Tuesday 31st May 2016

Worked from home for a bit - got a good solid 7 hours in which was needed as we're away a bit this weekend for an excessive run of band shows.

Still excited about the musical, this really could be the making of us.

Popped out to take Mum shopping (it's a lot of times, I get that - but I've realised shopping isn't really the reason, it's just company she wants) and stayed for a bit longer than intended, several hours actually, as she just seems really down.

Got back, necked an energy drink and made amazing progress on the '50 Ways...' live show. This is gonna be a winner. A very complicated winner.

Monday 30th May 2016

Long 8-hour day working with Marcel and Claudia on the musical but it was a lovely day...we spent so long on it because we wanted to, because we're quite excited about this project.

The rest of the guys read through the script for the first time and loved it, which is a relief - I then made a point of cutting bits of the monologues which, when read outloud for the first time, dragged a bit. Jo came over to 'audition' for the role but she always going to get it; it was pretty much written for her.

Marcel's arrangements are jaw-dropping. Seriously, wow. Incredible. Huge. Would comfortably fit in any West End theatre - they're big, magical...just...stunning.

Having rehearsed, made notes, rearranged things to work around each other, Marcel, Claudia and I enjoyed a lovely curry and discussed how this project is already too strong to just waste on a 7 day fringe run and a couple nights in the West End. It could be epic, we need to tour it, take it as far as we can possibly go. This could be the start of something special.

Sunday 29th May 2016

Feel human again now, after struggling a bit yesterday with the hangover of all hangovers.

Met up with the band and down to Crawley for an afternoon festival. We've had a couple weeks off from band stuff and we've actually missed each other a bit, as much as I think a little break may have been in order. A couple 'jokes' about my diva-ish behaviour at the Junction gig, but at least we can joke about it, I think. I could go into detail about why my moaning all came from a good place, but probably best to just let it go.

Either way, gig was fine. They insisted I used the house kit, which was very much a prog set-up - literally drums everywhere; I enjoyed it a bit too much. We stormed it...solid, professional, fast...we're all okay, I think.

Got back and wrote the other two episodes of the Oscar sitcom, that's all done now. Will start filming those next week. Then read over the 4 Lab musical ahead of the first look at it with the team tomorrow. There's clearly points where it needs cutting, where it's a bit monologue-heavy, but I tell you what - the punchline is fucking brilliant. If I may say so, myself.

Saturday 28th May 2016

The thing about big boozy nights is that you have no idea the next day who you've offended. I need a little more control, sometimes. Maybe I didn't offend anyone? Must have done. I'm not sure.

Woke up on a sofa, panicking that I'd lost my wallet (found it shortly after).

Took Mum to buy a new hoover, and generally moped around a lot moaning about my hangover. As I write this it's 10.15pm and I'm still struggling with it now.

Had an idea for another fringe show - got a brilliant title and concept for it, and I'm convinced I can create something really brilliant with it. I can't though, can I? 6 different productions is too many, and double the amount that I said last year was too many. But it's not actually that...that isn't the problem, my main reason for not actually doing more stuff is the lack of preview time. I don't have any evenings left pre-Edinburgh, which is just a bit daft.

Friday 27th May 2016

Long day in the office, you just get the sense that the product we're selling isn't really, well, selling. Going around in circles a bit there, but getting paid for it at least.

Slightly worried about the lack of ticket sales for the forthcoming charity nights, and the fact that I still haven't written quite a few of my Edinburgh Fringe shows.

Evening met up with friends for belated birthday drinks. Got very drunk. Too old for this? I can't remember much about the evening, apart from swigging from a wine bottle in Vix and Grif's flat at 4am.

Thursday 26th May 2016

Worked from home for a few hours, and then in the afternoon wrote the first two episodes of the Oscar Pike sitcom. I've achieved what I wanted to with this: I wanted it to be actually fun to write, not pressured, really short and really simple. Each episode can't be longer than 5 minutes I reckon, yet they still took bloody hours to write. Some of this content will go into the stage show version, which probably needs to be written very soon.

Evening gig with Claudia and band - I was so wrapped up in the writing that I didn't actually want to leave the house but I'm glad I did. It was lovely, cracking crowd, just so easy, you know? Another singer-songwriter who I like was in the audience and she was most praising of my skills...promptly asking me to play for her in the future. I'd love to, but another band is the last thing I need right now.

Wednesday 25th May 2016

What is everyone's obsession with trying to stop me go to the fringe? The band go mental because they're without their drummer, Mum goes mental because nobody can take her shopping. Seriously; it's just 3 weeks. That's all it is. 3 weeks. The rest of the year I'll do whatever you want. Just let me have these 3 weeks as a break. A break in which I'll be performing 60 times.

