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A quite extraordinary day, the magnitude of which only hit me properly when I was lying in bed trying to sleep.
I'd been out to super trendy Dalston today, full of organic cafes and unusual boutiques, which incidentally I fucking loved. I'd rather a quirky cafe over a chain coffee place any day and I also enjoyed the uneasy and unspoken frisson that it created as the Bohemian and the regular people tried to get on with their days. And I was there to discuss my part in an upcoming arts festival, which I will be able to tell you more about later, which celebrates those at the Fringes of performance art, which apparently includes Me1 Vs Me2 Snooker. I had to sign a contract saying that in the event of strangulation or blood loss I'd be happy to receive first aid and the organisers wouldn't be culpable for the accident. I hope that I won't get strangled during my mini tournament, but the rivalry between the Mes might spill over.
Anyway it's both amusing and exciting that one of my more esoteric podcasts is getting this unexpected nod and I also love the fact that someone as square and straight-laced and vanilla as me is going to be rubbing shoulders with the kind of performer who risks strangulation. Sometimes being normal makes you the eccentric one. Especially if by normal you mean, playing yourself at snooker and commentating on it. Anyway I will let you know the details in due course, but your ticket will allow you to see me and (if the acts that they were talking about are booked) some stuff that might surprise the average self-playing snooker fan.
So after lunch I walked back to the train station and then got a phone call from Ray Peacock (if that is his real name) on Fubar radio who wanted to talk to me about the AIOTM Kickstarter which having sprung into life last week, just when I thought we'd have to find a new way to fund this. I ducked into a post office to get away from the traffic noise, talking about my stupid podcast, as people asked me if I was queuing for the self-service machines. I am not sure if it's the pulling power of Ray Peacock, but the project's momentum grew this afternoon and by 8.30pm we were pretty much at the target. In fact over £11,000 was pledged today, still with two days to go. I was feeling emotional, though I didn't end up crying as the target finally ticked over the target amount. But I knew this was a phenomenal show of support for the work I've been doing over the last eight years and something potentially revolutionary for writers, comedians and podcasters everywhere. Over three and a half thousand of my listeners were prepared to put their money where their ears are and help us to bring them (and everyone else) a comedy show, made independently and completely on my own terms. It means you don't need a huge audience to be able to make something that is hopefully both groundbreaking and that looks good. And we've done this purely by fan power. There's not been a mention of it on old media (beyond the fleeting, non-branded discussion on Sunday Brunch), this has just been down to word of mouth and overly persistent tweeting (which turns out to be a skill of mine, that I would never have discovered had I been born in any other age).
But getting the backing and reaching the target might be the highlight of my career thus far. Now I have to create something that justifies the faith that people have put in me and repays them on their investment. It opens all kinds of doors for me, but also anyone who is happy to veer away from traditional routes to getting stuff made. I wonder how many TV shows would get funded if the viewers had to dig into their pockets on a show by show basis.
There's now a mountain to climb. I have to write and perform in six shows over the next year, potentially for no money, though I am hoping I can make it pay off eventually or find another source of personal income from this. Or perhaps I will just take a few other jobs that I wouldn't usually do to help keep the wolf from the door. I would have accepted commercial sponsorship (and we're going to have some fun with the product placement backers) and if a crazy offer came in now then I would probably have to take it, but it's so much cleaner and less contaminated to do this without anyone to be beholden to but the audience.
Anyway my mind is bustling with ideas. It's going to have some of the original anarchic last minute spirit, but I also want to make it something different and accessible to new viewers, with a variety of styles and possibly reimagining some of my stand up ideas. I think the mistake we made with Meaning of Life was that we tried to do it hurriedly because there was no time or money to do it any other way, but I hope we can do better with this. Thanks again for the support you've shown me. There is still time to donate and we've added a stretch goal - if we can get to £120,000 we can do 45 minute instead of 30 minute episodes (though any more money we get will be ploughed into making more content, so every step in that direction will mean more comedy). Here's the page.
