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The last leg of the first stage...
Posted Monday, April 02, 2007
The last leg of the first stage. ..
So -this is us then. The last leg of the first stage of the Where You From? Tour. We'll do some more UK dates in Autumn 2007 and Australia and New Zealand next year. I've really enjoyed this little canter round the country - I'm trying to get a sense of who you all are out there and it's an amazing thing. This is the only time when TV comic gets to actually see his audience. I've loved every single minute of being on stage this time around - looking out at you gives me a big thrill, even when my flies are open, or a door slams, or a very loud police car goes by outside, or someone's mobile goes off -somehow, it's all good. The audiences have been fairly consistent on the tour we've had the odd gig where I've wanted my mummy, but not many. I've had a blast. The thrilling thing is that the material evolves as it gets more entrenched in my brain -something happens as you become more adroit at remembering your routines - the creativity kicks in and you begin to play with the material, a longer pause here, an 'on the fly' edit there, Louder here, softer there, sweary there, and so on. Rediscovering the improvisational things that I used to take for granted has been wonderful - I used to play with the audience for ages, messing around, trying to win 'free' laughs before I moved on to the show proper. But I grew tired of that and even though co-writers would say 'The audience bit is great, you should do more of that...' I would always think, 'Yeah, but they haven't paid just to see me goofing around with them-they want to see a show', I guess it's half and half...there needs to be some 'Audience Funk' where it kind of free forms for a while. .. but you do want some structure eventually...I do any way.
The Lenny's Britain saga continues apace. We've nearly finished the edit on the first programme FAMILY and I have to say, Kate Broome the director has done a fab job at pulling together all the disparate components to make an interesting and funny show about our nation's humour. Stand out moments for me are Julie and Matthew and the birthing pool, lunch with my brother Paul (he's a funny bugger, why isn't he on the telly?) and of course, the legendary wedding of Gucci and Tom...You gotta see it to believe it...
I'm seeing the WORK programme soon in a rough cut, and I'm looking forward to that -it's going to be a very different experience to the FAMILY programme, because each job that I undertook will be it's own little film - The Mortgage office, Firemen, Curry house, etc...so each segment, I'm assuming, will begin with me at the beginning of the day's labour and end with me going home at the end...should be interesting.
I took part in Dawnfrenchoffthetelly's new series 'Boys who do comedy'-and I saw a rough cut of that this morning. ..Wow! She's got everybody in that show. .there's
Eddie Izzard, Russell Brand, Jack Dee, John Cleese, Paul Mooney, Bob Newhart, Jackie Mason, Robin Williams and a whole bunch of other talented people...and then there's me. ..Bit of a frustrating experience for me as the wife would ask me a question and then answer it straight away...that shit was funny the first four times -and then it started to get old.
I think it's going to be just as brilliant as 'Girls Who do comedy' and I'm not just saying that because it's the wife. ..you wait. It's a hoot.
My mate Neil Gaiman's in town to oversee the final bits and pieces of his lovely movie project STARDUST, which began life as a graphic novel of some wit and beauty, illustrated by Charles Vess. If the film is even a quarter as inventive as the graphic novel, it should be fantastic. I can't wait to see it...I think Neil's gonna drag his ass to Cheltenham to see the show there - Hoorah! It should be a corker there - last time Neil saw me do a gig was yonks ago in Brighton at some corporate gorefest where the boss of the car company I was jesting for that night, got up and told the assembled worker bees present that many of them would be made redundant soon after...tough crowd... looking forward to seeing my mate and catching up with all things Gaiman...
Before I go, I have to tell you briefly that I had a lovely time the other day - I went to Holborn studios to have my picture taken with some reprobates that I used to work with back in the day. I arrived and certain clues abounded as to who my cohorts would be...there was a man of certain years, trim, bald, quite a big hooter, singing 'Water is wonderful, water's superb, water's too powerful to conquer or curb...' There was a very attractive, slim woman, kind of ageless, but of a certain age nonetheless, wearing thigh boots, tight jeans and denim waist coat, there was a moustachioe'd man in stripey trousers, a reddish face, and a blue jacket, talking away with his hand up a small shaggy dog's bum. The dog, every so often would hawk and gob imaginary phlegm at anyone who got in it's way. Finally there was a very, tall blonde man -good looking in a kind of rugby club way, talking about 'Compost Corners' and pulling children 'Up By the Ears' and 'The Dying fly'. Yes, I'm talking about of course - The Tiswas Re-united project, which looks like it's going to be happening in late-ish April, watch your schedules for details - I think we're all present and correct, I had my big McDonut glasses on, and there's even talk of some very special appearances on the night...so watch out. THIS IS THE STUFF ! THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT! NEVER MIND SWAP SHOP, AND SATURDAY SUPERSTORE AND NOEL PIGGIN' EDMONDS ! THIS IS THE REAL DEAL - SACRIFICE A CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLD, YAHGHHHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH! !
Ok- we just got a week to go on this Clambake - I'll talk to you after Notts. Peace
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