The tour got underway with a gig at the tiny Comedy Cavern in Bath. The place was packed and the compere Geoff told me that they had sold a record breaking 112 tickets! Which if you saw the size of the room is quite amazing. If only I was playing rooms this size all the way through the run then there could be a similar feeling of sell out success!
It was slightly hard work at times tonight, but most people seemed to enjoy it. The more theatrical stuff that I have been building up over the last couple of weeks did not work as well in a comedy club and I fear that by stretching things out too much I am in danger of actually breaking the show. It's a thin line between impressive riffing and boring self-indulgence.
I was pretty tired as well, which became more obvious as I was driving home. With a gig like tonight it is not really cost or time effective to stay overnight and if there isn't another date on the next night then it's better to be home in my own bed. But the drive can seem long and relentless when the gig hasn't been the best and your eyelids feel heavy.
I listened to a Radio 1 phone in show where the young people of our nation were discussing, amongst other things, the subject of global warming. It was one of the most depressing things I have ever listened to. One would hope that the younger generation would be more concerned than any of us about the state of the environment, but at least 50 per cent of the people leaving a comment were poo-pooing the whole notion of there being a problem. "What's the point in recycling?" asked one woman, "Where is the evidence that me recycling my bottles and paper does any good to anyone at all? I mean honestly, it's rubbish!"
Other callers seemed to be reciting a mantra that the earth goes through climatic changes - "I mean look at the Ice Age" so there's nothing to worry about. This was obviously nothing to do with us. Some seemed to think the whole idea has been invented by politicians in order to raise taxes. Some, predictably, just said that people are selfish and we should just enjoy ourselves and not worry about it. Very human, but still rather unsettling.
It was gob-smacking.
There is a chance that they might be right, but it's a small chance and looks increasingly unlikely. But the scary thing is that these people were not even considering the chance that they might be wrong. It would be funny to hear ignorant people pontificating in this way if it wasn't for the fact that their ignorance is going to destroy the world for everyone. It was depressing because it just made me realise that people are not going to do anything about all this until it is much too late. We're all going to die thanks to these blinkered idiots.
But I guess we're all to blame on some level. After all there I was in my car, when I could have been on a horse and cart. Let's just enjoy it while it's still here, hey?
I was cheered up by a Radio 4 documentary about
N F Simpson. We had done one of his plays, "A Resounding Tinkle" at school and I put a bit of it on when I was at University. It's really funny stuff that predates and influenced the Pythons, but I hadn't realised just how big Simpson had been in the 50s, nor that he was still alive and still writing. Which I was delighted to discover. He sounded like a lovely man and it made me happier that there are people like him in the world. But alas there are a thousand idiots to every N F Simpson.
