7607/20546
I enjoyed
my slightly awkward RHLSTP with Mike Birbiglia last month so was delighted to get a chance to go and see his show, The Old Man and the Pool tonight. It was a nice little date with my beautiful wife. We went for an early dinner along with the other theatre goers/old people at a nice fish restaurant. Even though I ate prawns, followed by salmon, I also had a couple of bits of baguette with butter and my Zoe score crashed down into the mid-60s (which is fine, but I've been pretty consistently hitting 75+ for the last fortnight or so). I even allowed myself a taste of Catie's honeycomb ice cream pudding, but found it almost unbearably sweet and goodness knows how my blood sugar reacted.
It was nice to be out and the food was great, but after nearly two months of pretty much exclusively healthy eating, it was a bit of an overload for my poor body.
Put the baguette down. It's not worth it.
It was good to see Mike on stage. I've watched his Netflix specials which are well worth your time, but good to see him live. I was concerned there might be crossover with my own show as Mike talked about his cancer (and many other health issues) and how being a dad makes his mortality all the more upsetting. But it's a very different show to mine, whilst still giving me some stuff to consider regarding stage craft. It was essentially 85 minutes of stand up storytelling though - the kind of thing that I don't think you get much of in America, but fits very comfortably into the UK tradition of this kind of funny and serious show.
There's a terrific bit towards the end that had me crying with laughter, which is so beautifully judged and irresistible, as Mike tries to encourage the audience to be serious, knowing that they will laugh. And I was the first person to crack and be reprimanded. It's such a tight and scripted show (which is not a criticism) that having this section which feels more fluid and organic is a touch of genius. But there's plenty of great gags and observations in this show, as well as a chance to celebrate being alive.
