Tuesday, September 30, 2014

So Really, We're Already On Tour...

For the first batch of work in progress shows it's been me trying out different bits of material and shuffling the order of things around to find the most pleasing flow and so on. It's a part of the process I really enjoy. And the shows have all been fun.


Last night a whole new ingredient was stirred into the mix, in the shape of Nick Doody, who's joining me on the tour. Nick's a brilliant comic. I'm a huge fan. He was one of the first people I turned to when the first series of Modern Life Is Goodish was commissioned. You'll see his name on the credits of every show. On a show like that, it's no use working with people who think exactly like you - you're already doing that for yourself, it's about finding people who think differently, but who have ideas that can work alongside your own. So it's no surprise that Nick's material blends nicely with my own.

And it means that last night was the first show where all the ingredients have been in place. It didn't really feel like a warm up show. Which is the point of the process, really. For the final work-in-progress shows to display enough progress. For the finished article to emerge before the deadline.

Not that things won't change some more. The more familiar I get with things, the better some of it will be. There'll always be tweaks I want to make. But the show is now, I think, the right things happening in the right order. It doesn't officially kick off until Friday, but in essence, we've already started the tour. It's just that tonight - (Wolverhampton again) and tomorrow (Tring) the venues are a little smaller.

I think about 20 of the 50 dates are sold out now. (Apologies if my website isn't completely up to date on this.) I get a lot of people asking me for information about whether there will be extra tickets here or there... the truth is, I only know what a venue tells me. I'd always recommend contacting a venue direct. Call them. Speaking to someone is always going to be more informative than just looking at what the website says.

I wrote before about how the tour, book and TV show all arriving at the same time was more down to coincidence than any Machiavellian scheming on my part. The timing has led a lot of people to ask whether the tour show contains material that will also be in the current series of Modern Life Is Goodish. It doesn't. It's a whole new show.

In any case. I hope you can join us. It's more fun when you do. And if not you, someone like you.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Oh Neil, Did You Have To?

As I type this, there is one day left to watch the third episode of Modern Life Is Goodish online. It's repeated tonight at 8 too. If you're reading this and wondering what all the fuss is about and there's still time, watching it will help to make sense of where I'm going.

I was intending to let this whole episode pass without comment but it's somehow ended up in a place where some serious allegations have been made and I think they're worth addressing. I don't think anyone who saw the show would think anything racist or homophobic has been said - indeed, not a word was said that could even be misconstrued that way - but someone reading twitter might think so and that's serious enough...

In the show, I spent quite a bit of time dissecting the writing of a journalist and author called Neil Sean. You might not know the name but you will have read something he's written.

For years he's written a showbiz column in the Metro (although it appears to have ended at some point between the show being recorded and now) and he's been a correspondent for Sky TV here in the UK and for FOX in the States.

He's not without influence or power. He's a critic. He offers his opinions on others constantly and, well... he's just not a very good writer and some of what he says appears to be a bit disingenuous, if not downright dishonest.

The material about him was all about seeing patterns and inaccuracies in his work and pointing them out for what they are. I won't repeat it all here, but he's written a book called "How To Live Like A Celebrity - For Free" and it's not hard to demonstrate that much of its content doesn't stack up. It's a risible piece of work.

Anyway, during the show, the Sky news presenter, Stephen Dixon tweeted:
He didn't contain my @ so I didn't see it initially... but it didn't take long for a few people to reply and include me and bring it to my attention. I have no problem with Stephen's tweet, by the way,  he's obviously worked with Neil, liked him and so felt sorry for a friend. That's a perfectly natural reaction. It sparked a little dialogue that, I think, covers an important topic... because Neil isn't always that nice about others. He tweets jokes about a singer's looks, for example. And worse.

I find it far easier to defend making jokes about a professional writer's writing than about a singer's weight. His work ought to stand scrutiny and someone who makes a living being bitchy and unpleasant about others is really in the last place to complain about it. (Incidentally, all of these points were accepted with perfectly good grace by Stephen who, I think, was a little surprised to see the nature of some of Neil Sean's outgoing tweets. But that's another story.)

Meanwhile, perhaps prompted by Stephen Dixon's tweet, Neil Sean himself had decided to get involved. And, rather deliciously, his response contained the trait I was mocking him for in the show. I think 20 of the 50 dates had sold out already.

