Warming Up

I am a Bat Nostradamus. Back in 1999 I basically predicted the crisis we are in, in the first TMWRNJ Food and Milk skit. Bulge Temptingly tweeted this to remind me 

I remember feeling that those sketches weren’t all that good at the time, but I am quite impressed with it in hindsight. In 90 seconds there are several nice jokes, some good prop work (and kudos to the prop makers for coming up with a bat that delivered just that bit too much milk and to me for either deliberately or accidentally getting the right amount of it on my face). It’s quite a well worn area for pastiche, but in the weirdness of the subject matter (and Stew’s great choice of music to accompany the subject for each milk drink) it becomes almost a pastiche of the pastiche and it’s much better than I gave it credit for. We did a lot of there sketches in a short amount of time - and were eventually kicked out of the house before we’d finished as the owners got wind of us drinking Jesus’ milk and would’t let us film that in their home. I was plagued with self-doubt and self-criticism and also the person I worked with also liked to criticise (though rarely himself) but ultimately it’s my own fault.

But I see the roots of what I am doing now in that sketch. Taking something mundane and allowing seeds of weirdness and inappropriateness to creep in. A character unaware that what he is doing is neither normal or sane or more importantly impressive. There’s a lot of subtlety in there for what was almost certainly a scene done in two straight takes. If a 52 year old man had turned up to tell me it was better than I thought, then it probably wouldn’t have helped. 

I am not saying it’s a great sketch or an important TV show. It isn’t and it wasn’t (though I know a few of you still hold it in high regard which  is  nice after 20 years), just that my assessment of it at the time was much too negative. The remarkable thing about TMWRNJ was only that we did this weird and inappropriate stuff in the early afternoon on a Sunday. Which isn’t too bad a remarkable thing.

I continue to play this “character” who fails to understand that what he is doing is more than straddling the line between madness and sanity. The real me does understand it. But still does it all in real life too. That’s my commitment. And I guess the real me worries that by the end of lock down I won’t actually be able to see the difference any more. But I am hoping that my fake madness at a genuinely insane time will help others through, rather than tip them over the edge into stone god worship. Though you should check out the stone gods. They have been very good to me. And if you manage to get milk from a stone, it is particularly delicious.

First finalist of the Self-Playing snooker tournament has been decided - was it who you expected? Catch up here 

Next semi final on Monday at 7.30pm http://twitch.tv/rkherring

Retr0 AIOTM ep 4  is now up too

You can see me doing some "acting" in this short film about the lockdown. It's called Lockdown. I shot it all in about an hour, but watch my beard grow. That is magic. Someone pointed out that although my character is single he is wearing a wedding ring. Like I'd make a mistake like that. The character is in his 50s. Do you seriously think he wasn't married before? I played him as someone whose wife and children had died in an accident some years ago. He's back dating now, but still wears the ring. And that's why the line about having kids is especially poignant. We didn't just throw this shit together you know.

Here’s the schedule of RHLSTP podcast releases