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It was still me and Feebs solo until 3pm, but somehow we got through it. I can't actually remember anything about it, but she was still alive when I handed her over so that counts as a win. Delightfully she fell asleep on me as I was feeding her at 3 and so I was trapped with my baby for a bit longer. Luckily there is nothing cuter than a baby falling asleep on you, so I didn't mind.
I would very much have liked to have slept too, but apparently I have to be responsible as a father and stay awake. Once my wife was awake I headed upstairs to try to learn my stupid shows and paint some stupid T shirts. Actually I am relishing the challenge of all of this stuff and somehow am not even feeling fearful about my new, half-written and underrehearsed final show. But part of the ethos of that show is that family is more important than work, so if it fizzles out after 40 minutes then that will be quite apt. And the Leicester Square performance is, of course, just the start. I have a lot of time to extend and develop the show before and during the tour. I could even take it to the Fringe next year! Though I think I probably won't.
I don't think I've ever been happier to see my wife though. I had missed her on lots of levels, but the whole having someone else to co-parent with bit was a whole new and massive level. She'd had a good time in Edinburgh. It was nice to meet someone who had been there. I had assumed the whole thing would have shut down in grief at me not being there. But according to my wife it is carrying on as if no one has noticed. I think she was just being nice saying that. She didn't want me to feel guilty for destroying the Fringe.
In the evening I carried on my work of making T-shirts whilst listening to this week's shows and hoping that they would somehow seep into my brain, or emerge from the swamp of memories past. These two shows are particularly strange to revisit as they take me back 8 and 9 years, to a time when I was a very different person. Though Hercules was a very personal show, my persona was daft and obsessive, but likeable, but with menage and 40 I am deliberately trying to give rein to the more desperate and angry side of my personality. It's not an accurate reflection of exactly who I was and much is exaggerated for comic effect, but it's certainly a part of who I was then. And I am a very different person now. I don't miss or envy that Me2, though I also think without him having gone through all that I wouldn't be the person I am today. So I am pleased I went through all that, however lonely and screwed up I occasionally was. My obsession with flying a routine into the ground is shows both in the old men on the bonfire from menage a un (which is at least, pretty funny at least) and the extended riff at the end of the “average-sized cockâ€routine from “Oh Fuck I'm 40!†In the former I mock an awful punchline to a routine by deconstructing it and the nature of being a character in a rubbish sketch, which is quite interesting, but in the latter case the routine is actually very strong and has a proper punchline that gets a good laugh, but perhaps embarrassed by the crowd-pleasing nature of the joke I then deliberately subvert it. Which is funny to an extent, though I am not convinced that it warrants the same level of discussion (and it's not as consistently funny or annoying as the old men). In hindsight I think it's a shame I didn't just leave the routine at the punchline (or maybe shortly afterwards) as there's nothing wrong with making people laugh and it's still an original and interesting routine in spite of the slightly formulaic (though my own formula) to the denouement. Having said that it did make the audience on Monday laugh a lot (though there were a fair few comics in then).
I am looking forward to bringing the old men back to life after 8 or so years in the void of nothingness and although I am listening to the routine a lot to try and get some sense of the logic of their argument, I do want to leave that part fairly free wheeling. On the plus side I am handing over the show to them, which means I don' t have to learn 10 minutes of the show. It will be nice to have a break from this demanding but weirdly fulfilling madness.
The RHLSTP with Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan is now up in the usual places, video and audio on iTunes.
PLus video here
vimeo
And audio here
We're almost a third of the way to the kickstarter target, after a third of the time has gone, but we will need a real push in this middle third if we're going to get anywhere near. Please consider bunging us a quid or two. The £30 level where you get an exclusive DVD seems popular. We only need 1000 or so more people to get that and we'll be pretty much there. Check out all the rewards here.
