Incognito

Warming Up

8650/21569

I felt quite a bit better by show time. The prayer actually partially worked. Which is weird because you’d think if God got round to answering a prayer He’d do the whole thing, rather than half-arsing it. But I was grateful to Him for doing this much, as well as making the trees and animals and the purple-headed mountain. He’s a busy guy. Maybe He shouldn’t be partially curing old comedians and trying to stop wars or something. But I always do the easy stuff on my to do list first.

My guest today was Mark Thomas, which made for an easy day for me as he seemed to ask and answer his own questions. No complaints here. This far into the run you want a self-driving guest and Mark is endlessly fascinating and impressive and most importantly funny.

I then headed up to the Pleasance to see Garrett Millerick’s “We Tried It Your Way” - a fascinating examination of how far AI has come and whether it will ever take the comedian’s job. Based on the AI Garrett has made of himself, I think there’s a good chance AI might take our jobs. It came up with routines and jokes very quickly and whilst none of them were huge zingers and some of it was nonsense, a lot of it was decent and funny.

I was there on my own and because of my immune system I’ve been trying to get seats on the end of the row, near the door so I am not in the thick of germ central (obviously hasn’t helped) and i’ve been wearing my mask. The woman next to me was a bit chatty and I think she may have been drinking. AI noticed she kept looking at me askance. At one point I took down my mask because it was so hot and I saw her gesticulating to the man next to her and writing something on her phone.

She lent over and said “Are you trying to remain incognito?” As already discussed the mask does not seem to stop me being recognised, but fucking Hell what a life it would be if I had to go everywhere in this annoying mask because I thought I was too well-known. “No, my immune system is down.” I told her, which partially stopped her in her tracks. She did seem to be trying to follow me after the show or be trying to confirm I was who she thought I was (probably Charley Boorman), but it slightly took away from an otherwise excellent, smart and terrifying show, with unbelievable tech.

Is it just me or does Garrett look like he might be Lee Mack doing a character?

I then went over to Chambers Street to watch my Hitchin almost neighbour Reb Day in The Best of So You Think You’re Funny. I believe she came second in last year’s competition versus thousands of new comics and she was joined by two of the other finalists Joel Walker and Rachel Porter.

I had arrogantly worried that these newer comics might be a little bit nervy or hack or inexperienced, but fuck me, they were all excellent and confident and doing clever and original stuff. Rachel closes the show with a coup de theatre where she did something extraordinary and a little unsettling on stage and the audience on the way out were left debating whether it was real or some kind of stage craft. I was not at all sure, and I didn’t want to be told after. All three acts are well worth your time, which is lucky cos you can see them all together. Afterwards I took a photo of them excitedly pointing at their show on the sold out board. Absolutely charming. Good that the Fringe is still exciting and rewarding for young(ish) acts (though they’re all proper grown-ups and at least two of them are married - not to each other).

Then I killed a bit of time in a quiet spot in a pub. I asked for an alcohol free beer and they gave me a gluten free one. Luckily I noticed and luckily I am not an alcoholic for whom one taste of beer might send me spiralling back into disaster.

Then I went to see Mike Wozniak performing in the huge theatre on the mound to 800 people. As I looked at the queue and checked my sales I was left wondering whether I might be doing a bit better if I’d been funnier or more likeable on Taskmaster.

Mike is the nicest of men and a terrific and unique comedian and I am delighted that this success has come to him and I would be envious, but I entirely blame myself for squandering another of the huge opportunities that life has handed me.

Mike made no concessions for any Taskmaster fans and his show is a brilliant sprawling shaggy dog story about an imagined crime against a bench in Exeter, with a cast of thousands and insane digressions, wilfully boring in places, but a delightful thing to have wash over you. I am not sure that 10.40pm is the best time for this and I enjoyed looking at the confused and annoyed members of the audience almost as much as I enjoyed the show. Kudos to Mike for not dumbing down or changing anything about what he does. The vast majority of the audience got it, loved it and were able to understand the word soup enough to do some sleuthing to try and help him solve the crime.

Though whodunnit isn’t quite as important as whydoit?

So nice to feel a little bit human again and to see some shows. Pushing on to the end now.

Come and see Mike Wozniak on RHLSTP on Thursday, a secret guest on Friday, a TBA on Saturday and Flo and Joan on Sunday. Sales are good for all of these and the next three are close-ish to selling out, so book in advance