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Lliam's Journal
Friday 16th: I performed in Gina's Late Nite Impro 'Travel' show and had a ball. Afterwards we hung around the Peter Cook for awhile but knowing I had a big gig on the next day I decided to call it a night. There's always something unsatisfying about leaving without having had a massive belly laugh (loads to be had at the Hi Fi Bar).
Saturday 17th: Had an interesting job today playing the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter for a Corporate function. Held at the sumptuous (there's no other word for it) Regent Theatre Ballroom - god they did a good job restoring it. The hat was a remote controlled device which the lovely assistant, Angela, would place on their heads - meanwhile I was tucked away in a back room with headphones, remote control, tv monitor and microphone. It was great fun and looked amazing. The two actors playing Hagrid and Dumbledore had a harder time though as they were swaddled in tonnes of hair and makeup (which started to mysteriously disappear towards the end of the night....)
After the band had started and I was relieved of my chapeau duties I rushed over to the Town hall to catch the last of the Late Nite Impro shows directed by Simon Dowling. A new format was introduced based on the notion of "Six Degrees of Separation". Great characters and storytelling made for a strong final show and everyone was pretty chuffed. Then it was off to the Hi Fi Bar to get Merry until 4am.
After the last of the staged comedy (excerpts from the wonderful Eurobeat The Eurovision Musical) the Superband kicked off another fantastic night of music. In the crowd was a girl who could dance up a storm - she was amazing, it was like watching someone do the Charleston on speed.
Dave Gorman got up to sing and we all knew another stage dive was coming, so when the time came, he slowly unzipped his jacket to reveal a printed T shirt that read:
CATCH ME
THIS TIME
and on the back
YOU FUCKERS.
and they did to much whooping and clapping.
Once I had bounced up and down and shucked my way around the dance floor for a couple of hours, I hit the wall and called it a night but it was a hoot.
I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked to this year (I missed Daniel Kitson, Harland Williams, Justin Kennedy, Danny Bhoy, Krisztian Bagin, Lano and Woodley, Matthew Hardy's Wonka show, Reg Gorman, Ross Noble, The Kransky Sisters & The Shneedles). I thought it was a 'competent' festival this year - It's now become a slick, professional event (except for the ticketing which sucked) where once it was a little rough around the edges and had a lot more unpredictability which created a better atmosphere. One thing I noticed was the audience seemed to be more hostile and lippy this year (from stories I've heard about other shows) - I blame reality TV which has made it ok to come out and slag off people with impunity (oh, I love my sweeping generalisations).
Having lost a day of work due to cut backs I may have to curtail the live entertainment for awhile (but I'll still get in a Tati viewing goddamit). I'm now sniffing around for jobs and my agent can expect a few calls soon...
Current mood: nostalgic.
Current music: French pop circa 1960s.