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So I didn't get the House of Games gig.
To be fair when I saw Michael Sheen's photo and the words House of Games, I thought, "Blimey, that's quite an impressive guest!"
So when I found out he was actually going to be the host, you have to think, "Fair enough, that's quite a booking. I don't mind coming second to him."
You might say they didn't announce second, but trust me, it was me. If Sheen dies or is disgraced in some way then I shall be stepping in, like a beardy Miss World runner up.
I am glad to not have got the job though, as I fear it might impede my Hollywood career.
Into London for podcasting today. I got in early, but couldn't go into the theatre as Ricky Gervais was doing some afternoon stand up so I sat in Pret a Manger. A woman next to me was crying, as her friend comforted her. I think she'd been let go from her job (though obviously I wouldn't listen in to a private conversation, but also it was hard to hear what she was saying through the sobs).
It's surprising that we don't see more people publicly sobbing. The world is a cruel place and life is full of disappointments and I guess we're all so battered down by it now that we hold our tears in.
You instinctively feel that you should comfort a crying person but also instinctively feel that you should leave a crying person alone when it's none of your business. Her friend was doing a good job of providing support.
I tried to write jokes.
Misery feeds comedy like blood feeds vampires and I wrote a 90 minute stand up special, fuelled by a stranger's teard.
Another very enjoyable night at the Leicester Square Theatre. Wonderful to welcome back the king of the Emergency Questions answers, David Mitchell, who treats my stupid queries as if they are being asked by a smart 8-year-old. I also attempted to engage him in some philosophical questions about the nature of Hell, which he admirably rose to. The audience were there to see him (the show had sold out before I announced the second guest - not that we have more than one guest a week) but they got a bonus Matt Forde, who talked about his political interviews, his childish Spitting Image work and then very movingly and life affirmingly about his horrible cancer.
It was an electric interview and as brilliant as Mitchell always is, this surprise bonus for the audience might have been even better. Or at least even different. That's the beauty of this podcast and why I will find it hard to give up, even as it enters a time when it might not be profitable enough, given the amount of time it takes. I keep thinking I might stop it soon, (mainly to try and use my time to do other stuff, like 24 hour rolling Newsround) but then I do one and I think - this has to go on forever.
A dispiriting journey home as the train I needed was delayed by 30 minutes and then somehow I ended up on the slow train (maybe the slow train had overtaken the tardy fast train and I didn't notice). I was home about midnight and too wired to go to sleep for an hour. Once upon a time this would have been my routine - working at night, going to bed early- but that was a fairy tale world where I didn't have to get up at 6.30am.
Ah well, at least I can't get sacked from this job. Though that in itself might be a cause of eventual public sobbing.
