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If you're one of the lovely people who backed the Can I Have My Ball Back? kickstarter you will be pleased to know that we're working hard to bring you your rewards. Hopefully they should all be with you next month, though there's lots of moving parts, so forgive us if it's a little bit late.
This afternoon I (hopefully) recorded a commentary for the DVD alongside fellow star of the show, Right Bollock. It's an odd thing having to talk over a 90 minute soliloquy from yourself and I don't think I could have done it alone, but Right Bollock was on hand to undermine me at every opportunity. Not that I needed much help with that.
I hadn't felt too happy with the performance
back on the 14th May in Stevenage - still a bit ill from my three month lurgy and full of Wagamamas, from my perspective something just felt a little bit off. Watching it back though I didn't feel the same. It seems like a solid performance of the show (though admittedly Chris has taken out the stumbles and fuck ups). It shows that sometimes how it feels inside isn't how it looks from outside. Phew, your DVDs and downloads aren't going to be utter shit.
It was fun to see the stuff with Right Bollock from outside for the first time. I have a Rod Hull style jacket on and my real arm cradling the puppet and that real arm has become stretched beyond all reason to the point where you might suspect it's a false one. I am always doing it so don't know how ridiculous it looks from the audience POV. Until now.
Anyway Right Bollock and I managed to find something to talk about for pretty much all of the 90 minutes of the show - I just hope it recorded, because I am not fucking doing it again. It will be a dedicated fan who watches the show and then watches it again with the commentary (and an insane one who only watches it with the commentary) so this work was probably for the benefit of maybe 50 people. But they will get some insights into the show and my mental state.
And I am used to recording stuff that only 50 people will enjoy
Seeing it all again I did find it surprising how much of the story of the show is just 100% what happened. There's only one tiny bit of conversation that I've really added for comic effect and nearly everything else is verbatim (as far as I can recall- and of course my asides and comments on the action did not occur to me at the time).
One of the most profound and mind-blowing moments of my life came after receiving the shaky-voiced call from my GP and hearing my son laughing in the room next door as I contemplated my mortality and whether he'd remember me if I was gone (which I felt sure in that moment I would be). It's strange to see that turning up in a comedy show in some ways, especially one I have written myself. What's stranger is I assumed it would be a quiet and serious bit of the show where the tone would change and to a certain extent it was. But it's very rapidly high comedy. Higher comedy as a result of the high stakes. And pretty much captures the intense thought process that accompanied the fears, tears and dread.
I'm still here, for now. But even if I go, this performance in front of a tricky Wednesday night audience in Stevenage will live FOREVER. Or until the DVDs are all in land fill and the website with the downloads on it goes down.
I don't chat to Right Bollock very much any more, but in spire of his nastiness and anger, I think it was a cathartic experience to get to see things from his point of view (I think the autobiography he wrote for Kickstarter patrons is also very good - it's fine for me to compliment him. He's nothing to do with me). We may make copies available to buy for non-kickstarter supporters. And though the physical DVD will not go on general sale (there may be a few copies we can sell on the website) you will be able to buy the download. Maybe not of the commentary though. You'll never find out who I based Right Bollock on.
