left my tail on the train lol
left my tail on the train lol
It's been a while; I'm on tour, kinda
Hey, I haven’t emailed you for a while. I think the sudden onset of cold and dark nights after such a warm October did something to my brain chemistry that made me want to focus on hoarding nuts and getting fat for winter rather than writing this.
I’ve still been doing stand-up, I just haven’t been bothering you about it.
Highlights of the last couple of months:
Performed in my first actual fringe show as part of the Faversham Fringe, a split bill between me, Ed Mulvey and Rover the dog (me dressed as a dog and doing stand-up from a dog’s point of view). We only sold like 7 tickets, despite a reasonable amount of effort put into promotion, which gave me more sympathy for the plight of promoters. Also I left Rover’s animatronic tail on a train, forcing me to submit an embarrassing lost property report. Don’t know if I will get it back; maybe it’s time for Rover to go and live on a farm.
Did a great roast battle with Cressida Wetton. Roast Battle UK has been great lately. Full video:
I was forbidden from doing a spot because I didn’t click “Going” on a Facebook event:
Promotion is hard, but if getting your acts to click something on Facebook is a key part of your strategy, I don’t think you’re doing it right. We managed to get 7 people to come to a weird one-night-only dog-based show in a small town in Kent - I don’t think this particular very long-running night can reliably attract even 7 real audience members. Real comedy clubs don’t pull this kind of petty shit, so there’s no reason to put up with it from jumped-up little open mic grifters who beg you for money for the privilege of performing at their badly-attended shows.
I have been going to Birmingham to do an improv panel format show called Trigger Warning. It’s been challenging but fun. Last time I went, the train was replaced by a coach, and a man on the coach got kicked off for smoking heroin. They knew it was heroin because he asked some girls if they wanted to smoke heroin, and when they said “no”, he said “Well I’ll have some.” I got home at like 3am.
Gig dates
Do you remember back in September when I said I was doing a mini tour? Well it’s happening now:
Sunday November 27th to Wednesday 30th - MINI TOUR THING
Yesterday: Hot Water Comedy Club, Liverpool - smashed it, video to follow
TONIGHT (Monday): The Stand, Edinburgh (10 minutes) - 8:30pm - tickets
Tuesday: The Stand, Glasgow (10 minutes) - 8:30pm - tickets
Wednesday: The Stand, Newcastle (10 minutes) - 8:30pm - tickets
And some dates for your diary for next month:
Tuesday December 6th - Trigger Warning comedy gameshow, Actress & Bishop Birmingham - tickets
Wednesday December 7th - Comedy In Your Eye, Camden Eye, London - tickets
Thursday December 8th - some kind of nerd comedy night at the Boathouse Pub, Cambridge, details TBD
Friday December 9th - Roast Battle UK, 11pm at the Bill Murray vs Hugh Peacocke, will be a great show
Recommended
Smiling Friends is a deranged adult animation from the people who made that Rick and Morty’s Bush Adventures thing. (EDIT: oh I already recommended this; well, I still stand by that recommendation).
We all know cancel culture doesn’t exist, so it’s weird that students have tried to get professors in trouble for teaching about Robert Crumb’s work and teaching that humans have two biological sexes. I’m sure this won’t lead to anything bad.
Tokyo Vice is a new Michael Mann project, based on a true story of a Western weeb who became a crime reporter in Tokyo and, against Japanese custom, actually investigated stories instead of just repeating what the police said.