Went into the office for a bit. quite productive, did okay.

Confirmed 'Make or Break...' for Edinburgh which is cool. Remarkably free from clashing with my other shows.

Filmed more for the soap - just want to get Alan's scenes in the bag before he loses the beard for his show, nearly there - 2 more sessions will do it. Nice session, felt a little tired, but the footage is great.

Tuesday 24th May 2016

My birthday. 35. Perhaps should have done more with my life, but I guess we all think like that and to be honest, I'm feeling quite relaxed about it all.

Intended to take the day off, and for the most part of it I did...I mean, confirmed a couple shows in the morning that have been lurking in or around my inbox for a while, and also another lounge show - this one pays really well and it's local. More like that, please.

First birthday without my dad being alive, so it only felt right to spend it with Mum. Was a nice day, like a normal day seeing Mum in which I spent most of it sat in Waitrose car park with the dog and she reminded me a few times that I haven't given her grandchildren yet. During that waiting time though I wrote the structure for the Oscar Pike sitcom and got really excited about it. It was a nice day, stopped for a moment and played some football on the Playstation (turned it off when I lost), had a nice dinner etc.

Got back, had a beer with my housemate and panicked at an email I got from a really, really big comedy agent (biggest in the country?) saying they are going to watch me live soon.

Does life actually begin at 35? I reckon so.

Monday 23rd May 2016

Long day in the office, just need to get some hours in to pay for last week's tour (which lost quite a bit, mostly the fuel and Travelodge) and fringe. Odd office, I feel a bit out of place but it's nice just to keep your head down and zone out for a bit.

Keep confirming more shows, which is great, but actually running out of evenings now. It had to happen at some point.

Got back with the intention of replying to a few urgent emails (images for fringe guide, October tour dates etc) and have dinner before heading out to see friends at the beer festival...suddenly it's 10.15pm and I still haven't replied to all the 'urgent' emails I need to. Crazy. And ruining my social life.

Sunday 22nd May 2016

Much needed sleep, and then off to have lunch with Matt and a few others. Nice Sunday lunch, been having too much junk food recently...

Picked up Rob, back to meet up with Edd, and then short drive to Norwich for the evening performance. I'd hired a village hall for this one, normally I wouldn't but for £20 it was worth the risk. Wish I hadn't bothered - for starters the treasurer, who was supposed to let us in, didn't turn up so I had to call him. And then no audience turned up. Just us, in a bit empty hall. Waiting. For quite a while. And then going home. This is supposed to be my living.

A frustrating, disappointing end to a nice little tour. Rob and Edd were a total joy to work with, both on stage and off it. We'll work together again very soon, clearly.

Saturday 21st May 2016

Caught up on a bit of work, and then back on the road for night 3 of the 'Make or Break...' tour.

Southampton - back at my favourite tour venue (The Art House), nice to see our wonderful hosts Jani and Bik again, two of the loveliest people in venue management. Good food (vegetarian stuff, but I gave it go and it was actually nice), perfect sized room. Not a huge turnout but it doesn't need to be when it's a space that size - 10 or 11 people feels busy, which it did. And 3 of them saw me there last time and seem to have become supporters of my work, which is nice. They laughed at all the right times.

Solo show was the best it's ever been, perhaps a bit fast in places but the new bits I've been trying out (notably the 'Tracy' song) are starting to gel now, meaning I can cut down on the bits that haven't been getting laughs (speeding ticket rants, mostly).

The Make or Break... performance in the second half was messier and joyously shambolic than ever before; we're all getting a bit cocky with it now, I've added more safety nets to the structure meaning we can go off on wild tangents and still get back to the plot. Eventually. Great fun, too much fun? We overran quite a lot. My favourite moment was when I threw a CD across the room and a puppy tried to fetch it for me...

Fun night, just like it was the last time I was there - I just love that venue.

Home by 2am.

Friday 20th May 2016

Woke up with a terrible hangover. The other two didn't; they are more manly than me. Or possibly just drank less.

Journey home was long and full of roadworks, I spent most of the time moaning about my hangover and refreshing emails in the hope that somebody, just anybody, buys a ticket for the Norwich performance.

Back by 4pm, took Mum shopping, and then met up with Vicky to watch my mate Rob and a couple other comedians in a pub in Cottenham. They were totally superb, and it was nice to be in the audience for a change.

Thursday 19th May 2016

Did a couple hours work in the morning, then Edd, Rob and I made our way down to Cardiff for the second night of the tour.

