Hey Jay

Well... the start of my new tour is almost upon us. It's certainly almost upon me. Obviously, I hope it'll be upon some of you too.

I'm delighted to announce that I'll be supported on the tour by the fantastic Jay Foreman (not pictured).

And it's not just because of all the comics on the circuit he's the one whose name most sounds like my own. It's because he's ace.

For five months earlier this year I hosted Dave Gorman's Screen Guild at Hoxton Hall. It allowed me to develop all the material that's in this show as well as giving me an opportunity to introduce an audience to my favourite acts. Jay is definitely one of them. He did one of the Hoxton gigs and went down a storm. It was obvious to me then that his material was the perfect compliment to mine and when I saw his Edinburgh show this year - definitely one of my favourites - I knew I wanted to get him on this tour. I can't tell you how chuffed I am that he's agreed to get involved.

Oh all right, I can tell you. Very. I'm very chuffed.

You can find out more about Jay at his website website

But trust me. He's fab.

The tour kicks off in Norwich on September 26th and I think the first few nights are sold out. I think the first night you can still get tickets for is Portsmouth on October 5th. (I know this won't mean anything to you unless you've read my latest book, but I was surprised this week to get an email from 'Steve' (the star of Chapter 26) telling me he's not coming to the show in Portsmouth. That a man who punched me felt the need to announce his non-attendance is, um... well, interesting to say the least!)

From there the show travels to Reading, Salisbury, Aldershot, Bedford, Derby, Sheffield, Bradford, Newcastle, Cardiff, Salford, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Cambridge, Southend, Dorking, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Guildford, Bournemouth, Dublin, Birmingham, Oxford, York, Middlesbrough, Bristol, High Wycombe, Tunbridge Wells, Watford, Cheltenham, Wolverhampton, Leicester, London, Coventry, Carlisle, Preston, Perth... and finally Belfast on November 30. Phew.

I hope the show is coming somewhere near you and that you can get along... and if it isn't... well, that's because somewhere-near-you didn't book it!

You can get all the details on the tour from the live dates page of my site.

a proud husband writes...

Mrs Gorman is in the band, Louise & The Pins. (She's one of the Pins)

Their first single was released today (itunes). I'm a bit proud.



For the avoidance of doubt, Mrs Gorman isn't in the video.

Transfer Deadline Day Picture Exclusive.

This is how a transfer rumour grows...











Sorry.

I'm home.

28 shows in 26 days. Knackered. Pleased. Very proud. And back at home.

Another Two-Show Day

Edinburgh, originally uploaded by Dave Gorman.

It turns out I was lying when I said it was just 7.40pm every night and business-as-usual from here on in.

I loved the afternoon show on Saturday - and it sold out - and next Saturday evening is sold out too... so we've put another Saturday afternoon show in for next week.

So... it's business as usual for the week - and tickets are available for Monday onwards - but on Saturday I've got another matinee. 8 days and 9 shows left to go...

Gargle

Pleasance, originally uploaded by Dave Gorman.

I had a busy day yesterday. I did a short spot at Robin Ince's science show and guested on two chat shows before doing my own one man show in the evening.

Which probably explains why I've got a sore throat this morning. I normally start to suffer much earlier in a festival but this time I've been surprised by how well my voice had held out.

But once it strikes it's pretty hard to sort out. More a case of trying to stop it getting worse than actually making things better.

I might well have supped my last alcohol for the festival. Time for only healthy liquids to pass these lips. It's all about the show after all.

Honest. It is. No, really. All of it.

Pssst: got the extra show tomorrow (Saturday) at 2.30pm. (Tickets) Business as usual - 7.40pm every night - for the rest of the run from there.

EXTRA SHOW ADDED - SATURDAY 20th at 2.30pm

It's odd how things work out. We've added an extra show to the schedule and it's been made possible by an airport strike in Harare.

I'm having a bloomin' lovely time up in Edinburgh.

So far, every show has sold out. I hope that'll continue to be the case but I'm not counting any chickens - we're not there yet.

But... the shows are sold out between now and Saturday night... so we've decided to put on an extra show on Saturday afternoon. I'm hoping there are enough people up here who are only here for a week who will take the opportunity. We've certainly had to turn enough people away in the last few days to suggest that's the case.

I was asked about doing extra shows earlier in the run and I wasn't keen on the idea... not because I didn't want to do them but because I didn't want to put the show in another venue. Every venue is bursting at the seams with shows in Edinburgh. It took us 4 hours to get the tech set up right in the George Square Theatre - and then we have 20 minutes each night to get it all right after the show before me (the brilliantly camp Pink Noise by Fork) have taken their huge lights and projection etc down.

I was worried that if we took the show elsewhere - even if we had the performance slot available - we'd have insufficient time to get it technically right and we'd end up with a compromise. I'd hate to do that to the show just for the extra ticket sales.

But a slot has opened up in my regular venue. Zambezi Express - a Zimbabwean dance troupe - were meant to be on at 2.30 but unfortunately they've been trapped by an airport strike and so haven't been able to get out of Harare. So... we've been offered the slot on Saturday and it seems sensible to go for it. It's where the show belongs.

The official Edinburgh Fringe website seems to be having a few difficulties at the moment. But tickets for the extra show (and for the rest of the run for that matter) are available from the venue website: assemblyfestival.com