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It's been a while since I've done Twitch of Fun, but I've been itching to get Twitching. I love this stupid show, but moving house and family commitments and some proper work have made it harder to do in the evenings. And we've been a bit hobbled by the show computer breaking during the move.
For those of you who are new to the blog, Twitch of Fun was an improvised puppet show that I started doing weekly in lockdown, where I did a news review with a ventriloquist dummy made by my Great-Grandad Tom in 1892. Various other characters magicked themselves into the show - a phallic carrot that tries and fails to spot innuendo came (did someone say came?) about due to a news story about a man who had grown a carrot that looked like a penis, a dead wasp on my desk became the entertainment correspondent, an old AIOTM puppet of King Herod arrived in a box and emerged claiming to my kids that he was the King of the World, Richard Ison, insane prop maker, sent me a puppet of Prince Andrew that he'd made for me as a surprise, a 50 year old finger puppet of a donkey whose ears I'd pulled off in the 1970s became our resident Gus Honeybun and did the birthdays, whilst wishing for freedom from the constant pain of his life and Ally, the aforementioned 130+ year old dummy came up with punchlines, some of his own, some stolen or adapted from 20th Century television.
It's a tribute to and parody of the puppet shows I grew up watching, as well as a drama about a man who was on TV in the 1990s thinking his way back on to television might be to broadcast a slapdash and terrible show from his attic, whilst the puppets attempt to prevent him succeeding. Excitingly for me the puppets are able to genuinely improvise too and say things that I am not expecting, tell me facts that I have forgotten and say things that I really do not think are appropriate for broadcast.
There's a lot going on. Sometimes it is surprisingly witty and great routines appear out of the ether. Sometimes it is excruciatingly embarrassing for everyone involved. Both states are desirable and entertaining. Also I am pretty good at ventriloquism now (though I never practice outside of doing the show). If there was any justice it would be the most popular comedy show in the world. But the fact that it is amongst the least successful and viewed comedy show in the world actually makes it a greater work of art and a stronger piece of entertainment.
Like most of my esoteric projects it is about the world between the conscious and the unconscious, self-sabotaging and extremely clever (though as usual I mask that by putting in a lot of knob gags, the perfect cloaking device to keep out people who like to think they are clever, but are not actually clever).
I have missed it.
I thought that maybe I could put a show together today. The only real prep is choosing some stories that might lead to some discussion, but I don't think about what I might say and I give Ally no advanced warning either. I was aiming to do the show in the afternoon, but Catie had to go to the dentist for an emergency appointment (she's OK) and I had to look after the kids on my own. But Catie was home just after 5pm and so I thought I could maybe do a quick show before bed time for the kids.
I quickly drew a face on an egg and put some googly eyes on a sex toy (I had vague ideas for characters who personified the two states of existence - having emerged from an arse or designed to go up someone's arse) and hoped I could be done by 6.
But our old laptop was not playing ball and kept crashing and was taking ages to reboot (plus I'd put the lapel mic in the wrong way round and plugged the mic bit into the computer and was wearing the other bit). I thought I might have to wait.
Chris Evans (not that one) worked hard to make things work and amazingly we went live and the thing didn't crash and I created 50 minutes of cutting edge and amazing comedy (including a few 49 minute patches that were just rubbish). It's such a liberating show to do. I am giving myself permission to be embarrassingly bad and I embrace that side of things, but equally sometimes stuff emerges like an egg from a bird's cloaca or a sex toy from a man';s anus and there's comedy that even surprises me. I hadn't even worked out in advance how Egg Wallace or Rudeboy would speak. And I am not sure I got it right on the night. But the beauty of this show is that I can't really remember anything that's happened before, so they can have a totally different personality next time.
I am hoping that we can get our equipment repaired soon and then I'd like to go at least once a month for Twitch of Fun, but we'll see how much time I have in 2025. I overcame the pressure of this being episode 100 by making this a non-canon, stand-alone Christmas Eve Eve special. I might never get to 100 but I am not giving up on this thing until all 8 billion people on earth think it's the greatest (might be 10 billion by then).
Badgers and Plussers - a little Christmas gift - One of the guests that I will be talking to on February 3rd at the LST is named in your secret area.
Book here.
