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Half Way
Thursday 18th August 2011
We are just over half way through the Edinburgh Festival and my show is causing quite a stir amongst the Scottish Nationalists. Well. With upwards of one of them anyway.
I think its funny that out of all the posters on offer they have only picked on mine. Like my show is definitely the one that most represents Scottish oppression, and not that it just has a handy white background or anything.
I wonder if it will confuse people who are choosing which shows to see, and if I will start getting an audience of English people who hate Scottish people and think I am some kind of rallying point for hate crimes.
I suppose doing a comedy show, you are supposed to get used to being misrepresented in the media. But honestly, I am nothing like Edward I. All right I am tall, but nobody calls me Longshanks. I mean, sure, at school they did call me Daddy Long Legs, Four Eyes and Mrs Bean, but that's clearly totally different.
Apart from this (and partly because of it) I am having a lovely time in Edinburgh doing my show. The shows having been going well, people having been coming and laughing. I've had some lovely four star reviews and I sold out for the first time on Saturday.
Do come and see me if you are in the Fringe based vicinity. I promise I don't even have any jokes about Scotland. Well one. OK, two. But that's it.
Svengali
Tuesday 14th June 2011
I was invited to the press night of Derren Brown's Svengali, at the Shaftesbury Theatre, and it was an absoultely fantastic show. There were mind-bending tricks aplently, and not witchcraft. Definitely not witchcraft. He asks everyone not to talk about what's in the show to people that haven't seen it (like in Ghoststories) and I am honouring that magicians code. But not because I'm scared of the consequencies. Definitely.
I also got to go to the after show party, which served the most amazing canapes I have ever tasted. Me and the group of people I was with managed to stand quite near the kitchen door, so we got first dibs on everthing that came out. I am well on my way to fulfilling my new ambition to just become the character Liz Lemon.
A couple of the waiters got wary of us, and started moving past us quickly, but then they changed their minds again, and resigned themselves to feeding the Homer Simpsons near the door.
At one point a couple of children came and stood near us, giggling to themselves that they were genius's for standing right by the kitchen. Then after a couple of rounds of this, they got bored and moved off. But we stayed on, hoovering up all the food. Those kids were quitters.
I honestly had never felt
more like Liz Lemon in my life. But I don't care. It was totally worth
it. If I close my eyes I can still taste those canapes...
Come As Your Teenage Self Party
Sunday 29th May 2011
Sometimes the good ideas really do come thick and fast don't they? And what could be a better idea than a 'come as your teenage self' party? Exactly.
I don't mean to boast, but I really do know how to party like it's 1996. 1996 was great. The Spice Girls had just started being taken seriously. It really felt like anything could happen.
I was a grungy/indie-kid that really liked Blur and Oasis (why couldn't they both just get along?) and thought that the Courtney Love style baby doll dresses were the thing to wear.
Also I used to dye my hair this fetching colour which I think simultaneously said, 'I don't really get on with my parents' and 'I am not that well liked, but I don't fully understand why.'
Loads of people got really into the spirit of the party, and had really awesome costumes. I was particularly excited to see an Ash 'Girl From Mars' T-shirt and crimped hair back on board.
There is something weirdly liberating about dressing as your teenage self. It sort of forces you to assess what you thought and wanted from life at that time, and then judging your current situation, to see how it fits the teenage you's aspirations.
And to be honest, I have passed my teenage self's dreams for life with flying colours. She wanted to be a writer and do comedy, and ta da! (Of course most people update their dreams and ambitions as they get older) but I have really held true to that adolescent one.
I have learnt many things from this
experience. Well, mainly that actually. And that spin the bottle can
still be surprisingly fun.
Also, it turns out that you can take the garish hair dye away from the teenager, but if you decide to hilariously dabble with what you used to look like and put the garish hair dye back on your hair, you can't take the garish hair dye back out of your hair as quickly as you would like.
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