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Last night of the play first, but before that I had to go to a golf course in Knebworth to do some of my secret work for charity that I don't like to talk about. I was going to talk bollocks to some businessmen in the hope of raising some money for the hospital that cut my ball off.
They told me if I didn't raise a certain amount of money for them that they'd be back to finish the job and go full Action Man.
Of course, always very happy to support the NHS and the people who saved my life, though I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to remember any of the jokes from my show, or that if I did, they would prove wildly inappropriate for a lunchtime audience of people who would likely have no idea who I was.
But I got some chicken and some sticky toffee pudding and I didn't have to play golf, so I was up for it. A quick listen to the audio of the DVD and I hoped I would have awakened the memory circuits for this show, though there was the danger I'd start doing Educating Rita speeches instead.
Luckily it all came back to me and even in full daylight the jokes landed pretty well. I then did the auction where I managed the right amount of cheekiness to get the golf men to donate.
Once I got home it was just about time to go to the theatre for one more shot at Rita. We did a fabulous show, pretty much word perfect, with the funny bits getting good laughs and the serious bits producing tears (from me at least). It's come on such a long way in just 8 performances (and it wasn't bad to start with) and I wished we were doing a few more. I always thought I might get bored doing a long run of a play, but there's so much to find in this one, that I feel sure it'd still be fun after a month.
I have started splashing the whisky around in the drunk scene and I got the audience good tonight. It was great to be so in command of the script that we were both able to shine and improvise whilst still knowing we weren't going to leap to the wrong bit.
It's a shame, in a way, that only 70 people tonight and about 500 in total got to see us do this play, but it's actually cool to do something for its own sake, with no desire or hope for it to lead anywhere else. Anna and I have dug deep to get this thing into the shape it's in and I actually rather like it that it's a secret that so few people will know about.
It's certainly given me a lot more confidence about my acting chops.
I will miss Frank as he finally heads off to Australia, alone, having lost everything and then drinks himself to death. It's a very sad story. No wonder I was crying.
Amazing guest news for RHLSTP on 1st July at the Leicester Square Theatre. I will be joined by Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap, Simpsons) and Tom Leopold (writer on Seinfeld and Cheers).
There will be another guest too obvs. Though we only ever record one a week.
Plus more dates announced in September, October and November.
