Christ's gaping anus, I haven't updated properly in years and years! I've been so busy, both with work and play. For example, a couple of days ago I submitted my overtime claim for the middle of March to the middle of April - 121 hours. Which should theoretically be good for the saving, but I must confess that I've also been out far more than I should be allowed to, considering my circumstances. I don't regret it for a second though, I've had such a wonderful time catching up with friends and seeing some great shows.

The Monday before last was the 7th, and was the first Monday without an After School Club. I wasn't sad though, because I got to spend the evening with Fiona (feebomon) who I hadn't seen in an eternity, give or take a few days. It was such a treat catching up with her. We met in a bar in Soho called Balans, and she brought my 40 days of sobriety crashing to a halt, as when I arrived she had a delicious fruity cocktail waiting for me. She's another comedy obsessive, which always leads to many conversations fuelled by excitement. For example, I'd recently watched all of Nighty Nighty, including all the DVD extras, and so we both talked about how much fun it would be to be friends with Julia Davis, because she's always bursting into fits of uncontrollable giggles during rehearsals. As we both live miles away we had to leave at a very unreasonable time, but it was okay, because...

The following Wednesday I met Fiona again! We went to see The Real Daniel O'Donnell Show, a comedy night I've wanted to go to for a long time, not only because I'd never heard a single bad word said about it, but also because one of the writers is Michael Legge, a chap I saw do a tremendous job of compering at the Amused Moose a few months ago. That's him in the picture on the right. It's a comedy night with a cast of about five regulars and a few guests, full of sketches, stand-up, pre-recorded sketches and music which is all created just for that night. Well, I've only been once so I don't know this for fact, but it certainly feels like it's written just for that show. It's a night run on love and excitement, a night for creativity and danger, and a night which I have every single intention of going to on a very regular basis. I also had the pleasure of meeting a friend of Fiona's called Catharine Rogers, who I soon learned was also The Opera Singer Lady that was on stage during Robin Ince's Book Club, which me and my friend Emma went to see in Edinburgh. I also met another friend of Fiona's whose name escapes me, and I feel utterly dreadful for the fact, but he was ever such a friendly man. He's recently started working for The Samaritans, and had some fascinating stories to tell about the training that they have to go through. We all stayed drinking at The Albany quite late, and all fell hopelessly in love with their chili rice puffs, which we bought in quantities which would make Brian Blessed blush.

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Last Monday (14th) I met with my friend James to go to Old Rope, a new material night near Oxford Circus. In a way, I think I enjoy new material nights more than actual comedy nights, because for a small price you get to see top comedians mucking about in a really relaxed, no-pressure atmosphere, and I prefer a laid back, shambolic approach to comedy far more than a super-slick professional evening. Robin Ince was down and had six pages of material, but had so much more to say that he only managed to get through one! He talked a lot about religious lunatics and the Daily Mail, which he said had been inspired by a book he'd recently read about the media. I had a chat with him in the interval, and it turned out that he was referring to Flat Earth News, a book which I heaped praise upon a short while back. Flat Earth News should act as a call to arms to anyone of sound mind, and comedians are able to actually act on that. We had a bit of a chat about The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe and Dawkins and other such lefty activities, which was nice.

The other acts were top, particularly Lady Carol, who wore an elegant black velvet dress, a black feather in her hair, and played a tiny ting guitar. Andrew O'Neill closed the evening with an extended set, and put on a glorious performance. Andrew convinced me to drink with him and his friends at the Crobar until a stupid time in the morning, at which point my friends Kate and Dave joined us. They run a new act night in Soho on Mondays, and frequently celebrate their success (and their night always is a success) by drinking until the sun rises.

