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So this is a pretty extraordinary turn of events. I have the As It Occurs To Me studio script for Sunday pretty much finished. There's a couple of bits to tidy up and I reckon at this length (with inserts) the show will be something like 75 minutes long, but we have some good stuff to perform to the people who are coming along, which gives some nods to AIOTM of old, but which sets us off on a new path as well. It's not really in the spirit of AIOTM to be that prepared, but given we're filming this show and I want the cast to have a chance of learning it and not read it all, there has to be a script in advance. I am also going to be writing a topical audio AIOTM that we'll record in the first half. It won't be as long as the old ones, but it at least means you'll get some AIOTM content fairly immediately, as we're going to be working on the filmed shows for a good few months before they come out.
This might not be the case every month, but I've got loads of material, largely due to the American trip and I think will have to cut a few skits before the recording, but as the show is not topical I can bump those into next month's show. It's very scary to be faced with a script with mainly new material (there's a few bits of my stand up in there, both to give me the chance to relax, but also because I am going to be developing some of those ideas over the series and so need to reintroduce them for the people who haven't seen me live. Also I want this to be a showcase of the best stuff possible. Some of it will be ramshackle and rubbish (that's the AIOTM brand after all), but we're also trying to prove what it's possible to do on your own here, so it's vital that we produce a show that can attract newbies and give as strong an account of us as possible.
Now comes the terror of trying to learn this new show in just a few days, without rehearsal. And I also have to relearn Happy Now? for the final tour gig in Stratford-upon-Avon on Friday. I was really dumb to agree to do that, not only because it's two days before AIOTM but also because it's three months since I last did it. I was really struggling to remember the bits of the routines that I wanted to use for AIOTM. And sales are pretty low, so all in all, it's something I could probably have done without. But good to keep busy.
Anyway, I got some inspiration and worked into the night and sent the scripts off to all the people involved.
I was kept entertained throughout the day by historian Kate Williams twitter feed (@katewilliamsme) in which she does a real-time account of what was going on in the Great Fire of London 350 years ago. I had not really appreciated just how long the fire burned. In fact I am worried that it still might be burning to this day. I'll never find out if that's the case because the Twitter feed is 350 years out of date. And although I knew about Samuel Pepys burying his parmesan, I don't think I'd realised that he never revealed whether he ever dug it up again. It could still be out there. It's going to be lovely and ripe by now.
