Stefan Golaszweski Plays.

On Wednesday night I went to Bush Theatre to see two plays back-to-back 'Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About a Girl He Once Loved' and 'Stefan Golaszewski Is A Widower'.

I love the way Golaszewski describes people/events/situations. Somebody on Twitter said that it is "like a series of punches to the soul" and I couldn't have put it better myself; so captivating.

I really enjoyed '... Speaks About A Girl he Once Loved'. As I left the theatre during intermission, I felt all warm and uplifted with a touch of sadness. It's about a young lad who meets Betty (a girl that it "too good" for him) in a pub and have a very brief love encounter.

I saw '... Is A Widower' during the Summer and didn't enjoy it all that much and I still have the same opinion after seeing it a second time. There are some really lovely moments, but I don't feel the play works as a whole (still didn't like that the play is set so far ahead in the future and Stefan isn't very convincing old man). There have been a few changes since I saw it last, and i'm not sure it was for the better.

It was a very last minute decision to go and see 'Stefan Golaszewski Plays' and i'm glad I did.

A thought.

Wednesday is a very funny word.

Comedy Nights @ The Lyric Hammersmith.

Last night I went to the Lyric to see Comedy Nights, hosted by Richard Herring. The line-up was another cracker and included Jack Whitehall, Dara O'Briain, Shappi Khorsandi and Jason Manford.

I really like Jack's material, but I don't like his delivery; he seems to speak through his nose and puts on quite a distressed/angry voice. I have to listen really hard to listen to what he's saying.

Dara was the secret guest comedian and it was the first time that i've seen him live. He's a completely charming, rational and skeptical man and I thoroughly enjoyed his set (he was trying out new material for an up and coming tour). He came out with a chair and a notebook full of ideas and warned us that his set may be extremely rough. I loved his bike rider material (complete with physics jokes!).

I really enjoyed Shappi's set; the last few times that i've seen her i've been a little bit disappointed. She tried out quite a smutty joke that fell a little bit flat (I thought it was hilarious) and promised to never do it again.

I loved Jason Manford's jokes about his baby twin girls, particularly the one about wrapping a baby like a burito "gaucamole. Sudocream. Done". There's a certain joke in which he asks the audience what the worse type of pain is. The top two are usually child birth and a kick in the bollocks... last night one of the suggestions was heartbreak. Jason looked quite taken aback and told the man that he's performed the show 150 times and that is the first time someone has given that answer.

A thought.

Since when did row C become front row?

O'Doh-Party.

I had been looking forward to seeing David O'Doherty (in the Lorenz Auditorium at Soho Theatre) for weeks. It'd been way too long since I last saw him live; way back in August at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The stage was set for a play (This Wide Night, I think) complete with two couches, shower and window (that rained!). O'Doherty joked that it seemed like a typical, bleak, Irish play. My friends and I really hoped that he would muck around with the set (pre-show discussion) and we weren't disappointed.

The window was full of water and had started to drip, David seemed a little bit concerned that he'd get electrocuted so the stage manager came down and put a bucket under the dripping (there was a moment of silence when all you could here water droplets hitting the bottom of the bucket). As she was walking back up to the sound desk (and had her back turned), David showed us that the set had actual running water.

There was a little bit of "plinky-plonky", a little bit of stand-up (usually funny ancedotes) and some excerpts from 100 Panda Facts that he penned with his pals Claudia O'Doherty and Mike Ahern ("did you know that if a Panda gets struck by lightning, its black hair turns white and its white hair turns black? These bears are know to Pandologists as negative Panda's").

The last song of the show "Everything is not Shit" was written for a friend that was a little bit down and is really beautiful. I always tear up a little bit while listening to that song.

My favourite quote of the evening was when David first came onto the stage and put his Yamaha keyboard on his lap and exclaimed "I am Florence and this is my machine". I really enjoyed his story about the dog that he almost killed too (which was made even funnier when the person who's dog that story was about was in the audience).

I enjoyed the show so much that i'm going back to see it again on Saturday.

A thought.

I try not to be a complete fangirl, but it's so hard.

Fat Tuesday.

I had tickets to see Pappy's at Leicester Square Theatre, but the line-up at Fat Tuesday was just too good to resist (James Sherwood, Ava Vidal, Mark Watson and, as always, compared by Tiernan Douieb).

The crowd are always very enthusiastic and supportive. There were a few rowdy wine drinkers in the front row that annoyed me a bit; for me hecklers/loud people can really put a damper on a gig.

James Sherwood performed a similiar set to the one i'd seen at Live and Ungagged in Carlisle. I really like his comedy; it's very unique compared to other musical comedians. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't see his show in Edinburgh. Deadpan humour FTW.

Ava Vidal is good, but... her material is just not to my taste (and she scares me a little bit).