Kate and David let me stay round their gorgeous house in Stoke Newington through all of last week. I don't understand how houses which are so nice can exist so close to Dalston Kingsland train station. It's one of those things which never ceases to amaze me about London. One road can be full of litter, filth, and people living in abject poverty. Then you can turn round the corner, and you're at Liverpool Street train station. London is a constant mind-fuck. Anyway, this week I've essentially slept at theirs, gone straight to work and done a day's grafting, then had a shower in work, and gone out for the evening. It's a system which worked very well, except for Wednesday evening when I went out for a Londonist meet, drank until 1am, and decided to sneak into the office, and sleep at my desk. I went down to the staff room and dragged a bean bag up, and had a fantastic night's sleep. No-one knew, though some people strongly suspected because I'd forgotten to take the bean bag back down before people arrived. Whoops!

(The Londonist meet was, as always, great fun. I finally met Talia, the music editor who has a taste of music which I strongly align myself with. Synths, beeps and electropop heavy. I say names like Pay TV and Matinee Club to her, and she knows who I'm talking about!)

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On Tuesday 15th, I met my friend Charlotte to catch up, and to go to some comedy. She runs a fantastic gig called the Funny Folk Cafe with her friend Jo, who sadly couldn't make it along. Charlotte and I bought a bottle of fairly expensive wine which ended up tasting like vinegar, but as with all terrible wine, became perfectly bearable once it has killed off half of the sensory apparatus of your mouth. It was great to catch up, and to know that things are positive with her.

There was only one comedy night in the listings which appealed to me, but luckily it appealed immensely. It was a gig in London Bridge called Falling Down With Laughter, and was full of sketch and character acts trying out new stuff. Almost all of it was solidly strong, but with a running time of just over three hours, and the fact that my bedtime the previous night was almost 4am, I don't mind confessing that I was almost falling asleep by the end of it. What a joy it was though! Pippa Evans was a personal favourite of mine, who performed two characters who I simply cannot do justice to with words. If I described them, you'd think I was insane, but if you saw them, you would howl with laughter. Joe Wilkinson teamed up with a friend to perform two sketches, which were funny in themselves, but made all the more funny by their ramshackle approach to "learning lines". Don't take that as a criticism; on the contrary, I could have watched an entire three hours of just them trying to remember their sketches!

The night was compered by a comedian with a quite thick French accent, who magically lost it when he performed in sketches as part of Cat of the Week. I think I was quite disappointed when I found out that he wasn't French, because I liked his voice. :) He was a really strong compere and a great performer. My mate Tiernan did a few sketches with his friends as part of the troupe Tea and Cake, which were really impressive. I won't say too much because I'm planning on seeing their Edinburgh preview, and no doubt I'll be heaping superlatives on it then. The Penny Dreadfuls closed the evening. I was familiar with their work from Radio 4, and they performed some really strong sketches to close the night. Sadly, my state of sleep deprivation had fallen to such extremes that I can't precisely recall the content of the sketches, but I laughed like a madman, and that's all that matters.

As we left, I said goodbye to Tiernan. As I did, his friend Lauren (also part of Tea and Cake) said to me "Where's your Michael Heseltine t-shirt?". And in doing so, Tuesday 15th April 2008 officially marks the first time that someone has quoted my stand-up at me! My immediate reflex was to play along, but also be modest, so I just said it was in the wash. But in my mind I was screaming "OM MY GOD OH MY GOD!!", so what I actually wanted to do was jump for joy, kiss her with Italian passion, buy everyone champagne and take the revolution out to the streets. Alas, I was too stunned to even make a comment about how she was quoting me. What a dick I am! Still, it had me smiling for the rest of the trip home.

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I've probably been up to more stuff besides this, but I fear I must dash now. Sophi is staying round mine today, so I'm going to pick her up from the station, and spend all day watching comedy. On Sunday I'm going to the ICA with Fiona to see the new Mark Heap and Tasmin Greig movie, with a Q & A which I'm sure will massage all my comedy geek glands (if you like Green Wing or Spaced, you should call the ICA to book tickets!). And then next week I'm off to Centre Parcs. Imagine that!