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Dreadful Nonsense

"I've read your blog. it's really funny. you should write a column." - Jon Ronson

31 August 2002

Hey kids!

Gosh, it's been a while. I like what you've done with your hair. Are those new shoes? So, tell me what you've been up to...

Me? Oh, I've been busy enough. The Edinburgh Festival has been here for a while, but finally finished last Monday, with a whimper rather than a bang - I think a month's worth of drinking and partying and comedy finally came back to haunt us all. I ended up with the mother of all head colds, which came just as it went - very quickly, very violently, and with little or no warning. I missed only two out of 27 nights out drinking, and one of those nights was due to the fact that I'd fallen quite far behind with my reviewing.

My reviewing went quite well this year. The usual dramas: One comedy management agency managed to get one of my reviews pulled, as their act was afraid I'd give them a bad review - the irony that I obviously couldn't explain to them was that the review was going to be quite good. Another act was quite miffed over their review, but managed to get lots of other good ones from other more important people.

We made lots of new friends, and managed to keep the comedylounge diary updated more or less throughout the festival, right up until the last couple of days. There were so many brilliant shows that didn't get the attention they deserved, and so many mediocre ones that managed to more or less sell out throughout the festival, but then that always happens.

I'm now stuck almost inescapably in a noctural waking pattern, which means that, a week later, I still can't get to sleep before about 4am, and can't wake up before midday. And I'm going back to work on Monday. That should be hilarious.

In an attempt to stay indoors, stay away from alcohol, and try to get back to normal, I went out and bought the video boxset of 24, and so far I've watched 6 hours in one day. That has resulted in me becoming incredibly paranoid, checking my bedroom for bugs, and generally looking at everyone like they might be trying to kill me. The good thing about getting series all in one go is that you don't have to wait a week for the next installment. The bad thing is that you don't get to talk to anyone else about the show - either they've seen it before, and therefore might end up telling you something that hasn't been revealed yet, or they haven't seen it, and don't care. Video boxsets are all well and good, but you do miss those water cooler moments.

There. My first post here for just under a month. Sorry it's all a bit rubbish. I'll get back to normal as soon as possible, and then catch up on my emails.

05 August 2002

I was going to try to keep up posting on this blog along with posting on the Comedy Lounge blog, along with writing reviews and generally staying alive, but it seems that that is an impossible dream, so for the next month (aside from a few infrequent entries here) can I ask you all to go read the Comedy Lounge blog instead, cos I'm too damn tired to keep up with both.

While I am utterly loving every single last drink-sodden moment of the Festival, there are the very briefest of occasions - say, when I'm trying to crawl out of bed, or when I'm sitting sweating myself to death during another tediously awful and badly thought through comedy show - when I've started to think that maybe having my own life back could possible be a bit of a nice thing...

Those doubts are, of course, quickly thrown aside by a swift pint and the sight of people dancing across the courtyard.

I'll take my already over-tired person to bed. It'll all look better in the morning. Besides, tomorrow the first Festival Pullout of the Evening News appears, and that's bound to cause equal amounts of excitement and contreversy. You heard it here first (although it was probably misspelled).