Passing the baton... to myself.

We finished taping the second series of Modern Life Is Goodish a week ago. I probably should have mentioned it before now. But it's been so all-consuming a project that I've sort of forgotten how to do everything else.

It really was all-consuming. This was the first World Cup since I was a teenager that has passed me by completely. Didn't watch a single game. Got it all on my Sky+ box obviously so will be catching up with England's inevitable triumph soon. No spoilers.

If you came to any of the dry-runs for the series - to Worthing, Canterbury, Fareham or Maidenhead - then thank you. You helped to make the show a really enjoyable process for me. Not writing things down. Not having endless meetings with people trying to second-guess what they think an audience will like, and letting the story-telling elements develop organically through the process of, um, telling-the-stories is a far more enjoyable way to work and I think we get something much more genuine out the other end as a result. (It's a collaborative show, lots of people bring all sorts of talents to bear, but I dread the idea that it would ever feel like it was made by committee.)

Of course, now that it's over it's time to look to the next challenge. The tour. The tour kicks off in October, but as with the series, I don't want to sit around on my tod, second-guessing what will work best. I want to try stuff out.

So I'm reviving the Screen Guild for two more shows. These are mixed bills of comedy that I curate and introduce. I only book great acts. That guarantees that the audience has a good time. And as I host the shows, I get to try out any new ideas I might have knocking around. As with the last season, the shows are at The Hackney Picture House (they have to be close to home as I can't make 800 powerpoint slides while on a train) and will be on August 20th and 28th.
You can get tickets here.

(I might do the same stuff both times. I might not. It depends on how much I can squeeze into a show and whether things need polishing or changing. That's the point, I suppose... if I knew exactly what I was going to do at each of these shows, there'd be no point doing these shows in the first place.)

In September I'll start doing some one-man shows as tour warm-ups. The details of which aren't finalised yet - but I'll be letting my mailing list know some time at the end of this week or the start of the next. And I'll blog the details too.