Recording Report: Cabin Pressure Series 4
So, yesterday rowanberries and I toddled off to see the recording of the last two episodes of Cabin Pressure series 4!
And even though I had to get up at 9 on a Sunday to do it (plus pay forty quid for a hotel room), I REGRET NOTHING.
I'm not going to spoiler you here, because that's cruel and would upset John Finnemore, and making John Finnemore sad would be like making kittens cry for your soul. Man is just innately adorable (and yes, boys and girls and Eric, I still would. This, I am sure, comes as a surprise to none of you).
But Amy and I giggled helplessly for two hours and made tiny squeaking joyful noises and, okay, it is possible - just possible - that there was some ogling going on. Mainly by me, because I am CLASSY AS. *proud*
And, okay, afterwards... there might have been signing. By all four main cast... and Tony Head. (EEE.)
So, what that basically means is that, on what Stephen Fry informed Twitter was Sherlock Holmes's birthday, I met Sherlock Holmes AND Giles from Buffy/King Uther Pendragon.
Oh, and also Falstaff/the Right Honourable Peter Mannion MP, and Diana Trent.
JOY.
The scrum around Cumberbatch was unreal; it was actually really horrible, so I backed off for the first twenty minutes to make sure I could talk to the rest of the cast, because after all I didn't get interested in Cabin Pressure because of him - I started listening because of Roger Allam and Stephanie Cole, and stayed because it's BRILLIANT. Stephanie Cole was in a rush to head off, so I didn't get a photo with her (which is a pity, because she's AWESOME and I love her and wanted to get an autograph or something for Gareth) but she signed my ticket and I got to chat to her about Waiting For God: she seemed a little surprised that I even knew it, but really pleased.
Next, Tony Head! I got to chat to him about the first con I ever went to, when he mocked me when I couldn't work the microphone, and he was extremely sweet and very charming, as he always is. (Also, he saved my Oystercard when it went flying. My hero! *swoon!*) He's just a very funny sweetheart, and yes, there is voice.
Oh, and also: photo!
And then... okay, he was RIGHT THERE NEXT TO ME, and this was apparently the only recording he'd done any signings at, and completely by accident (genuinely!) I'd managed to bring the copy of Empire magazine that he's on the cover of, so... yeah, I joined the pack around ol' Wonkyface Cucumberpatch.
God, we're a weird lot, fans: I mean, I am one, but the things people say to these people is just RIDICULOUS. Someone was telling him about how Tony Head smelled, for god's sake (minty, apparently; I don't even want to know), and at least one other person was very much oversharing about their fan-fic, and I just feel like... why. Why is there this need to go so far with this? (I felt stupid enough telling him that Cabin Pressure had basically kept me going during Job Of Hell.) He's basically just some bloke who got well-known, and it must be SO AWKWARD to respond to some of this stuff.
But anyway, after being polite but quite definite about the fact that I was going to get to see him, I managed to snag a minute or two of chatter with him, and he was very charming and lovely (asking about the said job, and sympathising with me over it, and then chatting about the magazine cover - I teased him that it was much better than the Chris Pine version, and he laughed and said 'oh God, don't tell him that!'. I was like 'yeah, I think my chances of getting to do that are pretty slim,' and he laughed). What really stood out, though, was that he managed to do something John Barrowman managed as well -- namely, to give the impression that he was paying complete attention to me and was genuinely interested in what I had to say, despite the fact that, realistically, he was getting jostled and pushed and shoved by about thirty people at once and must have been completely distracted, even if he was interested. I confess, I had a little bit of a genuine swoon before I managed to reassert some vestige of common sense.
Anyway, he signed my magazine and, after a bit of patience with EVERYBODY ELSE, helped by him remembering that I'd asked for a photo but not got one, I managed to get a snap with him as well.
This photo, as it happens.
So yeah. Pretty chuffed about that, overall. (Good GOD, that man is fit. I spent the entire recording being distracted by that one curl. Just... WOW.)
:D!
