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Off to Bristol today, just me and the kids, so it would be another demanding day. I drove 150 miles, did a show at the Slapstick Festival where Robin Ince asked me about my favourite film clips and then drove to Cheddar to see the folks.
Fun all the way though. Ernie needed a poo within fifteen minutes of leaving home and the M4 was partially closed, but I’d left lots of time for poos and diversions so we got to Bristol at 11am, well ahead of showtime.
As we walked along the dock to the Watershed, I told the kids about the Colston statue being thrown into the drink and Ernie was very interested in this and wanted to dive in to see it. I told him he statue was now in a museum and he really wanted to go to see it. It would be nice to think he was interested in history, but I think he just admired the vandalism.
It was great to see the Slapstick crew again and the onstage (and off stage) chat with Robin was lots of fun. The loss of Barry Cryer, a big supporter of the festival, hung in the air, but there have been quite a few losses since I was last here. Both Tim Brooke-Taylor and Eddie Large were on the bill back in 2019 when I was last here. I guess this is one of the drawbacks of having a celebration of the comedy of yesteryear. I move ever closer to being the oldest comedian on the bill. Luckily a few of the codgers are hanging on.
It had been a while since I chose my clips so some were as big a surprise to me as everyone else. I managed to keep it pretty clean, apart from selecting the gorilla scene from Bad Trip, which I might have chosen to come out of a little earlier than they did. But I don’t think there were any kids in to see a man get a generous serving of ape yoghurt on his face. Robin pointed out that following this clip with Chaplin’s heartfelt plea for decent democracy from the Great Dictator was a pretty rapid change of gears, but I was glad to have a variety of comedy in there.
I had wanted the clip from Muppet Christmas Carol where Scrooge is visited by Beaker and Professor Honeydew, but I only specified the scene with Beaker. I had forgotten that there was a second short scene with Beaker where Scrooge finally makes a donation (of money, not monkey semen). I can understand why the researcher might have thought I couldn’t mean the first scene, as in many ways, it’s pretty serious, but after I’d explained why I thought this was the finest acting I’d seen from Caine and that he and Beaker should both have got an Oscar, in the later scene Beaker really overacts and ruins it. But no matter.
We’ll try and release the chat as a podcast, though we won’t be able to include the clips.
My nephew Andy was back from Australia and it was very good to see him again. The kids have met him, but so long ago that they wouldn’t remember, so I am glad we managed to work out a way to get most of the family here to see him. Andy said that he’d lost his wallet and his money in London and Ernie disappeared and then came back with a pound from his purse and gave it to Andy. This boy can be a whirlwind of unlistening naughtiness, but his heart is large and he is very into the idea of sharing. This was the sweetest gesture and when Andy tried to give him the money back, Ernie absolutely insisted saying it was because Andy had lost his wallet.
