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Over to Bristol for a benefit for the Slapstick Festival (and as Jack Dee would say “It’s hard to think of a more deserving cause). I don’t tend to do charity gigs out of London any more, because there are plenty to do near to my home and I do a lot of travelling already so it’s hard to justify leaving my family for another night. But I love Bristol and the Slapstick guys are cool and it’s always exciting to me to play the Colston Hall. I don’t have many ambitions any more and most of them involve playing venues that whilst not being massive are certainly beyond the scope of my fanbase. I hope that I might one day get to play a full Colston Hall in my now right, rather than as part of a bill. I think that’s probably achievable as I often sell around a 1000 tickets in this town during the life of a show (including previews here). At the moment I don’t have a Bristol date on this tour and we couldn’t work out a return to the Old Vic (certainly one of the top 3 gigs of the last tour) and the other venues in town are smaller and would mean doing two or three nights….. Well maybe not this time for the Colston Bristol. But I hope one day.
Anyway I got 17 minutes on the stage tonight and experienced the fun of playing to this big (if echoey) room and it went very well, even though I could feel myself stumbling over my words a bit due to not having had too much stage time recently. Before the show I’d had a curry with the organisers and some of the comics that were on and Graeme Garden from off of the Goodies. Earlier on I’d been tweeting Charlie Brooker about shows that had changed channels and the Goodies had come up as an example of people for whom the change hadn’t really worked. But Charlie, like me, was a big fan of the zany funsters and it was nice to have dinner with one of them. Mr Garden is a quiet and polite man, but when he tosses in an interjection it is sharp and to the point and I did get to talk to him a little about the love that my generation have for his shows and the BBC’s poor treatment of them and the fact that they never got repeated. Im Australia the shows were shown for years and consequently the Goodies phenomenon lasted for a longer time. It was a real delight to chat with one of my childhood heroes about what his work had meant to me and people like Charlie.
On the way home I listened to Adam Buxton interviewing Michael Palin and experienced similar feelings of nostalgia. Whilst I am very envious of Adam getting this guest I have to concede that their chat is perhaps the loveliest conversation ever committed to tape. It’s a really beautiful hour of your time if you haven’t heard it already, both moving on a personal level as Adam draws parallels to his recently departed dad and Palin (and I think Palin feels a bit like he might be all of our dads) and as a fellow fan, getting someone who slotted very much into my experience of the Pythons being able to tell one of them exactly how much they meant to him. It could only have been improved by asking Palin if he had every tried to suck his own cock.
But lovely to hear both Garden and Palin talking about their past and for them to hear in return how loved they were and how important an influence on the next generation of comedians. But Buxton also does an amazing job and steers the conversation to more serious and philosophical areas, which reveal Palin’s rather positive life view (in the face of life’s horrors). My long journey home whizzed by. As much as I hate Adam Buxton and hope he dies for getting this interview with my absolute comedy hero. I also know that I would be too in awe to speak if Palin was sitting opposite me and not get anything like this beautiful out of him. But in any case Buxton spoke for my generation anyway, as if we were a nerdy Borg collective, so it still feels a bit like it was the interview I might have given.
Anyway don't listen to his podcast - go to youtube, itunes or the British Comedy Guide and watch/listen to me me talking to Tim Minchin.
