Me2 played WHAM down the left hand column, ending on the triple word score, also making AL and MU which ARE WORDS! Well done if you beat that. A lady on Twitter played HAREM in the same place, which is the highest score yet claimed. But then no one else had a go. I sometimes think no one reads this blog at all. But that, by the terms set by yesterday's podcast, make it high art. Even moreso as it's been going on for nearly 10 years. A man shouting into a dark empty room for a decade. Take that Samuel Beckett. And also Sam Beckett.
I managed to get quite badly lost in Newcastle today trying to find a bank to pay my SCOPE money in. I was using my iPhone to navigate which marked out where the banks were and Newcastle is a town I know quite well and yet somehow I still managed to go all over the place in the wrong direction. When I finally worked out how badly I had missed my destination it made no sense. Either I am so unmanly that I can't follow maps or Newcastle had somehow spun on its axis. If you know me and how manly I am then you will know that the latter explanation is the only one that makes sense. The river was suddenly on the wrong side of me. Some people thought that maybe this meant I had turned around, but come on, I think the turning on the axis thing is more likely. My best man Mike came up with the only other possible explanation which was that I had somehow turned upside down. It's this kind of logical thinking that is why he is my best man. But I checked out all the buildings and the pavement and stuff and I was the right way up. So back to the spinning on the axis thing.
Finally I found the bank and the coin machine was miraculously working (I had wasted a morning in Leeds trying to get these same coins paid in). I had hoped to get some work done today, but by the time I was back in my hotel there wasn't really time to get my teeth into anything. I decided to have a crack at my 40 and 100 words for this year's Edinburgh Fringe. Yes, it's that time of year. I am doing an afternoon show at the Stand with a second stint of Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast and an evening show at the Upside Down Cow (my biggest Edinburgh venue yet) with Talking Cock: The Second Coming. My 33rd and 34th Edinburgh Fringe shows, on this the silver jubilee of my first Fringe appearance.
Here's what I came up with:
40
Richard Herring - Talking Cock. Knob, dick, schmuck, John Thomas, the yoghurt-spitting sausage, the honourable member for Fuckinghamshire, the pink lighthouse that wants you on its rocks, Spurt Reynolds, Jack the Dripper, Rumpleforeskin......
“Man’s answer to the Vagina Monologues” Guardian
100
Richard Herring - Talking Cock: The Second Coming. An object of shame and pride; inspiring laughter and fear; a symbol of power, yet incredibly fragile; it creates life, it can condemn us to death... and it can do wees too. For his 25th anniversary Fringe, Herring updates the hit show that exposes the truth about the porridge gun.
“Man’s answer to the Vagina Monologues” Guardian.
“An impassioned and thoughtful disquisition on masculinity.” Observer
“His Cock is as funny and fascinating for women as it is for men. I loved it. I only wished it could have been longer” Scotsman
And by the way I will be setting up the questionnaire again soon so that we get fresh 2012 answers to the cock based questions. So you and your cock or the cock of someone you love (or like fucking) could be part of the show!
I did the podcast one last week, but here it is to whet your appetite
40 word - Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast: The "King of Edinburgh" (List) returns for his 25th anniversary Fringe to chat with more Edinburgh stars and showcase the best new comedians. Gossip, prizes, surprises. Different show every day, yet reassuringly exactly the same.
100 word - Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast - The "King of Edinburgh" (List) returns for his 25th anniversary Fringe to interview more Edinburgh stars and showcase the best new comedians. Improvised comedy chat and serious chat about comedy. A different show every day, yet reassuringly exactly the same. Last year's guests included Sarah Millican, Adam Buxton, Al Murray and Omid Djalili. Each episode appears on iTunes and the British Comedy Guide on the day to provide Fringe taster for those not lucky enough to be here. But come along for prizes, free tickets and interaction with EdinburghÂ’s top stars and its reluctant monarch!
Obviously I'll let you know when the tickets go on sale. And if I sell none then I will know I am talking to no one but myself. Which is the ultimate ambition for my career anyway.
Despite, or maybe because of, my long walk I was feeling refreshed and energetic for tonight's show. This has definitely been my favourite week of the tour in terms of shows with Chorley and Leeds being particular highlights. But I think Newcastle might just have trumped them. I was at the very impressive new Stand venue and even though it's only been going for a few months it seems to have everything right: it's a nice size with about 300 seats, but still intimate; it's staffed by friendly and efficient people who seem to genuinely love comedy; there's an amazing bistro attached which is worth visiting even if you hate laughter and joy and the audience were sharp and comedy literate and focused. I did spot a miserable couple in the second row who were hard to ignore and who left in the second half, but you can't and you mustn't please everyone. Like most stand up comedians I love the ethos behind the Stand, which although it is obviously a business venture puts the comedy, the comedians and the punters above making money and subsequently (this isn't rocket science) has audiences and comedians coming back again and again and thus makes loads of money any way (I hope). If you were cynical and just wanted to make money you could do all these things anyway, but it's amazing how many venues fail to see the correlation. I was given the right amount of respect by the crew (ie not too little, but not too much) who were also kind enough to change most of the SCOPE money into notes for me so that I wouldn't have to go through the back breaking visit to the bank tomorrow. Newcastle is lucky to have this brilliant venue and the venue is lucky to have found its audience so quickly. I have a few smaller and quieter gigs coming up, but it's been ace to have some sell outs this week. I think the show has hit a new level as a result.
Just 22 more opportunities to see the show -
dates here, though we're recording the DVD on the 30th March so hopefully we can catch it at its peak.
Oh and my
latest Metro column is out. Some of these will be familiar to those who've seen all my shows, but this column seems to be bringing my stuff to a whole new audience so I hope you will forgive me!
