There has been a lot going on with me recently, more on this to come in future blog posts. A lot of you out there already know what I’m talking about. So my own personal desire for the last Next Level Sketch before our summer hiatus was to get through it without falling over or forgetting any lines.
Ours is a strange sort of normality, getting up on stage and pretending to be other, sillier people. But it’s the normality I craved after a solid week in the liminal space of Kingston Hospital.
It was a quiet one audience wise, but as often happens this provided us with a fabulous and intimate audience and generally “nice” vibe, apart from the young couple at the front who were seen arguing before the show then left immediately after the first act. I didn’t even see a smile.
Everyone else, though, seemed to enjoy the comedy stylings of our lineup, and my looser than usual hosting, during which I forgot the name of the first act – “you had one job” – and wondered whether it might be time to get someone else to do it. Not Kier Starmer, obviously. He’ll probably be busy.
My highlights were very much the wonderful Rob Duncan and his Jarring Shift In Tone between clowning and heartfelt medical lecture; and our sketches about Kier giving a team talk to Sir Harold Kane and being gaslit by the sun.
I am happy I got through the show, but I am very tired and happy that we now have what is known in the business as a bit of a hiatus.
jamesofwalsh 