Not much to say today.  Just checking in to say "hi".  Still very busy writing, or not writing and getting worried about not writing.  On the bright side, lots of comedy gigs seem to be coming my way.  On Friday I have my first "paid 20" - up till now I've mostly been doing 5 and 10 minute "open" spots, which mean no money except occasionally a few ( Read more... )

Got through to the semi-finals of a big competition on Sunday.  Semis will be in April.  I was chuffed.  Met some cool people as well, and had a nice couple of days in London.

A really cool gig in Reading last week; and I got paid!!!!  OK, only enough to cover my petrol but it was nice because I wasn't expecting it.  Here's the link to the video if you're interested.   Sorry about the sound to start with, and the quality of the filming - it was a very dark bar!

To London tomorrow night for an anti-Valentine's Day comedy ( Read more... )

So tired of pretending to write my novel.  It will not come to life.  I will start to panic soon.  Maybe they'll make me give back the advance money.  Help ( Read more... )

...AKA getting back on the comedy horse

I love doing stand-up comedy.  It's the most fun you can have fully-clothed and standing on a stage in front of a crowd of slightly drunk people.  But the whole "trying to kickstart a career in comedy" takes so much time and effort and brazen self-publicity that at times I wonder why I do it at all.

Today was ( Read more... )

...so, yeah, we went to Arizona.  And it was brilliant.  So brilliant that I still haven't got around to writing up my holiday journal.  Stayed tuned, if you're interested.  It will appear ( Read more... )

I had a fun night last night. I was in London to perform some stand-up comedy at a new regular monthly night called Funny Women @ Turnmills.  It was a lovely venue, complete with chandeliers - a far cry from the smoky dives I normally play.  But in some ways I prefer smoky dives - more atmosphere.  I've been doing stand-up for nearly a year now, ( Read more... )

I loved my final week at the Edinburgh Fringe - more walking, more sightseeing and lots more comedy shows. But I was glad to leave as I was eventually suffering from Fringe Overload: this picture gives some idea of the multitude of events that are taking place in the city every day: 
( Read more... )

I experienced my first-ever Edinburgh Festival this year. I remember as a child watching all the palaver on the telly and thinking, "I'd love to be there". However, when I was a teenager my opinion changed to "Bunch of pretentious wankers," and that opinion had pretty much stayed with me. But now that I do a bit of stand-up comedy, the time seemed ( Read more... )