to if they weren’t busy. Today I secured my first confirmations. One of my guests in the final show of the run on 27th July will be Limmy, who I am a big fan of and who I know will be an interesting and unpredictable interviewee. I can’t wait to see what he makes of my “Scotch” accent. I think he may punch me. But if he dresses up as Falconhoof he can do anything he wants. The only thing sexier is Sarah Millican dressed up in Geordie Shore gear.
I also have both guests sorted for the gig on 29th June, but I am not going to announce them until next Tuesday as I want to give people who pay a pound or more a month a chance to get in there first - it’s one of the perks of being a monthly subscriber. I have only revealed Limmy as a guest because we did it via Twitter (I couldn’t DM him as he doesn’t follow me) and lots of people saw me ask and him accept. So that one is already selling well.
Book tickets to all the shows here.
It’s worth taking a punt on all the others, I’d say. They do sell out quickly once the act is named so you’ve got a good chance of being near the front for a major star.
I also managed to put together another
Lord of the Dance Settee Podcast, dealing with the first week of April, where it seems I sounded more tired out and sad backstage than I realised.
I did most of these gigs on my own and my favourite moment on the podcast is the contrast between my excited and upbeat stage persona at the Newbury gig and the involuntary sigh I made as I walked off-stage. It probably says more about what it’s like on tour than anything I’ve managed to say in these nine sprawling episodes. It was a tougher week than the ones before in some ways, playing to smaller crowds in smaller venues and I was tired from the driving and the baby-wrangling, but I should make that sigh the ring-tone on my phone. To remind me of what it is that I do. There’s a lot of other stuff to plough through to get to the sigh. But hope you’ll enjoy it. It’s a tough podcast to put together and due to limits of time it’s a bit rough round the edges, but I think it’s given quite a good account of the life of a middling touring stand-up. Ups and downs. Laughter and sighs.
Shepherd’s Bush was plunged into chaos today as men digging up the road to put in new gas mains, managed to put their digger through the water pipe, flooding the Uxbridge Road and cutting off water to all the houses for miles around. Stuff like this has happened before and it never mattered all that much, as annoying as it was that you couldn’t have a shower, but as the hours passed and the feeding bottles piled up in the sink and the water we had stored to make more food for our baby went down it suddenly became clear how we’re all only about 24 hours away from anarchy. It’s not until you don’t have running water that you realise what a ridiculous luxury it is. Luckily H2O was restored by the evening and toilets could be flushed and babies (and grown-ups) could be washed and civilisation continued. But man, when the zombies come I will be totally screwed. I was pretty much screwed even without the zombies. The zombies could just sit back and wait for me to starve to death and then feast on my brains.