Up until this point, I hadn't seen many people tweeting Neil Sean about the show's content. There'd been one or two. But not many. But after this tweet a lot of people got involved. Naturally I was interested in what they were saying so, using tweetdeck, I created a column that showed me every tweet that mentioned Neil Sean's twitter handle.

Most of what he received was mocking him for the inaccuracy of the tweet or referring back to the way he often writes gossip about slebs who are smokers and so on. Some of it was abusive. I don't condone it. I saw the C word flying around. That makes me uncomfortable. The criticism of him in the show was done with a smile, after all. It was never abusive. It was factual. I certainly wouldn't describe it as a bashing. I'd say it was a ribbing.

But then Neil tweeted this:

... and that's a far more serious allegation.

Like I say, I'd been monitoring the reaction on Tweetdeck so I'm pretty sure I hadn't missed anything. I hadn't seen a single reference to his sexuality. Or race for that matter. But I was naturally concerned that maybe I'd missed something.
No reply came. And a bit of time passed. And slowly the tweet started to get under my skin. What would the casual reader think if they alighted on that tweet without any of the context? Without having seen the show? The suggestion that I've done or said things to encourage that kind of abuse is deeply unpleasant. And untrue.
No reply came. No clarification. So I called Neil's place of work and asked to speak to him. I was put through. We had a perfectly friendly chat. I explained that I was calling to express my concern about the idea that he was receiving homophobic abuse. I also explained that I hadn't actually seen any.

Neil told me that I wouldn't be able to see them because they had been sent as private messages. Which seemed odd. Because you can only receive private messages on Twitter from people that you've chosen to follow. And Neil was only following 33 people. It seemed unlikely that people he'd been following since before the show was broadcast had suddenly turned homophobic and abusive. I explained as much to him. And he blustered something along the lines of, "well I am getting them".

We chatted for a while after that. It was all perfectly civil. I understand that he's upset at being criticised by me. I think that, given his line of work - and given that the criticism wasn't personal or abusive - he ought to be able to take it. I'm afraid, I can't conclude anything other than he's invented the homophobic abuse as a defence mechanism.

If I'm wrong about that then he obviously has my sympathy. I would never condone such abuse and anyone who sends it has nothing to do with me. It certainly doesn't relate to anything said in the show. (I don't even think someone who watched the show would come away knowing anything about his sexuality either way.) I'm confident that if it did happen and it was sent in the form of direct messages then it certainly had nought to do with the show. And if it wasn't sent as direct messages, well, then why would he tell me it was? Odd.

Unsurprisingly, it hasn't been hard to find evidence that he hasn't always been sympathetic to others who've been on the receiving end of Twitter abuse:
There isn't a lot of high ground to occupy when you've been that unsympathetic to Mary Beard. And there's simply no comparison in the level of abuse the two of them have been subjected to.

My worry, having written this, is that, this being the internet, some people will misunderstand and see this as some kind of incitement to send him more abuse. Or more abusive abuse. That really isn't the point. Really. I just wanted to spell out what I think has occurred. (And what I think hasn't.)

Please play nicely.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Jigsaw

The tour previews are going well, the book seems to be doing just fine and the reaction to the series has blown me away. If you've been a part of one or more of the above; thanks.

One thing that got a big reaction in episode three was the jigsaw. If you haven't seen that show you obviously won't know what I'm talking about and I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil the show for those who are planning to watch it on Saturday night or on Dave On Demand or what have you.

But there were lots of tweets like this:
and this
and this
And it reminded me that, during the first series I often used to give away little souvenirs from the show through competitions for my mailing list. Here's the thing. There is another jigsaw. It's very like the jigsaw but it's not exactly the same. It's a little cruder. It doesn't contain an eagle. It contains something a bit more childish and rude in place of the eagle. (Which is why, when it came down to it, we didn't send it to you know who.)

But I have it and, as lots of people have expressed a desire to get hold of one, I thought it might be a good time to revive the competition. I'll email the mailing list on Tuesday with a question relating to that night's show. There'll be an email address for you to send an answer to. And a time to get it in by and, y'know, whatever else I can think of that makes it feel like a proper competition and then someone will win the, um, rude version of the special jigsaw.

If you're the kind of person who would like to know what I'm up to without gambling on whether or not you see a particular tweet or an ad in the paper then you can sign up to the mailing list here.


Sunday, September 21, 2014

Getting Straight To The Tour...

The tour is almost upon us and I'm delighted to say that the first few shows - and quite a few beyond them - have sold out already.

