Welcome to my new blog, it’s part of the redeveloped site, for which I have to thank my long-time collaborator Alex Collier and his team at Oddball Media. I hope you will all agree that they’ve done a fantastic job. There’s more to come too, with a greater video section and more fun and games generally to hopefully keep you amused.
I’ve been pretty much out of touch since Edinburgh, and I hope you understand when I explain what’s been going on. Shortly after arriving in Edinburgh, having only just started my shows with Maff Brown, and before my shows with Tony Jameson and Sean MacLoughlin had even started, I had a phone call from my brother telling me that my father had taken seriously ill. He died as I waited to catch a train home, I got the news from my brother as I waited at Waverley Station. My thanks to Ava Vidal and Sally Gill for their support at the time, and to all the comics and promoters for their help and understanding.
After the funeral Edinburgh was pretty much a blur. I did 82 shows in 25 days, some days performing as many as six times. It was hard work, but it was great fun and most of all it was tremendous experience for me as a performer. My only regret is that I didn’t get to see more shows whilst I was there. I did take in a few, but I was limited to the ones I could fit in between my own shows. Simon Munnery was sublime, Stewart Lee was amazing as ever, although I didn’t see his whole show, just a section of it at The Stand late show. The same went for Richard Herring, just a few minutes at the late show, but it was enough for me to see that his material on racism is probably the most groundbreaking and thought-provoking stand-up material I’ve seen in almost 30 years. I don’t remember laughing as much since I saw Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson perform as the Dangerous Bros at Jesmond Cinema in 1981.
Other great shows at this year’s fringe which I did manage to see included Ava Vidal’s Remember Remember the 4th of November and of course Gavin Webster’s Falderall, which had to be worth double the entrance money for the scientific joke creation lab section alone. Not that I paid any entrance money, like.
One final footnote about Edinburgh, Dan Willis put on a show at 9 PM every night at the Meadows Bar which was an absolute joy. I performed there almost every night and Dan gave me free rein to do whatever I pleased. It was great fun and great experience, and Dan is always a genial host.
When the festival was finally over I did a series of gigs in the north-east for the Grinning Idiot, as ever their shows were well-managed with warm and friendly, appreciative crowds. Good to see their expansion into Ponteland is going well. I’m really looking forward to doing their New Year’s Eve shows with Gavin Webster and Seymour Mace.
After all that it was back to London to try and settle in, having hardly been here since the day I moved. It’s been going very well, and I love living in Highgate. I bumped into Terry Jones when I was at the shops the other day, and as I’ve been walking I’ve been listening to Michael Palin’s diaries on audio book. I’ve passed many of the places he mentions, including the street where he lives. As Monty Python was surely the greatest inspiration for us as kids to go on and create comedy work of our own, it’s wonderful to know that I have such amazing neighbours.
If Gavin Webster is reading this, it is definitely a lot warmer in London. No, it is, honestly.
The 30th anniversary of Viz is fast approaching, and I will be doing a one man show on home soil at the Live Theatre on Newcastle’s Qauyside on the 10th of December. this is the exact date, 30 years on, that Viz first went on sale at the door of the upstairs function room at the Gosforth Hotel on Gosforth High Street. The show will be in two parts, the first hour will be autobiographical, covering some of my early life but mainly my 24 years at Viz, after the break they’ll be an hour in which I’ll do all five of my stand-up characters. Tickets should be available this week, for more information follow the Gig Calendar link.
The rest of my time recently has been spent working on my autobiography, which will be released next autumn, published by Tonto books. It’s a funny old game trying to remember your entire life and write it down. For months now I’ve been scribbling notes, recording memos and generally trying to remember anything and everything from the last 45 years.Viz buyers are likely to make up the majority of my readers, so I’m concentrating on putting as many laughs into the book as possible. There are plenty of anecdotes that still make me laugh, not only from my days at Viz, but from the rest of my life too.
Ho-hum, things to do. Must go. Will post more soon.
S
Website looks brilliant! Top job!