Writer's Block

1. Konstantine 2. As You Sleep 3. Ruthless 4. Punk Rock Princess 5. Walking By 6. If I Die 7. I Want To Save You 8. Straw Dog 9. Miss America 10. Hurricane 11. If You C Jordan 12. I Woke Up In A Car

I've tried to write today's blog a few times now. It was going to concern the fact my father informed me today both that Donald Trump's actions over the weekend "don't concern us" and that it's "a perfectly reasonable course of action". But I'm too tired and too frustrated. I'm tired of arguing with old men in my home and in my workplace about it. Tired of being made to feel stupid because I empathise with other people in the world outside.  I've always respected my elders. For how much longer, I dunno.

A mere three days after I requested it in my blog, New Found Glory have announced three London shows in October where they will play the first six of their records. New Found Glory and Sticks and Stones at the Forum. Catalyst and Not Without A Fight at the Electric Ballroom. Nothing Gold Can Stay and Coming Home at the Underworld. I've written about it before this blog, but this band have been part of my life for 13 years. I've seen them live more times than I can count in tiny clubs and at Earls Court. I've travelled to Nottingham to see them on three occasions and once sat shivering in the bus station waiting for a coach home at 3am whilst two girls from Chesterfield offered me poppers*. They've helped pull me out of depressions. I have mountains of their t-shirts and two of Cyrus Bolooki's drum sticks. Jordan Pundik once asked me if I was ok when I was stood in the front row with a surging crowd behind me. I was.  I once walked three miles to the nearest HMV ...

I can finally announce that I am performing "The Wilderness Years" at this year's Machynlleth Comedy Festival at The Store on Saturday 29th April at 2:15pm. Tickets are available from this link . The festival runs from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th April in Machynlleth in north Wales. I have it on good authority that "every show at Mach Fest sells out". I must credit the organisers for refusing to rest on their laurels and booked me to challenge that record in 2017. In all seriousness, I'm very excited about this. It's a brilliant lineup of some of the best comedians in the country, some of comedy's finest up and coming talents and me. It will also be my first gig in Wales. Clearly it's ridiculous that I haven't done any gigs in Wales up to this point, but it's true. It's going to be a grand old time and I can't ruddy wait.

The actor, improviser and comedian Chris Gethard is an unassuming, small, bespectacled man. He takes to the stage in the Soho Theatre's main room and informs the audience he will be telling them a story about his battles with depression and suicidal thoughts for the past twenty yars. It is, as he concedes, not the most promising premise for a riotous hour of stand-up comedy. And it isn't quite that. But Gethard's abilities as a storyteller make it work, as he successfully mines the bleakest of stories for peculiar details, like deliberately crashing a car in New Jersey and hearing a chorus of "Carmella Sopranos" looking on. The story ends with an amusing, if shocking, awkward truth. Gethard has toured with Mike Birbiglia in the US as his support act and his style of storytelling has clearly influenced him. Certainly there are parallels to be drawn between this and Birbiglia's "Sleepwalk With Me", as both explore the absurdities found in a life li...

Following "Dracula!", his musical on Bram Stoker's famous creation, Mr Swallow (Nick Mohammed) returns to the stage to take on the story of Harry Houdini, once again supported by his world weary straight man Mr Goldsworth (David Elms) and the dimwitted Jonathan (Kieran Hodgson). Much like its predecessor, it's full of songs, knockabout action and silly digressions from Mohammad's camp, screeching northern creation. But this time the trio have upped the ante by staging a full on magic show, which gradually builds to a thrilling conclusion as Swallow attempts to take on Houdini's escape from a tank of water. Amongst the lunacy there's a relatively straight faced attempt to examine the idea of a performer suffering for their art, to risk it all for the acclaim of the crowd. But you're never too far away from a sublime piece of daftness, like Swallow inexplicably affecting a Liverpudlian accent whilst taking on the role of Houdini's wife. Mohammed...

I passed the exam. I was convinced for the exam's entire 2 hour duration that I had failed it and failed it pretty badly. Up to the point where I went up to my tutor's office to get the results and told him that he didn't need to tell me. And it turned out that he did need to tell me. I looked at the screen he showed me several times. That's how disbelieving I was. Which tells you everything you need to know about the sort of person I am. It's the sort of person I wish I wasn't. The sections I feared the worst for turned out to be justified but I did well enough on the rest to scrape under the wire. It's a massive boost. I've got another one next week that I need to keep working hard towards, but things look a lot brighter. Basically a fair few things have been on hold for the past month or so that I'd like to get back to soon, like the gym. Overcome next week's hurdle and I ought to have more time on my hands. In other "good day" n...