Latitude Festival. Day One.

We arrived at around 4pm, set up camp and headed into the site. Putting up the tent was made extremely hard to put up thanks to strong winds...

19.00 Literary Arena: Josh Widdicombe.
19.30 Wondered about, ate and chatted. The food at the festival was good.
23.00 Robin Ince's Book Club with Kevin Eldon, Jo Neary, George Egg, Neil Edmond, Martin White, Steve Pretty, Nathan Hamer, John-Luke Roberts, Nadia Kamil, Richard Sandling, James Dowdeswell, Phill Jupitus and Catharine Rogers.

Best bits: Martin and Steve going head-to-head to see who could make the best music accompaniment for photos in a book entitled 'The Secret World of Men'. At one point Robin held up a picture of a naked man sitting on a wicker chair to Martin and said "with this picture you have to convey a man getting his penis stuck in a wicker chair". I also loved Nadia and John-Luke's "Alistair McGowan" sketch.

A thought.

Every day should finish with Robin Ince's Book Club.

Comedy Nights: Stewart Lee. Lyric Hammersmith.

My friends and I watched England bow out of the World Cup to Germany before making our way West to the Lyric for Comedy Nights featuring Stewart Lee, Bridget Christie, Freeze!, Peter Serafinowicz and Richard Herring. Such a good gig!

Freeze! were by far my favourite act. Tim and Tom did a this choreographed dance to Los Campasinos' 'You! Me! Dancing!' and it was truly wonderful. I'm 100% sure they made many a new fan.

Serofinowicz had good material, but the delivery was extremely clunky. Not much else to say, really.

Lee and Christie did material i'd previously heard - both solid performances. I'd like to be as trendy as Bridget Christie please. Okay? Thanks.

I'm not a big fan of Richard Herring's audience chat... I thought his routine from his new show, 'Christ on a Bike' was genius, though. I'll have to try and catch a preview.

A thought.

I've watched about 4 football matches in my lifetime. The game between Ghana and Uraguay has been the best so far; I got very excited.

Feature Spot Presents Stewart Lee.

The wonderful Stewart Lee was joined by Joe Wilkinson, Mike Wozniak, Andrew Lawrence and MC, Henry Paker at Feature Spot's residence, the 100 Club. It was a warm evening and England had won their world cup match earlier in the day which meant the audience were a little bit drunk and irritable.

I like Paker's sense of humour and audience banter, but he fell a bit flat at times. "Erection by placebo" and his story about un-reading books rocked! He has quite a similar style to Mike Wozniak and I think their Edinburgh show, 'The Golden Lizard' , is going to be A-MA-ZING.

I've gushed about how bloody good Joe Wilkinson is in past blogs and i'm going to gush again. So there. I particularly liked his stories about why his Mother believes in ghosts and how all babies stare at him. Go and see this man do stand-up! You won't be sorry.

Mike Wozniak's material was based on trying to have a baby. He was a little bit shouty and erratic, but thoroughly enjoyable. The audience seemed a little confused... Wazniak has the most incredible moustache!

Andrew Lawrence, in my humble opinion, got the best reception of the evening - he totally killed it! It was the first time i'd seen him and certainly not the last. It's almost as if he uses stand-up to let of steam at all the things that get his goat and the audience (including myself), were lapping it up.

Stewart Lee started with tried and tested material about emigrants and quality of life before moving onto new stuff that he'd written the day before. It was based around celebrities and charity and boy was it funny.

Feature Spot returns in September at the Tabernacle with Adam Buxton, Tim Key, Rufus Hound and Carl Donnelly!

A thought.

It would be impossible to be any good at sport (e.g fencing) when suffering from hay fever.

Red In The Face At Vibe.

I like free gigs. I like free gigs with Tom Bell, Tasha Dhanraj and James Acaster even more. A little bit hit and miss at times, but all in all, a good evening was had. I hadn't been to a straight stand-up gig in an age!

