To The Philharmonic Hall tonight to watch 'The Best Of Liverpool' comedy night which is the traditional end to the annual comedy festival here. The clue's in the title, it only involves Liverpool acts, old and new, and I've never been invited to perform because I'm not from Liverpool. I don't know how many years I'll have to live here until I can be considered part of the furniture, or how many years it will take me to speak naturally with a Scouse accent if that's what it takes, but I'd love to do it - it's a beautiful venue and two thousand people or so were in tonight.
There were twelve acts on in total, each doing short 10 minute sets (although a couple of the old-school veterans blatantly disregarded this because they're supposedly not used to the regulative nature of the modern comedy circuit and are used to doing marathon stints). K was on at the end of the first half, doing Nige, the uber-scally-philosopher from Toxteth, and took the stage wearing a full length, all in one Scooby Doo outfit, with a hole at the top for this face and above it a huge Scooby head. Carrying his guitar, he sauntered on, paused in front of the mic for quite a while, looked confused, and then said "You know when you're leaving the house in a hurry and just put on the first thing that comes to hand?"
I love stuff like that. It was interesting to look at other people in the audience, who were of all ages, and see how different folks responded to different styles of act. The older people were roaring with laugher at the pub jokes of the old performers, but sat stony faced at the sight of someone playing a brilliantly filthy, funny and original song in a Scooby Doo outfit, whilst everyone under the age of forty loved it. John Bishop, one of my favourite, favourite comedians was compere for the evening and he said at the start how there was supposedly a difference between 'mainstream' and 'alternative' acts, but how in his mind "funny's funny". I completely agree in theory, but the truth of it is that I find it hard to laugh at the guys who are doing jokes that you can get out of a book. I'm not snobbish about it, but I really think the joy of watching a good comic is appreciating the though process that went into an original routine, the surprise when it goes in an unexpected direction, and maybe most importantly when they're talking about real-life experiences. When someone says "So I was swimming the channel and I met an Irishman..." I just think "Oh stop it. You weren't. I don't care how good this joke's going to be... Oh it's rubbish. Stop lying. Tell me about something that's actually happened. Or lie and make it believable. Make it somehow real and relatable." That's what I think - those exact words.
K's girlfriend Helene was there with two of her teaching colleagues and I suggested before it began that we rush over to the Philharmonic Pub opposite for interval drinks because the foyer bar would be packed. I made a move at the end of the first half, got the drinks in, they and K soon joined me and, enjoying our beverages, we arrogantly decided not to bother going back for the second half. Our tickets were free and this leads you to be flagrant. The only act we arrogantly wanted to see in the second half was the always boundary-pushing Silky (to see the faces of the older generation would have been entertainment enough) but he was on first and we decided we'd probably already missed him. Disgusting - the allure of booze we had to pay for was greater than the free entertainment. That's how low we've sunk.
There was an after show party at the Downstairs Bar in the Royal Court and this was great. I caught up with a few faces I've not seen in a while and far from being an industry love-in it was really relaxed and a good laugh. We all got drunk, poked fun at one another, and were - as a matter of pride - the last to be ushered out the door. One useful thing might have come from it though, Kevin who runs Rawhide Comedy Club in The Royal Court had been talking with a film producer and director who are doing very well and have been contracted to do two new films for George Lucas. They seem to be genuine players, in as much as they've actually made cinema released films instead of just talking about them like everybody else does. Anyway, K, Kevin and I spent a long time three years ago writing a film called White Star Line and I have to give a copy of the script to Kevin tomorrow because he'd spoken with them about it. It is a good story, and to my mind, a good script. So that might be project number 13,454 for this year. Just another 'watch this space'. One more for the collection. Hey, forget it's prospects, if it gets me to LA again in whatever capacity I'll consider it a big deal.
Back to K's for wine and a late one. Called a cab at dawn having danced away to The Smiths in the living room. I'm lucky to have such good friends. Really, where would I be without them? I'm very happy at the moment - far more so than in previous years - and I put this down to work and projects going well, but to a far greater extent because of the people around me. I'll never take this for granted, I'm too much of an idiot to really deserve them all. This Blog is getting less appropriately named by the day, almost taking on an ironic title, but I'll keep it for now - there's always a fall around the corner.
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