More thoughts

 

I had planned to write a stand-up routine whilst on the road and perhaps try it out at some late night open mic spots but this blog is all I've written so far.

I can claim to have done stand -up before as I performed at the Comic Strip Club with Rik Mayall, Alexis Sayle et al in the early 80's. We did character based comedy and there were several of us so it was more like doing sketches in the middle of a stand-up show. Then again, a lot of the routines were really sketches. Rik and Ade as the Dangerous brothers and Nigel Planner and Peter Richardson as the unfunny brothers. I even remember Mark Arden and Steve Frost doing a sketch. It had the great lines "I made a citizens arrest yesterday" "What's a citizens arrest?" "well it's very like a police arrest but you don't get that searing pain in the bollocks".
My idea was to dress as a politician and treat the whole thing as a political rally for the coalition coalition party. A coalition of all parties. In other words, a dictatorship. Democracy for the people, with the people, by the people - and my party have always been willing and ready to buy the people.
I might work on it? The main drive behind it was to give myself something to aim for that would frighten me. You see, there are very few things that I do these days that really frighten me. Professionally that is. Does that sound conceited? It isn't supposed to. It's just honest. Most people in any job will get to a point after they have been doing it for 30 years where everything is a repeat of something they have coped with before and it just gets easier. I'm not scared of audiences and going on stage, and television and radio are just fun. If you go wrong you just do it again until you get it right.

Stand-up, on my own, in the back room of some pub, with 30 drunken people in the audience might be a bit more of a challenge? Although when you write it down it suddenly seems less scary. I'm not going to take up bungee jumping or skydiving. I'm not fucking mad!! Just after a bit of a frisson. I will keep you posted.

Look out for the Arena tour in 2012 x

PS lovely phone call from fellow actor today. Made me laugh a lot. He suggested I take up golf. Off to buy some ridiculous trousers in the morning.  Actually, he may have been suggesting I take up golf as opposed to acting. Can't blame him. He's been on stage with me so he knows what he's talking about xx