Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I’ve been rubbish lately. Actually, I’ve been very productive, but sadly, being productive in a way that means leaving the house means not having a lot of time to blog. And I don’t want to put any old shite up, so unless something momentous happens and I have time to make it readable, I’ve not been putting my usual shite up.
This week, I’ve been in the Doubling Up podcast with Bill Hicks, which is amazing because he died in 1994 and I never met him. Nick Doody did, though, when he was just 19. He saved the interview he did on the phone in his hallway using an old tape-recorder and – in a pre-Easter feat – Rob Heeney magically resurrected it, brought it forward in time and put it on the internet. To say it’s a really sweet interview is to do it no justice at all: it’s clear, even at 19, that Nick was a great comedy mind (who also likes plays) and not prone to asking the usual old ding-dong questions. But it is sweet, too. And Nick and Rob allowed me to sit in and ask some questions and mess about before we hear Nick from the past talking to a ghost. It was lovely to be involved. Thanks, lads.
I had an ad casting this week. I’m very bad at them. I get so nervous that I make dry, jokey comments to cover my dry, cracky throat. Oh, they laugh alright, but I’m sure they’d prefer simpering ladies to just do the script and not talk back. And financially, I could really have done with being the cardiganned face of whatever-it-is. Oh well.
We had the Improv this week, too. I love, love doing this show. Why won’t someone give us a big performance space or take us on tour? Why – one year on – are we “London’s best kept secret?” We are all consummate show-offs: you should never trust us with a secret and yet, this one persists. It must persist no longer.
I printed off all my songs. I say “songs” – they’re the skeletal shapes on which songs will hang, some more convincingly than others. I have a month to bang them into performable shape before I share them with my musical collaborator. That’s just four weeks to resolve 24 pieces and come up with melodies for the half or so that don’t have them yet. It’s a tall order. I have never been more nervous in my life – even when trying to convince someone that I can sell their product on camera. I’ve also been meeting with PR people who will shortly start selling the show, in the run-up to the Fringe. Anybody got any water?
Meanwhile, hustling for paid work takes up the rest of the time, so there really isn’t a huge amount of time left over for tending to the Blog. I’ve had some really nice messages about it this week, and it does seem that some of you are coming looking for words that aren’t there, all on your own: to you, a huge thanks and massive apology.
In the meantime, check out Doubling Up (I’m in the next episode, too) and thanks for coming back. If I’m out, just let yourself in. They key’s under the mat and there are some old Blogs in the oven. They’re perfectly fine, they just need a re-heat.
Happy Easter.
