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The AIOTM team back together and it was like we'd never been away. Plus as we were now filming the show we had a whole new team of people around us, trying to ensure we didn't mess it all up and look like idiots. We certainly were going to mess some of it up and definitely look like idiots, but the crew helped us look better than we actually were.
I hadn't made it easy for us with my decision to do two shows on the night, but it gave the 275 people who showed up to see us very good value for money,
I had woken up early and completed the audio script and then tried to get on with learning what I was going to do in the video one. I have always been critical of the cast of Saturday Night Live for reading all their sketches off idiot boards (though I have to say they do it without much artifice of style), but it's really difficult to learn a whole, brand new show at late notice. I needed to remember a small bit of an Abraham Lincoln speech, but every time I had it in my brain I'd leave it five minutes and it would be gone again. Indeed when it came to me having to do it live at the end of a very long day, when I was just beginning to flag, it caused the audience much hilarity as I was totally unable to do it.
We had found a brilliant young set designer who had worked in double quick time to get our set together and it looked very impressive, subtly incorporating the letters AIOTM into the set, screen and entrance doors. Even Dan Tetsell, ever grumpy and dismissive of the show (just as Christian is always puppyishly excited and enthusiastic and Emma balances them out by not giving a fuck either way), looked reluctantly impressed, though doubtless felt that this had been a waste of effort for such a poor quality show.
There were inevitable hiccups. An Abraham Lincoln costume, which said on the packet that it would come with a hat, did not have a hat. And the hat was somewhat crucial to the sketch. Luckily Emma had checked it a couple of hours before the show so we had time to make one out of card.
We had one run read through of the audio script and then one run through of the video one, learning all the time, dealing with mics feeding back, working out the best place to hide the cameras and thankfully sorting out some cards for me to crib off if I forgot where I was (though not for the sketches). There was so much going on that it was very difficult to recall what came next. There were some puppets and some props and some last minute changes. And then it was time to do it for reals.
Luckily the audience were super excited. This first show has sold well, though I am a bit concerned about the rest of the run and the first half audio flew by. My instincts had been right. The stuff I had written at the last minute was probably as good as the stuff I'd worked hard on. But we were just standing in a line, reading this off a script, which made it all much easier.
The second half was trickier, but even though there were a few retakes and it was a long two and a half hours in the theatre, the crowd stuck with us. We played in some of the filmed sketches, which although not yet edited went down satisfyingly well and nearly all the studio stuff worked too. The cast and crew are all terrific. I am very lucky to have them. It's wonderful to work with people who you have a rapport with. We did a bit of pre filming where we were cheering and then running away like children and Emma pointed out how we were nearly 50. She and I have been doing this stuff together for 30 years on and off. It's both a tragedy and a triumph that we're still behaving in the same way.
My aim with this is to produce something as close as possible to a TV quality show, but on a tiny budget. I want it to still encapsulate the half-arsed anarchic spirit of the original AIOTM, but also have stuff that is surprisingly slick to showcase the talents of the many people who are coming together to make this happen. It's a bit early to be sure, but I have a strong feeling that we're very much on the right lines with this. Cardboard hats and poor quality puppetry stood alongside beautiful shot sketches and proper acting. The night whizzed by and hardly any of it was embarrassing. It feels like we could all be putting together something properly revolutionary and I like the fact that it's very much a team effort. Having a drink with the crew after the show was lovely. Everyone had battled hard to get this show together. What we have done is as stupid as still doing this at nearly 50, but also pretty amazing. Let's wait til it's finished and the youtube commentators have had their demented say, but to even have got this far… it's extraordinary. Thanks to all those of you who contributed financially to make this madness happen.
I enjoyed doing an AIOTM. And that in itself is a fucking miracle.
There's still a long way to go for the video version, but I am hoping the audio one will be up in the next day or so.
The first RHLSTP guest has been confirmed. On 3rd October I will be chatting to Armando Iannucci (plus another as yet unbooked guest). I think this one will see fairly quickly, So book now.
I will let you know the other names that I've already booked soon, but if you're a monthly badger, you get to hear first. Another email is coming out soon with two more exciting guests (at least)