The first couple of work-in-progress shows at New Greenham Arts a few days ago went well. Which is a relief. The first time you perform a new show, you have no real idea as to what you're dealing with. Will it need a complete re-write or will it just need a few nuts and bolts tightening? There's no way of knowing with any certainty until it's been put in front of an audience.

Now that I've done so and discovered that it doesn't need a complete re-write, I can roll my sleeves up and get stuck in to the show. It's why I often do these work-in-progress shows in pairs - because it means I have a day without travel in which to tinker with the powerpoint... which currently stands at 629 slides. It's a time-consuming thing to tinker with. But in lots of ways this is the fun bit.

The remaining work-in-progress shows start tonight and tomorrow in Braintree... followed by Andover, Wolverhampton and Tring...
September 21st and 22nd Braintree Arts Centre Tickets
September 23rd and 24th Andover,
The Lights
Tickets
September 29th and 30th Wolverhampton, The Slade Rooms Tickets
October 1st Tring, The Court Theatre Tickets

I've had a lot of emails, tweets and facebook messages asking me if the tour will contain material from the current TV series. It doesn't. If you like the series, I reckon you'll like the tour... but there's no crossover of material. (Of course, I might take stuff from the tour and use it in series 3... but that's a different matter.)

 And then the tour proper kicks off a week on Friday...

When Where Venue Tickets Box Office
OCTOBER 3, 2014
FRIDAY
WINCHESTER Theatre Royal SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01962 840 440
OCTOBER 4, 2014
SATURDAY
HEREFORD Courtyard Theatre SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01432 340 555
OCTOBER 5, 2014
SUNDAY
SHREWSBURY Theatre Severn SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01743 281 281
OCTOBER 6, 2014
MONDAY
NORWICH Playhouse SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01603 598 598
OCTOBER 7, 2014
TUESDAY
NORWICH Playhouse SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01603 598 598
OCTOBER 8, 2014
WEDNESDAY
NORWICH Playhouse SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01603 598 598
OCTOBER 10, 2014
FRIDAY
DUBLIN Vicar Street get tickets 00353 (1) 775 5800
OCTOBER 11, 2014
SATURDAY
BRIGHTON Comedy Festival get tickets 01273 709 709
OCTOBER 12, 2014
SUNDAY
MARGATE Theatre Royal get tickets 01843 292 795
OCTOBER 14, 2014
TUESDAY
YEOVIL Octagon get tickets 01935 422 884
OCTOBER 15, 2014
WEDNESDAY
ALDERSHOT Princes Theatre get tickets 01253 329 155
OCTOBER 16, 2014
THURSDAY
HARROGATE Royal Hall get tickets 01425 502 116
OCTOBER 17, 2014
FRIDAY
IPSWICH Corn Exchange get tickets 01473 433 100
OCTOBER 18, 2014
SATURDAY
COVENTRY Warwick Arts Centre get tickets 024 7652 4524
OCTOBER 19, 2014
SUNDAY
NOTTINGHAM Playhouse SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
0115 941 9419
OCTOBER 22, 2014
WEDNESDAY
SOUTHEND Cliffs Pavillion get tickets 01702 351 135
OCTOBER 23, 2014
THURSDAY
WIMBORNE The Tivoli SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01202 885 566
OCTOBER 24, 2014
FRIDAY
WREXHAM William Aston Hall get tickets 01978 293293
OCTOBER 25, 2014
SATURDAY
CARDIFF St Davids get tickets 029 2087 8444
OCTOBER 27, 2014
MONDAY
ST ALBANS Albans Arena get tickets 01727 844 488
OCTOBER 28, 2014
TUESDAY
TUNBRIDGE WELLS Assembly Hall get tickets 01892 530 613
OCTOBER 29, 2014
WEDNESDAY
HIGH WYCOMBE Wycombe Swan get tickets 01494 512 000
OCTOBER 30, 2014
THURSDAY
STAFFORD Gatehouse Theatre SOLD OUT
EXTRA SHOW
ADDED ON NOV 5
01785 254 653
OCTOBER 31, 2014
FRIDAY
PRESTON Guildhall get tickets 0844 844 7710
NOVEMBER 1, 2014
SATURDAY
ABERDEEN Aberdeen Music Hall get tickets 01224 641 122
NOVEMBER 4, 2014
TUESDAY
DERBY Due to a fire in the venue, this show has been cancelled.
We tried to reschedule, but it wasn't an option.

