Tonight I took part in a benefit for the Albany in Deptford. As I walked up towards the theatre I saw a dapper and familiar figure smoking a fag outside - it was TV's Vic Reeves, who it turned out was running the auction. His Big Night Out had started at this very theatre, creating a massive buzz in 1989 before being snapped up for TV. That was the year I arrived in the capital, but I didn't hear about Reeves and Mortimer until they turned up on TV, like a breath of fresh air on the end of a stick.
I had met Vic a couple of times before - once very drunk at a party he invited me to come back to his farm to carry on drinking with his pals. I was completely up for it, but remembered at the last minute that I had an appointment in the morning and some sober part of my brain stopped me going with him. Maybe we'd have become best friends if I'd gone, but at least I made whatever pointless appointment I was meant to be at, albeit with a terrible hangover.
But Vic was very friendly and chatted about his new sitcom, which sounds like it should be fun - I won't give too many spoilers but there's something about the Pope's cock in it, so it sounds right up my street. I asked him if he wanted to guest on my podcast and he said he was up for it, but we never got a chance to hammer out details. He could be an amazing guest, though I think there's also quite a tantalising chance that if he's in the wrong kind of mood he might prove a difficult interviewee. So it's a win/win situation really. I suspect he will be very busy over the next couple of weeks, but I hope I can land him for one of the gigs. I am a big fan of his stuff. Even the bits that don't work for me are noble and brave failures. And most of it really works for me. It's great that TV execs are still giving them the opportunity to strut their stuff. Reeves and Mortimer are not the safe fayre that they usually go for.
My stand up set was just about adequate, though I was on between main course and dessert which is a time that I have not found conducive for comedy - the Elton John gig was a similar set up.
It was a delight to see a somewhat inebriated Vic Reeves doing the auction though. He missed bids, forgot what price we were up to and generally floundered around with a smirk on his face. It was brilliant and effortlessly entertaining. And he cajoled people into spending quite a fair amount of cash. He doesn't gig much nowadays so it was cool to witness him and in the actual venue that he had his greatest triumph.
I spent much of the afternoon updating
my gig guide - all the Edinburgh previews are now in there, plus all the 2013 We're All Going To Die! tour dates. I will add the 2014 dates when I get a spare afternoon!
The Mary Beard podcast is now up
at the British Comedy Guide and on iTunes. It's well worth a listen.
I've done the final sums on the Talking Cock Scope collection. We raised £14,228.39 on the 65 date tour. Making a grand total including Edinburgh, previews and online donations of £34,070.76. Brilliant! If you missed the buckets or are feeling flush feel free to add some more at
the justgiving page.
And whilst we're doing housekeeping here's a couple of articles that I've written about Stephen Fry and internet comedy.
This one in the Telegraph and
this one in the Metro.