Mark Watson gave a brilliant set and had the whole audience in stitches. I really enjoyed his material about waterbeds (hope he keeps that bit in!). Two of the "rowdy wine drinkers" whispered to each other while Mark was in full flow and he stopped and asked them what they said. The two "rowdy wine drinkers" then declined to say and Mark responded with the most excellent comeback; likening the whispering to a foul right in front of the umpire (there was more but because I don't know much about football, it's hard for me to explain). It was soooooo funny.

A thought.

I wish I didn't care what people thought of me. Caring what people think of me gives me paranoia. A lot.

Instructions, Guidelines, Tutelage, Suggestions, Other Suggestions And Examples Etc.

I was very excited about attending the launch of Tim Key's new book (Instructions, Guidelines, Tutelage, Suggestions, Other Suggestions and Examples Etc. An Attempted Book by Tim Key. (And Descriptions/Conversations/A Piece About A moth)) and for good reason, EVERY event hosted/supported by The Invisible Dot is COMPLETELY awesome and I couldn't wait to buy/read the book itself.

The night kicked off with Tim Key and Tom Basden taking to the stage. There was a bit of funny talk/banter and Basden showcased his new song; an electronic-type number that asked the question "what is a book launch?". The whole thing was quite shambolic, but very funny and brilliant and genius.

Kalki the Hula Girl provided futher entertainment with a hula hooping/burlesque routine. I've seen her a few times now, all of which have been at Ali McGregor's Late Nite Variety Nite. She's very talented and totally cool.

Everybody was handed an envolope with a page of the book upon entering The Invisible Dot HQ and after Key, Basden and audience member, Dawn, had finished reading "The Day The Policeman Met The Farmer" (complete with musical accompaniment by the "trumpeter from Madness", who played outside the room for "that distant effect"), each of us read our page aloud and were encouraged to eat it (although I think Basden and Key were the only one that did; they ate their way through half a page each. Good effort).

I bought along my copy of Key's first book (25 Poems, 3 Recipes and 32 Other Suggestions) just in case an oppurtunity arose in which I could get it signed. After I had bought the new book, I shyly appproached Tim and he happily obliged.

"Dear Simone.

Thanks for your unstinting support.

This one's a cooler book I think.

Tim. x"

I am chuffed to bits.

There was a lovely article written in (wait for it) The Sun about the book/book launch.

A thought.

Whenever I meet somebody I admire I never fail to get a bit shakey/turn red/mumble/say the wrong thing etc. It's very embarrassing.

Do Nothing.

Last night I went to the Royal Court theatre in Sloane Square to see Simon Amstell's 'Do Nothing', supported by Tim Key.

The last time I saw Key perform in a similiar theatre, he absolutely stormed it and I was hoping for much of the same. I enjoyed his set, I always do, but it wasn't his best. He had a screen up behind him which meant that he was able to showcase some of his wonderful short films (clips?) that he used in The Slutcracker. They are completely awesome! I love the one about dew, it's so so beautiful and never fails to give me goosebumps.

I saw Simon's show in Edinburgh the day after the 24 Hour Show (at which he had contributed a lot of time and effort) and he seemed distracted and often lost his way (understandable). The same thing happened last night.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the show, but it didn't really flow with the stopping and starting.

I laughed so hard at "It's so nice to be back in London. I've just finished a tour of the country (audience giggles)... we should really do something about that" and "[to audience member] what are you eating? Chocolate? This is ART... someone in Ipswich ate a Callipo during my show...".

A thought.

Rude people should be thrown out of a comedy gigs the moment they start disturbing others and/or the comedian on stage.

I say this because my evening at the Royal Court Theatre to see Amstell and Key was ruined by some very rude people sitting behind me. They clearly weren't impressed by Key and made sure everybody knew by talking really loudly about how much they weren't enjoying themselves. They were then over-enthusiastic about every little joke that Amstell made.

It Comes In Three's (Take Two).

A few weeks back I was a little bit sad about my best friend moving back to Perth, Tim Minchin's UK tour ending and my Grandpa not being very well and consequently, blogged about it. A friend from home who read the blog compiled a list of good things that come in three's and emailed it to me (the email was titled "g'day from 'stralia").

- the holy trinity! (haha, was seriously the first thing that came into my head, wtf!)
- neapolitan icecream (three flavours!)
- #3 tram is the tram that wizzes by my window (it just went by then!)
- Ben Folds Five (Ben has been on steady decline since his band of three)
- 3 Blind Mice (see how they run!)
- 3 wishes from the genie (i'm thinking of when N-fa played the timtam genie!)
- 3 is how many days until the weekend!

I'm not sure about the first one and the last one isn't always relevant, but it cheered me up so much. I love that girl!