01332 255 800
NOVEMBER 5, 2014
WEDNESDAY
STAFFORD Gatehouse Theatre SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
01785 254 653
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
THURSDAY
BEDFORD Corn Exchange get tickets 01234 718 112
NOVEMBER 8, 2014
SATURDAY
DURHAM Gala Theatre SOLD OUT
contact venue for returns
03000 266 600
NOVEMBER 9, 2014
SUNDAY
NEWCASTLE Theatre Royal get tickets 08448 11 21 21
NOVEMBER 11, 2014
TUESDAY
LIVERPOOL Philharmonic get tickets 0151 709 3789
NOVEMBER 12, 2014
WEDNESDAY
SWINDON Wyvern get tickets 01793 524 481
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
THURSDAY
LEICESTER De Montfort Hall get tickets 0116 233 3111
NOVEMBER 15, 2014
SATURDAY
LONDON Eventim Apollo get tickets 0844 249 4300
NOVEMBER 19, 2014
WEDNESDAY
CHELTENHAM Everyman Theatre get tickets 01242 572 573
NOVEMBER 20, 2014
THURSDAY
GUILDFORD G Live get tickets 0844 7701 797
NOVEMBER 21, 2014
FRIDAY
READING Hexagon Theatre get tickets 0118 960 6060
NOVEMBER 22, 2014
SATURDAY
ST ALBANS Albans Arena get tickets 01727 844 488
NOVEMBER 23, 2014
SUNDAY
SALFORD The Lowry 4pm: get tickets

8pm: get tickets
0843 208 6000
NOVEMBER 24, 2014
MONDAY
BIRMINGHAM Symphony Hall get tickets 0121 345 0600
NOVEMBER 27, 2014
THURSDAY
ISLE OF WIGHT Shanklin Theatre get tickets 01983 868 000
NOVEMBER 28, 2014
FRIDAY
BRISTOL Colston Hall get tickets 0844 887 1500
NOVEMBER 29, 2014
SATURDAY
BELFAST Ulster Hall get tickets 028 9033 4455
DECEMBER 2, 2014
TUESDAY
DARTFORD Orchard Theatre get tickets 01322 220 000
DECEMBER 3, 2014
WEDNESDAY
DORKING Dorking Halls get tickets 01306 881 717
DECEMBER 5, 2014
FRIDAY
CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange get tickets 01223 357 851
DECEMBER 6, 2014
SATURDAY
SHEFFIELD Sheffield City Hall get tickets 01142 789 789
DECEMBER 16, 2014
TUESDAY
LONDON Queen Elizabeth Hall - Southbank Centre get tickets 0844 875 0073
DECEMBER 17, 2014
WEDNESDAY
LONDON Queen Elizabeth Hall - Southbank Centre get tickets 0844 875 0073
DECEMBER 18, 2014
THURSDAY
LONDON Queen Elizabeth Hall - Southbank Centre get tickets 0844 875 0073
DECEMBER 19, 2014
FRIDAY
LONDON Queen Elizabeth Hall - Southbank Centre get tickets 0844 875 0073

Hopefully see you there...

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Chuffed Mum

My Mum is dead chuffed...

It's in the Times so it's dead proper and stuff...

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

New Series Day!


So this is the day that the series launches! Very exciting. It's on Dave, tonight at 10pm. I hope you can catch it...


Here are a couple of nice write-ups... I don't think they contain too many spoilers... the first is from the Radio Times...

and the second is from The Guardian...
When I was first asked to make the series, Dave asked me for acutting-edge anecdotal documentary-slash-stand-up-hybrid so it's nice to see someone's seen what we were aiming for.

Tonight. 10pm. On Dave. Or have I already said that?

Thursday, September 4, 2014

It's Publication Day!

... and so begins the busiest week of my year... September 4th is publication day. That's it. The new book is out. Officially. Today.
Today is also the day that UKTV - the company that runs the channel Dave (as well as Watch, Really, Alibi, Gold etc etc) - launches their new slate of programmes. They do it with a big live event called, naturally enough, UKTV Live. I'll be there this morning doing a short piece to launch the series to members of the press and then in Battersea tonight to launch the book.

Then there are a load of interviews to promote them both - oh, and the imminent tour, natch -  oh, and a family wedding too. I'm looking forward to it all. I'm just not sure how it'll all fit into seven days.

The first episode of Series 2 of Modern Life Is Goodish airs on Tuesday night. I'm looking forward to it actually being out there. Especially as the fools at Dave have decided to let me loose as a live continuity announcer that night.