There was an Australian bloke in the audience that was the cheeky-loud-chappy-type and received quite a bit of attention. He got up with Tom Bell after the intermission and acted out the story of two sperms swimming towards an egg and halfway there, realised they were gay. Really enjoyed Bell's "Animal Pub" tales, too.

Tasha is a very, very talented and confident young comic. I expect wondrous things from her in the not so distant future. The jokes about her heritage were hilarious.

James Acaster is a total legend! There were 3 big, burly men standing at the bar who'd had far too much to drink and started heckling through James' set. You could see he was trying to ignore it but after one of them told James he "needed them", a battle of words began. Tom Bell cheered James on (as did the audience) from the side of the stage and told him to "tag if you need [me]".

The night finished on a bit of a downer when my friend got her iPhone stolen.

A thought.

One side of my brain is quite bright and the other side is painfully thick. They fight constantly.

Ten-Year Self-Improvement Challenge. Update Three.

Update two was 1 day late and update three is 3 days late. It's sunny and warm and I really have to make the most of it. I think what i'm trying to say is, i'm not sorry.

My initial challenges can be found here. This is how i'm progressing:

1) I've just finished Alex Horne's 'Wordwatching' and i've started Ben Goldacre's 'Bad Science'.

Alex still needs our help to get one of his words in the dictionary. The most promising words can be found here. However, my favourite words are:

paddles n. (plural): Hands

honest adj. (euphemistic): Fat

If you want to find out more visit www.verbalgardening.com. Oh, and I really recommend reading the book! Pages 138/139 and 284/285 were the best.

2) There was one major missed opportunity this month. The opportunity arose before the show which isn't an ideal time to be introducing myself to the MC, to be honest (honest/honest not fat/honest!).

Also, I waved across the room at someone I wanted to talk to, but didn't get around to a chat. I wrote them a facebook message the next day apologising which is something I wanted to avoid. Ho hum.

I have been saying hello/chatting with a lot of acquaintances lately. I am improving, little bit by little bit.

3) So, onto the thorny issue of keeping an updated blog...

To catch up this month I have written weekly, condensed blogs. At the time of writing this TYSIC update, I have a week and a half of shows to review. These, I hope, will be 1 blog per gig.

4) I'm doing pretty well at writing down all my thoughts. I lost quite a few the other day when I put an apron full of Post-it notes through the wash. I need to buy and notepad to keep them all together.

5) I wrote to my Mum's cousin's wife (mouthful) with my news and asked if I could come and visit. They're going abroad for the summer, so i'll have to go and visit in September.

I also wrote a friend in Melbourne, but I haven't heard back yet.

6) I have been kicking arse on my diet! So far I have lost 5 kilos. It's mainly been through eating; I need to work on increasing my exercise.

A thought.

When i'm tired I have the most irrational thoughts.

Return Of The Tardy Blogger. Again. Week Five.

Freeze!. Invisible Dot HQ.

I think this has been my favourite Freeze! i've ever seen; it even trumped their Christmas show! Tom Basden was on fine form and treating us to his owl song and 'Mamma Mia' (with backing vocals from Tim Key).

Before 'The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island' was shown, Tom showcased his nature mockumentary; ACE. Best line: "the giraffe has the longest neck in the animal family... except for the snake which is pretty much all neck". Once again, cracking banter between the two.

The Horne Section. Invisible Dot HQ.

The best preview/show in London at the moment; such a wonderful, wonderful, joyous thing. I was lucky enough to be chosen to play 'Battleships' (which has a very catchy theme tune) and won! I was also featured in the closing song "when all is said and done, i'll be your friend forever...". The 3 Jo/Joe's in the room were strategically placed at one point to make a Joparallelogram - fun.

Tim Key and Steve Hall each did a short set in between the songs and silliness. Steve Hall was a little bit vulgar for my liking.

Dressing, Gown And Slippers.

