As promised...
Okay, so Thursday was full of excitement prior to seeing three of my comedy idols, but the evening started badly. Very very badly. A trip to Grimsby was required, and we hadn't a clue where to find the auditorium. We set off in good time, but it took us just over two hours before we arrived. An hour to reach Grimsby, a further hour to find the venue. I was informed the show was very punctual and started at 7.30 on the dot, and by 7.20, it's fair to say we were starting to panic. By 7.25, however, we were relieved to have found the building, and just had to find a parking space. Ah, therein lay a problem. It was packed. Disabled parking it was - rebellion rules!
We got in, we sat down, and straight away the show started - and what an absolutely fantastic 2 hours THAT was! Someone had told me the show was very rushed, and where I can see where they were coming from, I didn't think it detracted from the performance whatsoever. The gags were well executed, all the characters were there, and there was only 20 minutes of the show where no-one laughed, that being the interval, of course.
The first half was a series of 'auditions' for a Communativity (see what they did there?) being put on by Legz Akimbo, which was basically an hours worth of each character coming out and doing a sketch. One thing I have noticed about the League of Gentlemen, is that where I DO find all the characters funny, it's the small, lesser-known ones that really make me giggle. Pam Doove being the main example. And that tour guide fella, the one in the really tiny shorts.
Just before the interval, Ollie Plimsolls gets injured by a falling prop and the Communativity is cancelled. So the second half is a pantomime instead. And not being a fan of pantos, I was a little unsure. But it was THE best panto ever, mainly because it was a great big fuck off piss take of every panto ever!
But there was crowd interaction with LoG twists ("oh no you're not" became "oh no you're fucking not" and so on), cock-ups (Gatiss in Thicky Mickey garb, having to entertain the crowd when the curtains wouldn't close properly was an inpromptu highlight) and, of course, there was Papa Lazarou.
The one and only disappointment for me was my own doing. I forgot to get any cash out before we got there, so I couldn't buy a programme. They were a tenner, which is a bit overpriced, but I wouldn't have minded paying it given the performance. Alas.
Yesterday saw a trip to Lincoln, for a bit of a spree and some all-important Christmas shopping. Lincoln, by all accounts, is a very beautiful city. Busy, but not so much that you feel uncomfortable.
With my card in hand, I knew I was gonna have a good day, but knew I couldn't go too mad. I did. Oops.
So, I bought...
Join Me by Danny Wallace (after all the nagging from Rachael and Lucy collectively)
Babyshambles - Down in Albion
The Others - The Others
Nathan Fucking Barley DVD, yeah?
A Babyshambles t-shirt (which is The Secks and I'll post pictures of it on Monday)
Some sarsparilla (root beer)
Some unusual George Dubya chewing gum
And then some random Christmas presents, which I can't reveal on here because of spying brothers innit. All in all I had a good day. Went to see the Cathedral, which is an awesome feat of architecture right there. It looked like there was a film crew there too, so they may be reshooting some scenes for the Da Vinci Code. Not sure though.
And we went to the open-air ice rink which you may have seen featured on Children in Need. But before that, it was celebrity alert when we saw...
*drumroll*
...Leah Bracknell, who plays Zoe Tate in The Emmerdale! Woot! I know she's only a minor star, but I was getting very excited, because she's semi-attractive and plays a lesbian. My "meeting a celebrity" rules insist that you must talk to them, no matter who it is. But on this occasion I couldn't, as she was on her mobile phone. We hung around and waited for her to finish so I could say hi, but she moseyed away and we lost her in the crowd. Ho hum.
Today we popped into a local village to see what was happening - the answer was fuck all. But I did buy some more root beer though, so now I have a local supplier of one of the greatest but rarest drinks ever made. Deeeelish.
So that was my weekend. I'm about to give the Babyshambles album a spin, cos I haven't listened yet (but how fucking ACE were they on Jools Holland? Very, that's how) and then I might watch Barley again (watched all 6 eps last night, it was fucking amaaaaaazing etc).
Bye.
We got in, we sat down, and straight away the show started - and what an absolutely fantastic 2 hours THAT was! Someone had told me the show was very rushed, and where I can see where they were coming from, I didn't think it detracted from the performance whatsoever. The gags were well executed, all the characters were there, and there was only 20 minutes of the show where no-one laughed, that being the interval, of course.
The first half was a series of 'auditions' for a Communativity (see what they did there?) being put on by Legz Akimbo, which was basically an hours worth of each character coming out and doing a sketch. One thing I have noticed about the League of Gentlemen, is that where I DO find all the characters funny, it's the small, lesser-known ones that really make me giggle. Pam Doove being the main example. And that tour guide fella, the one in the really tiny shorts.
Just before the interval, Ollie Plimsolls gets injured by a falling prop and the Communativity is cancelled. So the second half is a pantomime instead. And not being a fan of pantos, I was a little unsure. But it was THE best panto ever, mainly because it was a great big fuck off piss take of every panto ever!
But there was crowd interaction with LoG twists ("oh no you're not" became "oh no you're fucking not" and so on), cock-ups (Gatiss in Thicky Mickey garb, having to entertain the crowd when the curtains wouldn't close properly was an inpromptu highlight) and, of course, there was Papa Lazarou.
The one and only disappointment for me was my own doing. I forgot to get any cash out before we got there, so I couldn't buy a programme. They were a tenner, which is a bit overpriced, but I wouldn't have minded paying it given the performance. Alas.
Yesterday saw a trip to Lincoln, for a bit of a spree and some all-important Christmas shopping. Lincoln, by all accounts, is a very beautiful city. Busy, but not so much that you feel uncomfortable.
With my card in hand, I knew I was gonna have a good day, but knew I couldn't go too mad. I did. Oops.
So, I bought...
Join Me by Danny Wallace (after all the nagging from Rachael and Lucy collectively)
Babyshambles - Down in Albion
The Others - The Others
Nathan Fucking Barley DVD, yeah?
A Babyshambles t-shirt (which is The Secks and I'll post pictures of it on Monday)
Some sarsparilla (root beer)
Some unusual George Dubya chewing gum
And then some random Christmas presents, which I can't reveal on here because of spying brothers innit. All in all I had a good day. Went to see the Cathedral, which is an awesome feat of architecture right there. It looked like there was a film crew there too, so they may be reshooting some scenes for the Da Vinci Code. Not sure though.
And we went to the open-air ice rink which you may have seen featured on Children in Need. But before that, it was celebrity alert when we saw...
*drumroll*
...Leah Bracknell, who plays Zoe Tate in The Emmerdale! Woot! I know she's only a minor star, but I was getting very excited, because she's semi-attractive and plays a lesbian. My "meeting a celebrity" rules insist that you must talk to them, no matter who it is. But on this occasion I couldn't, as she was on her mobile phone. We hung around and waited for her to finish so I could say hi, but she moseyed away and we lost her in the crowd. Ho hum.
Today we popped into a local village to see what was happening - the answer was fuck all. But I did buy some more root beer though, so now I have a local supplier of one of the greatest but rarest drinks ever made. Deeeelish.
So that was my weekend. I'm about to give the Babyshambles album a spin, cos I haven't listened yet (but how fucking ACE were they on Jools Holland? Very, that's how) and then I might watch Barley again (watched all 6 eps last night, it was fucking amaaaaaazing etc).
Bye.