Anyway, John Finnemore! I LOVE THAT MAN. Love love love. He's just innately adorable, and fabulously talented. I would kill to be that good of a writer (so if you know of any literary-inclined gods who might be in the market for sacrifices...). I've wanted to meet him for a while, because Cabin Pressure almost single-handedly got me through the fourteen months at Sky: I'd listen to it obsessively on my breaks, when I thought I was going to have a panic attack or burst into tears, and once or twice it was literally the only thing that made me smile that day. And I mean... obviously I didn't tell him ALL that, not literally (ew, mushiness), but I said thank-you and told him that I really did owe him a lot of drinks, because CP helped me cope with the worst job I'd ever done by keeping me from really freaking out. And he seemed really pleased and smiley and was very nice and chatty and generally adorable. I do love him.
And, finally, ROGER FREAKIN' ALLAM OHYES.
Now, we all know my blind spot when it comes to that man. He's Douglas, he's Javert, he's SuperMac and Fred Thursday and Peter Mannion MP and Falstaff, but most of all to me he's always going to be Zaza from La Cage Aux Folles -- and, by direct link, the reason I started listening to Cabin Pressure in the first place.
So I was actually slightly more babbly and brain-fried with him than I was even with Ol' Weirdyfeatures McBlue-Eyesbatch, but again: nice man! Lovely man. Apparently Endeavour's coming back for a full series from April (ee!) and soon he's going to be Prospero in The Tempest --- at, I think, THE FREAKIN' GLOBE.
So can you say 'field trip', boys and girls? I THINK YOU CAN.
Also, the staff at the RADA Studios, where the recording was, absolutely rescued my weekend. I realised I'd lost my phone just before getting to the Underground, and when we went back to look for it it was nowhere to be seen. Cue awesome guy grabbing a torch and coming to hunt for it, successfully finding it down the side of a chair and handing it back to me!
...And then RUNNING ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STREET AFTER US because he found my camera as well, and had to go through the photos to find out it was mine before he ran after us in the cold to give it back. He was such a sweetie, and completely rescued my weekend because the camera was a Christmas present and the phone has a LOT of photos on it that are very dear to me.
:D
And after that Amy and I sloped off for disgustingly gorgeous cocktails and curry in Covent Garden, until Amy got a migraine (boo!) and had to go home (double boo!).
So yes. That was my Sunday. It's a hard life, but someone's got to live it.
And even though I had to get up at 9 on a Sunday to do it (plus pay forty quid for a hotel room), I REGRET NOTHING.
I'm not going to spoiler you here, because that's cruel and would upset John Finnemore, and making John Finnemore sad would be like making kittens cry for your soul. Man is just innately adorable (and yes, boys and girls and Eric, I still would. This, I am sure, comes as a surprise to none of you).
But Amy and I giggled helplessly for two hours and made tiny squeaking joyful noises and, okay, it is possible - just possible - that there was some ogling going on. Mainly by me, because I am CLASSY AS. *proud*
And, okay, afterwards... there might have been signing. By all four main cast... and Tony Head. (EEE.)
So, what that basically means is that, on what Stephen Fry informed Twitter was Sherlock Holmes's birthday, I met Sherlock Holmes AND Giles from Buffy/King Uther Pendragon.
Oh, and also Falstaff/the Right Honourable Peter Mannion MP, and Diana Trent.
JOY.
The scrum around Cumberbatch was unreal; it was actually really horrible, so I backed off for the first twenty minutes to make sure I could talk to the rest of the cast, because after all I didn't get interested in Cabin Pressure because of him - I started listening because of Roger Allam and Stephanie Cole, and stayed because it's BRILLIANT. Stephanie Cole was in a rush to head off, so I didn't get a photo with her (which is a pity, because she's AWESOME and I love her and wanted to get an autograph or something for Gareth) but she signed my ticket and I got to chat to her about Waiting For God: she seemed a little surprised that I even knew it, but really pleased.
Next, Tony Head! I got to chat to him about the first con I ever went to, when he mocked me when I couldn't work the microphone, and he was extremely sweet and very charming, as he always is. (Also, he saved my Oystercard when it went flying. My hero! *swoon!*) He's just a very funny sweetheart, and yes, there is voice.
Oh, and also: photo!
