So - everything, at the moment, is a little - as Bill & Ted once said - ATYPICAL.
All my work for the foreseeable future is being cancelled - international trips, West End show appearances, tour dates, cabaret nights - everything, all gone. I’m a freelance live performer, and without these live gigs, I don’t have any income at all. nor many feelings of usefulness. The government don’t seem to be in a hurry to help. So I’m stuck at home, and in all probability, so are you.
So I had an idea. How about, once a week-ish, I personally curate a playlist of some of my favourite comedy, variety, circus, dance, TV, and all manner of other weird and wonderful things? I spend a lot of my time on stage hosting variety shows, so why not try to the same thing online?
It’ll give you something fun to watch, give me some kind of creative outlet, perhaps help us to stay at least a little connected, and distract us from the internet news firehose of angst for a few moments.
All I ask in return is that you share this page with anyone you think might enjoy it. And if you enjoyed it, and if your income is not affected by the current situation, maybe you’ll consider clicking here and donating me the price of a cup of coffee, so I can keep the lights on, and feel that I’m still able to contribute. Thanks.
OK, Lockdown TV week one, lets go…
Let’s start with the soul-stirringly wonderful Nia Dennis showing how. things. are. done.
You’ve seen Kung-Fu Hustle, right? SEE KUNG-FU HUSTLE. Here’s Steven Chow being seven shades of awesome.
I think it’s a fair wager that there’ll be something from The Kids In The Hall in all of these playlists. So many perfect sketches. First saw this in the 90’s on the Paramount channel, in our 4th floor flat in Kings Cross, thanks to a dodgy satellite dish we bought from Brick Lane market and attached to the roof without the permission of the landlord.
OK, Palette cleanser time.
It’s a Sunday night in the 80’s and I’m being allowed to stay up late to watch Hill Street Blues. In an hour’s time the closing credits will tell me its time to go to bed and face the horror of another week of school, but for now, I revel in this drizzly, grimy world of friends and enemies and cops and robbers. Second best TV show ever made - fight me.
And to follow that, here’s the weather, with Dawn Lazarus.
Oh look, it’s me.
This is what happened, a few years ago, when I was bored on a long gig abroad, and happened to have a bunch of selfie sticks.
Men I want to be when I grow up: Hawkeye Pierce, Cary Grant, Gene Kelly.
Poets. Geniuses, truth-tellers, spokesboys for a generation.
“This is art. This means something”
Chip Kidd is way funnier, smarter, and goofier than you might expect a book cover designer to be.
It wouldn’t be recognisably me without something wrestling-related, right? Here’s Graham Chapman wrestling…Graham Chapman.
Jiminy Glick interviews Julia Louis Dreyfus.
I went to the the Prince movie “Sign O The Times” at the Dominion in London, back when it was a cinema. People danced in the aisles. British people. Think about THAT.
This is the last act on this weeks bill, so turn your speakers the hell UP, and dance around at home to what I firmly believe to be one of the finest music performances ever put on film.
Hope you enjoyed that - I’ll be back next week with even more good stuff.
In the meantime, maybe click the button below to donate the price of a cup of coffee
Take care of your body and soul, and I’ll see you next week.
Love you, bye.