AIOTM 9 felt a bit too easy to get together. I'd completed a script by 2, a good couple of hours earlier than usual, with no gaps to fill in. It was a bit scary. Did I need it all to be last minute for it to actually be any good?
And it turned into a bit of a disjointed day, mainly because the usual routine was a bit interrupted as TV funnyman Stewart Lee was booked in to the theatre to do his latest celebrated stand up show and we didn't have our regular slot. It was going to be a 9.30 slot, rather than 8, which was bound to impact a little bit on audience numbers on a Monday night. But also he was going to need to tech his show, which ate into our rehearsal time.
When I got to the theatre his tech was well underway, though he wasn't there himself. His stage manager was doing a very thorough job of getting all the lighting and sound levels exactly right. When I turn up at a theatre I pretty much just try out the mike, tell them to put some lights on me on stage and then go to my dressing room to eat sandwiches, but Lee's production values are greater than mine and his dedicated technician was making minute adjustments to the lighting levels until they were exactly perfect for the Terry Christian faced comedian.
So rigorous was the process that at one stage it looked like we might not even get a run through on stage, but we did manage a quick thirty minute sprint through it, as microphones were put up around us and as quickly taken down when we were done.
We went out for a cast Christmas dinner taking advantage of the couple of hours wait we were going to have and the fact that this would be Christian's last show as he has a prior commitment next week. We passed Lee's enormous queue snaking down through Leicester Square. Yesterday I had felt entirely gracious about his success, but today I was perhaps a tinsy bit jealous that he was managing to pack the place out. Maybe if I spent more time on getting the exact lighting level right then I could be this big. I am sure that's what this is mainly about.
In the end we got a couple of hundred in, so I can't complain too much and next week's final show (back at its regular time) has already sold more tickets than that, so hopefully we will end on a sell out. And mainly it was a nice thought to think that Lee and Herring were back in the same theatre for one night - if in separate shows - and both doing shows with at least a bit of a buzz about them. Crumpled, chubby old men, but still coming up with stuff that is relevant and interesting. I'd have taken the hand I've been dealt if I had been offered it ten years ago.
It was nice to be able to thank my excellent cast and producer by getting them a pizza and some drinks (before the performance - how terribly unprofessional - see if you can spot our crapulousness in the podcast). We've had a lot of fun with this podcast, despite it having a by the scruff of the neck and seat of the pants nature. Emma and me both had the firey Etna pizza at Pizza Express, which left us both parched and dry mouthed for the rest of the evening. It was possibly an error. And we only had two small glasses of wine each.
Perhaps though we had lost a little impetus, or maybe the later time made us and/or the audience a little bit more sluggish, but from stage it didn't feel like one of the best ones. It certainly has its moments though and pushes the envelope further than we've done before in places. And afterwards the people we talked to seemed to have enjoyed it. So don't let me talk you round. Listen to it
and judge for yourself. I certainly feel a lot happier and less stressed out with the prospect of only one more to write, than I did when there were say 8 or 9 of these things to go. I think it's worked out pretty well. It's definitely been worth doing.
I think I am going to miss these crazy, stressful Mondays when we're finished, but I think it's pretty likely that we'll be doing this again at some point.
Book ahead for the last show (or Hitler Moustache while you're there)
Three valiant audience members have been to all nine shows thus far. Will they make it to ten? There's no point in them turning back now! I will have to think of some suitable prize for their commitment.