Jenni Armstrong and Freya Slipper are comedy duo 'Dressing, Gown and Slippers'. Their show tells the story of how Duncan Bannatyne's daughter and an Indonesian tribesman (tribeswoman?) became the greatest comedy act of all time (and their less than glamorous fall from grace).

I did lots of smiling and even more laughing. Armstrong and Slipper are a talented pair.

Up The Creek.

I've heard only good things about this comedy club and their line-ups are amazing, but the fact that it is on a Sunday night and all the way in Greenwich has always put me off. This one was different. This one had David O'Doherty, Russell Howard and Al Pitcher. I had the best time and am very eager to go back - I adore that club!

Al Pitcher deserves kudos for his wonderful audience banter; total ledge! Russell Howard was full of funny anecdotes, actions and voices. There wasn't anything in his material that really stood out, but I had a severe jaw ache from laughing after his set.

A bearded David O'Doherty was on fine form as he tested out new material for is up and coming Edinburgh show, 'Somewhere Over the David O'Doherty'. There were quite a few stories and songs about relationships and a bloody brillaint song about bike repair advice (do not use WD40 on your bike!). My favourite part of his set was his story about travelling on a train with his keyboards.

A thought.

Is it still socially acceptable to wear your jumper around your waist?

Return Of The Tardy Blogger. Again. Week Four.

Reprieve 'Laughter/Pain' Benefit Gig.

This gig was organised to raise money for Reprieve and featured the likes of Isy Suttie, Robin Ince, Ed Byrne, Andy Zaltzman, Phill Jupitus (with the La De Dahs), Kevin Eldon, Shappi Khorsandi, Stewart Lee, Tim Minchin and MC, Alistair Barrie.

Nothing negative to say about this line-up. Really enjoyed Ed Byrne (his new material is really coming along) and Phill Jupitus.

Minchin got the biggest cheer of the night and sang 'Prejudice', 'If I Didn't Have You', 'Confessions'. 'The Pope Song' and 'Canvas Bags'. He got a series of heckles from a female audience member during the feminist movement in 'Confessions' which were dismissed with "SUCK MY BALLS, BITCH".

66A Church Road. Daniel Kitson.

Daniel Kitson's 66A Church Road is about a house that he loved with all his heart, but could never actually have as his own. I came out of New Players Theatre feeling light and fluffy and thoughtful; Kitson is such a wonderful storyteller. He referred to himself as "adorably petty" at one point - love.

The set was very impressive; a series of scattered suitcases that would light up during relevant parts of the play to reveal a room from Kitson's old flat.

Cardinal Burns And Friends.

I was really looking forward to seeing Cardinal Burns again, it had been aaaaaages! I'd hoped for some new material, although in all fairness, they wouldn't have had time. It was a complete shambles of a gig - the audience was drunk and rowdy (and horny according to my friend Jo) and the work of the MC, Trevor Lock, was ruined every time there was a technical glitch (there were quite a few).

Still, I got to see Late Night Gimp Fight who are pretty bloody good and the banter between Key and Harry Deansway was hilarious.

An Event Of Some Kind VIII.

I've been to all but one of Junior Ministers' An Event Of Some Kind. Medal? I was incredibly tired, but manged to stay until the very end (midnight-ish).

Spak Whitman, Jukebox Collective and Abandoman were my faves. I was chosen to be in one of Abandoman's songs which made my night! Woo!!

Itch: A Scratch Event.

Going to the theatre on a Sunday Afternoon? How middle class. Some really great plays in progress at this event; particularly liked 'A Bird In The Hand' by Aisling Bea (which featured Jarred Christmas), 'The Vaguely Unsettling World Of Clovis Van Darkhelm' by Mike Hayley, 'Baydoll' by Steve Keyworth (Brendan Burns can be rather scary) and 'Marcel Lucont' by Alexis Dubus (he's such a brilliant writer!).

A thought.

If I was a boy, i'd probably be balding. I suspect i'd keep my hair very short.