Another long tiring day putting together another AIOTM. There was a few hours in the middle of the day where I wished I'd done a series of 6 rather than 10. It was just impossible to work out whether what I was writing was brilliant or awful or some magical mixture of the 2. Luckily, given the paucity of activity this week I had more stories in my childhood book to mine and exploit. But would it work when it was dramatised in front of a live audience? I couldn't tell. Everything I was coming up with seemed ridiculously self-indulgent, but maybe 8 shows in self-indulgence is called for. And it is a show about myself and what I've been thinking so it's hard not to be self-indulgent.
I was briefly cheered up by the news that Steve Brown had put together
some new Collings and Herrin T shirt designs including a "the four men have a fiht with the men of Phise" shirt, which I then provided an illustration from the book for. These T shirts are mainly just for fun and make us next to nothing in profit, but it's cool to see people wearing them (they take quite a while to be delivered by the way, so don't rely on them as Christmas presents) and do remember that the Virgilio Anderson shirts have brought at least one couple together!
The script felt painfully unfunny as we rehearsed it in the evening, but that has been the case with a couple of the ones that have gone on to be great, so I wasn't too worried. Also, there wasn't much I could do about it now. I was still adding bits right up to the last minute and we made a few cuts, but with AIOTM we're pretty much committed to whatever I've come up with.
It was possibly the biggest audience of the run and they seemed up for fun and once we got in front of the crowd we were all in skittish moods and there was a lot of funny ad-libbing. The Thriling Three went down very well too, which was a relief. The response to the whole thing was pretty awesome and it does make all the stress and worry and emotional pain worth it. Without Emma, Dan, Christian and Ben the producer the whole thing might well be a disaster. The cast put in a great performance and the fun and the mickey taking and the surprise little stories are, I think, what makes this show. After starting the day wishing that the series was over, I ended kind of sad that we only had two left. Two more seems manageable. In the morning I had really felt like this might be the week where I didn't get a script together. I wished I hadn't left it so late, especially as there was no excuse this time, but ultimately I know that this is who I work. Seat of the pants!
There are only two more opportunities to get down to see the show, so I hope you can make it, either to next week's Stewart Lee/AIOTM double bill Smackdown (you have to buy separate tickets to both) or the final show on the 14th - though it seems like that one might actually sell out, so do book ahead.
Tickets here.
