From Nought to Sixty

• Do: enjoy the support act MushyBees even though you weren't expecting a support act
• Don't: Trip up on your walk to the venue, badly knackering your knee
• Do: Remember to take biscuits
• Don't: Discover after 41 years of clear diction, that you develop a stutter when shouting out "an atrocity" as part of a punchline
• Do: Be slightly surprised how much James looks like the guy from "Lost"
• Don't: Be amazed that Michael doesn't punch anyone
• Do: Remember to drink lots, it gets very hot in a dungeon
• Don't: be quite so excited about winning a second hand lightsabre
• Do: Go - It's great fun in a convivial atmosphere surrounded by a friendly crowd

All in all a fab afternoon out and Many thanks to Michael and James for putting it on

P.S. anyone need a Brendan Burns DVD?

Just now waiting for my train home. Thoroughly enjoyed Mark Watson's warm up show (given the weather warm up is an understatement) it was fab and one of the most accomplished warm ups I've seen.
I particularly liked the low key start. As we filtered in he was satting (cool new word) at his laptop quietly typing a commentary.
Once started properly he has an endearing stage presence and basically meanderered around such topics as mortality, fatherhood and telling people off for an extremely funny 60 odd minutes. Oddly, this was the 2nd show in a row to for me at the Junction to pass comment on his Magners albeit only in passing. It was very touching in places (I particularly identified with the whole 'how am I a suitable male role model for my son' bit and would like to stress that that was the laughter of self recognition on not the perceived snort of derision at Mr Watson's manlyness - I mean he LIKES football giving him a great big blokey advantage for a start :)) and I am now doubly disapointed I can't make his fully fledged appearance nu the Corn Exchange later this year.

Busy few weeks

Firstly my last proper post got my first comment, although not as a comment on the blog, but Mr H did me the honour of an email reply:

Most of my fans are too lazy and fat to be effective stalkers. There are a few pricks out there but most people understand the boundaries and are a pleasure to know.
Try and stay in the latter group!

I'm trying, I'm trying :)

Secondly, as part of a general "improve life" attitude, we replaced our 10 year old mattress. Joy I can now wake up less knackered than when I went to bed and my wife doesn't end under me (not in a good way) due to roll together. I am amazed how much better I feel about all sorts of things since getting it

Then last week my wife and I had a couple of days in Norwich, the kids stayed with Grandma & Granddad and we got a super room deal in a bog standard hotel. The reason for this was we were going to see Chris Addison at the Norwich Playhouse. He was absolutely hilarious, one of my favourite comedians, although I didn't really expect to end up telling the whole theatre about my painful trampolining accident. Highly recommended, also if you've never seen it, see Lab Rats the 1st "grown up" comedy I ever showed my kids, they loved it, I love it, it is a wonderful blend of silly, clever and funny.

Spending a couple of days just wandering around Norwich was nice too, normally we go there with a list of stuff to do/buy but it was genuinely pleasant to just meander, visiting old haunts and hang outs (mainly cake shops and restaurants). TYSIC additional: must spend more time doing things like this, both with my wonderful wife and even, sometimes, with the kids :)

I failed to get "Joy Division Oven Gloves" to no6 despite getting my employees to make it available on the site, but No56 is (I think) HMHB's highest ever chart position

I then got a bit fed up at the prospect of the general election and the results, but am enough of a political nerd to override that and once again get interested. I genuinely fret that the Tories seem likely to win, but am also pissed off with Labour's lack of ambition and it is hard to remember than amid the shit they've thrown at us (War, DEbill, Civil liberty erosions, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ) they have done some cool stuff it is just very hard to remember what.

Finally, Mark's latest blog entry reminded me that I've never seen the northern lights, more specifically I've never taken my wife to see the Northern Lights, something I have promised and will add now to my TYSIC goals

Oh and I found this and laughed like a drain for far too long:

Recording.amr

(download)

Click here to download:

Recording.amr (683 KB)

Morning

This is a stripped down, posted from my phone entry, so excuse boy typos please.