And then... okay, he was RIGHT THERE NEXT TO ME, and this was apparently the only recording he'd done any signings at, and completely by accident (genuinely!) I'd managed to bring the copy of Empire magazine that he's on the cover of, so... yeah, I joined the pack around ol' Wonkyface Cucumberpatch.
God, we're a weird lot, fans: I mean, I am one, but the things people say to these people is just RIDICULOUS. Someone was telling him about how Tony Head smelled, for god's sake (minty, apparently; I don't even want to know), and at least one other person was very much oversharing about their fan-fic, and I just feel like... why. Why is there this need to go so far with this? (I felt stupid enough telling him that Cabin Pressure had basically kept me going during Job Of Hell.) He's basically just some bloke who got well-known, and it must be SO AWKWARD to respond to some of this stuff.
But anyway, after being polite but quite definite about the fact that I was going to get to see him, I managed to snag a minute or two of chatter with him, and he was very charming and lovely (asking about the said job, and sympathising with me over it, and then chatting about the magazine cover - I teased him that it was much better than the Chris Pine version, and he laughed and said 'oh God, don't tell him that!'. I was like 'yeah, I think my chances of getting to do that are pretty slim,' and he laughed). What really stood out, though, was that he managed to do something John Barrowman managed as well -- namely, to give the impression that he was paying complete attention to me and was genuinely interested in what I had to say, despite the fact that, realistically, he was getting jostled and pushed and shoved by about thirty people at once and must have been completely distracted, even if he was interested. I confess, I had a little bit of a genuine swoon before I managed to reassert some vestige of common sense.
Anyway, he signed my magazine and, after a bit of patience with EVERYBODY ELSE, helped by him remembering that I'd asked for a photo but not got one, I managed to get a snap with him as well.
This photo, as it happens.
So yeah. Pretty chuffed about that, overall. (Good GOD, that man is fit. I spent the entire recording being distracted by that one curl. Just... WOW.)
:D!
Anyway, John Finnemore! I LOVE THAT MAN. Love love love. He's just innately adorable, and fabulously talented. I would kill to be that good of a writer (so if you know of any literary-inclined gods who might be in the market for sacrifices...). I've wanted to meet him for a while, because Cabin Pressure almost single-handedly got me through the fourteen months at Sky: I'd listen to it obsessively on my breaks, when I thought I was going to have a panic attack or burst into tears, and once or twice it was literally the only thing that made me smile that day. And I mean... obviously I didn't tell him ALL that, not literally (ew, mushiness), but I said thank-you and told him that I really did owe him a lot of drinks, because CP helped me cope with the worst job I'd ever done by keeping me from really freaking out. And he seemed really pleased and smiley and was very nice and chatty and generally adorable. I do love him.
And, finally, ROGER FREAKIN' ALLAM OHYES.
Now, we all know my blind spot when it comes to that man. He's Douglas, he's Javert, he's SuperMac and Fred Thursday and Peter Mannion MP and Falstaff, but most of all to me he's always going to be Zaza from La Cage Aux Folles -- and, by direct link, the reason I started listening to Cabin Pressure in the first place.
So I was actually slightly more babbly and brain-fried with him than I was even with Ol' Weirdyfeatures McBlue-Eyesbatch, but again: nice man! Lovely man. Apparently Endeavour's coming back for a full series from April (ee!) and soon he's going to be Prospero in The Tempest --- at, I think, THE FREAKIN' GLOBE.
So can you say 'field trip', boys and girls? I THINK YOU CAN.
Also, the staff at the RADA Studios, where the recording was, absolutely rescued my weekend. I realised I'd lost my phone just before getting to the Underground, and when we went back to look for it it was nowhere to be seen. Cue awesome guy grabbing a torch and coming to hunt for it, successfully finding it down the side of a chair and handing it back to me!
...And then RUNNING ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STREET AFTER US because he found my camera as well, and had to go through the photos to find out it was mine before he ran after us in the cold to give it back. He was such a sweetie, and completely rescued my weekend because the camera was a Christmas present and the phone has a LOT of photos on it that are very dear to me.
:D
And after that Amy and I sloped off for disgustingly gorgeous cocktails and curry in Covent Garden, until Amy got a migraine (boo!) and had to go home (double boo!).
So yes. That was my Sunday. It's a hard life, but someone's got to live it.