Pride comes before a fall.
I had hoped for five great gigs in a row, but tonight I was heading to Tring. It was my last gig as a 42 year old. Would I break my run?
Of course not. It was another cracker and though some of the tastier jokes might have been a bit much, it all seemed to go down well, even with the lady vicar who was apparently in attendance. The Ten Commandments bit is really starting to zing along, although it is still different every night and I have to lose a couple of the old bits that aren't quite right now, perhaps introduce some new bits and I want to work on end, but with 14 complete previews to go it is in very good shape. Once I have managed to work out how to make the powerpoint presentation and have the projector set up it's going to feel a lot more complete too.
But where it all nearly went horribly wrong tonight was as I was leaving the stage. Things were pretty dark towards the edges of the slightly raised area and I forgot that there was a step down before the curtains and I found myself passing the compere and tumbling in rather spectacular fashion over the edge. I was maybe only six inches above the ground, but my arms were full of props and I went headfirst through the curtain, ending up spread-eagled on the floor with my feet still visible to the audience. I lay still for a second, as the audience's laughter rang in my ears. This was, of course, funnier than anything I had achieved on stage. I don't think I could have done a more successful slapstick pratfall if I had trained for months. I knew pretty much straight away that I was largely fine, but lay still for a couple of seconds just to check and to allow the humiliation to spread over me. Was this divine retribution? The audience clearly thought so. I got up, waved to the audience, commented that I had to keep up the funny even once the show was over and hobbled off, laughing at this ridiculous ending. My knees were smarting a little as was my right thumb, but I was OK and counting my blessings. I am getting to the age where a fall like this could cause some proper damage and I really wouldn't wanted to have had to get through the next few weeks with a broken finger or leg or hip. Luckily I still bounce. Can it be a coincidence that Tim Key was at this venue last night? Had he left another trap in an attempt to break
another bone? Probably.
When I got home I discovered that I had only scraped the skin off my right knee and there was a small bruise on the left. It might have counted as a knee stigmata, but it could have been a lot worse.
Maybe I should just move into slapstick.
I was a bit freaked out by the incident and tired and hungry and it was a touch drive home. I nearly ran over a rabbit who was sitting in the middle of a slip road and then chose to run in front of the car as I approached rather than away from it. I braked and although the critter was right in front of me I presume it somehow got away as there was no crunch or bump. But maybe it just got splatted to oblivion. So he had a worse day than me.
We also recorded
Collings and Herrin podcast 118 in the morning, though it took ages to upload as Orange Mark also has problems with his BT Broadband. I can't remember what we talked about. Some rubbish. But tickets are now available
for the Edinburgh shows. Get em while they're hot.