Last night was a Half Man Half Biscuit gig at the junction, Cambridge. If you don't know who HMHB are, then in some ways I am envious, as there's a wonderful discovery process to be under taken, simply go to http://www.hmhb.co.uk and purchase the back catalogue. Of course If you don't know who HMHB are you've also wasted a lot of time when you could have been listening to them.

All that preamble aside, the gig was great, a good mix of old and new(ish - must nearly be time for a new album) songs. I had a very very mild sense of disappointment at the lack of a custom 'Paintball' but a rousing 'Joy Division Oven Gloves' encore eradicated that feeling. If any of you Tysic-ers have happiness or music related goals, check this came out.

This ties in nicely with my final point. As you may know, the BBC is planning on axing 6music, and there is a campaign to protest this by getting 'Joy Division Oven Gloves' into the charts (http://bit.ly/ovengloves) take the chance to add some biscuity goodness to your life.

Below is a recording I took on my phone, it is probably unlistenable, but it was an experiment to see if it would work

Recording.amr

(download)

Click here to download:

Recording.amr (296 KB)

Morning

This is a stripped down, posted from my phone entry, so excuse boy typos please.

Last night was a Half Man Half Biscuit gig at the junction, Cambridge. If you don't know who HMHB are, then in some ways I am envious, as there's a wonderful discovery process to be under taken, simply go to http://www.hmhb.co.uk and purchase the back catalogue. Of course If you don't know who HMHB are you've also wasted a lot of time when you could have been listening to them.

All that preamble aside, the gig was great, a good mix of old and new(ish - must nearly be time for a new album) songs. I had a very very mild sense of disappointment at the lack of a custom 'Paintball' but a rousing 'Joy Division Oven Gloves' encore eradicated that feeling. If any of you Tysic-ers have happiness or music related goals, check this came out.

This ties in nicely with my final point. As you may know, the BBC is planning on axing 6music, and there is a campaign to protest this by getting 'Joy Division Oven Gloves' into the charts (http://bit.ly/ovengloves) take the chance to add some biscuity goodness to your life.

Below is a recording I took on my phone, it is probably unlistenable, but it was an experiment to see if it would work

Stewart Lee "if you prefer a milder comedian please ask for one"
The Junction Cambridge: 8th March 2010

Stewart Lee is one of my favourite comedians, would this show be as good as his previous ones, (either seen live, or purchased from his back catalogue at GoFasterStripe?

Well hardly a surprise to find that of course it would

Support today was provided by Wilson Dixon a country music parody character similar to Rich Hall's Otis Lee Crenshaw See This Post for some more details.  Then the main event

Like Mr Lee himself, I'd never seen the Junction2 in its "extended format" but hopefully this is a sign that the TV series has re-raised his profile in a good way. Certainly from ear-wigging in the lobby I ascertained that there were a good number of people there who had not seen him live before. This contrasts favourably with the last two times I have seen him perform when it has basically been an audience of fervent comedy nerds, such as yours truly, in nowhere near full venues, and he deserves to be seen and everyone deserves to see him.

Unusually he takes the stage to loud music, flashing lights and a misplaced swirl of smoke but this is just a "failed" attempt to be like "one of those Russell comedians they have now days" which leads nicely into a statement of intent, he is not Michael MacIntyre "unlike him I don't actually care about your life" and as the show is being performed twice tonight orders us to be quick so he can fit in the second show.

He runs through a number of targets, Frankie Boyle, advancing middle age, Top gear and a certain cider campaign and left me giggling uncontrollably for most of the show before ending on a (surprisingly well done) song as captured by someone at another venue:

Before rushing off, presumably for a 10 minute lie down before doing it all again, which denied us in the first audience his usual post gig chit chat, which was a shame

J

Do try and catch the show while its still touring

OK, I saw Wilson Dixon supporting Stewart Lee the other night