6757/19677
Piers Morgan tweeted that a letter addressed to simply Piers Morgan, National Icon had still arrived. I pointed out that a letter addressed to simply “wanker†would still have got to him.
I am funny.
A little bit of RHLSTP jeopardy as I discovered an hour or so before the show that Johnny Vegas had been unable to get a train down from his glampsite in Yorkshire and was coming to London by car with an eta of almost exactly when he was supposed to be on stage. Which was worrysome cos when do etas ever not have 30 minutes added to them for a journey of that length. But you don't book Johnny and not get drama. I had assumed he was in London already so actually am very grateful to him for making this effort to get down here (and back again on the same day) for my stupid show.
Even with social distancing it felt like a lot of people in the audience today and they were very glad to be at The Clapham Grand on a Bank Holiday afternoon (even though the sun was shining outside). I don't think I'd properly met my first guest Jessie Cave before, though my family had once danced with her family at a kids disco at the Fringe. She's a charming and fascinating person, who is very open and honest in her stand up and books, sometimes rawly so. I've really enjoyed catching up with her stuff over the past few days - it's funny and it's sad. Both my guests today wear their heart on their sleeves.
She was very funny about her appearances in the Harry Potter films and what it was like behind the scenes (though seemed sceptical about my claims that Emma Watson and I were hand twins) but she also opened up about the traumas and tragedies she has suffered. It's always a little surprising when RHLSTP can skirt between raucous laughter and deadly seriousness, but I am glad that it can.
Bev, Johnny's long-suffering assistant texted me during the show to say that Johnny was behind an accident on the motorway and would be at least half an hour late, but that meant I could do a little longer with Jessie and I guessed that the audience would be happy to wait for Vegas.
He was, of course, worth the wait and again there was some sadness amongst the laughter, as well as more interesting discussion about the way Johnny and Michael are two different entities and whether Michael can perform without his alter ego or hope to control him when he lets him out of the box. Johnny is a one off and I can't imagine that anything he did on stage would not be worth the price of admission. But it's interesting to see him having made a success of the glamping business and having to deal with triumph rather than disaster.
Dry Janay completed. Might as well go for six months/life now.