Fairly unremarkable drive (which is a good thing, yeah?) in good company. Venue - a proper big arts centre, was stunning. I fancied most of the staff, too, everyone was just so accommodating.

Good food, and a rainy walk to buy a last minute prop, before the show. 8 people turned up, which isn't bad as I don't exactly have a 'name' in Cardiff, but it felt painfully empty.

First half (solo stuff) felt really strong, they were with me from a few minutes in and I kept them for the whole 45 minutes. Second half was mostly great but there was this weird moment where we lost them. In this tour version we have a quiz mid-show to make it more of a cabaret event, and the losing team's representative (so either Edd or Rob) has to eat the rest of the Ginsters slice, left over from the first half, at the end of the show. It went down well in Cambridge, it's cheap and funny to watch a musician be slightly humiliated. But the Cardiff crowd hated it - they just looked disgusted with us, and baring in mind this forfeit was 5 minutes from the end, we never really recovered.

By the end of the show both us and the audience were keen to go. I'm still baffled how I lost them so much, having had them for about 85 minutes.

Edd's car started playing up and we nearly had to call the breakdown people, but they offered advice on the phone and were luckily right - the horrible screeching noise was just something trapped in a wheel.

We then got beer from a late night Tescos and the three of us sat and drank and bantered till the early hours, as if we've been doing this for years. Good fun.

Wednesday 18th May 2016

Bit niggled I couldn't get to the premiere last night, considering I'm in the thing (and still haven't seen it) but there's another cast/crew screening soon which I am actually allowed into which is nice.

Work was fine; sat through a long conference thingy.

Evening performance in Cambridge of the new-look of 'Make or Break...' plus the solo show. The opening night of our tour, and a nice easy start - the Red Bull in Cambridge is fast becoming my favourite place, the staff...everyone, just so nice.

Charity night, small-ish crowd but an enthusiastic one. The first half (solo) was better than it was in Wisbech...there's still a bit of padding in there that has to go by Edinburgh, but the energy and structure feels good.

Really, really enjoyed the second half. First show with Rob on guitar who seemed so relaxed and comfortable throughout, and occasionally chipping in with well-timed comments...it's like this project was made for him. As always for the 'Make or Break....' I have absolutely no control over it whatsoever yet, as on most occasions, it tumbles along nicely and everyone enjoys themselves.

Tuesday 17th May 2016

Yeah, so Izzy was probably right - I have been impatient with the soap. My argument being that if we delayed it till September the cast might have visibly aged didn't really cut it. I just want to get things done, you know?

Anyway, we'll get the Lara/Alan scenes done over the next few weeks, mostly because Alan won't have a beard after that so we just need to get those finished and of all the things we've filmed so far those scenes are just the loveliest (I've backed them up in the most places as was so wary of losing them).

Did 4 hours freelancing from home, nearly had to talk to an actual client on the phone but luckily he was in a meeting. Hopefully he'll carry on being in meetings.

Took Mum's dog to the vets as she has a serious ear infection - she was born with it apparently, poor thing. I reckon my parents were sold a dodgy one, there, a few years back.

Getting really excited, and concerned, because 4 agents (two of them pretty major) are looking at me at the moment as a comedian. I mean, you could argue - about bloody time too. But also, uh oh! Anyway, 4 agents coming to watch me at the fringe this year. That's exciting, yes?

Couldn't get in to the premiere tonight of a film that I took the lead in, that's a cock-up, isn't it? Bloody ADC.

Did some more work on the '50 Ways...' film instead, wrote a press release for Daisy who we've signed to the label, re-wrote bits of tomorrow night's show. Got excited by the idea of free time, now that I've only got 3 nights of soap filming over the next few weeks, and then filled that time with an equally enticing project involving nice actors and nice scripts. It'll be really nice.

Monday 16th May 2016

My to-do list is in danger of getting in the way of actually writing the shows I'm promoting...it's always a fine line but I'm on the wrong side of that line right now. So many shows, so much admin.

The schedule availability of the soap cast is just...well, it can't happen, can it? Without starting from scratch. I put so much work into writing those episodes for the soap, all 26 of them, but then nobody is bloody available. Time to scrap it as a time consuming mistake?

Went into the office and made up a lot of hours today (as I'm on tour later in the week) and was generally a bit grumpy.

Ticket sales for the Cardiff show on Thursday are creeping up. Haven't quite made double figures yet, but nearly there.

Wrote a new 'song' (cajon and vocals only) for the solo show, which I'll give a first performance on Wednesday. It's called 'Welsh Tracey' and I'm quite proud of it. Hope Welsh Tracey doesn't come to the show on Thursday, that could be very awkward.

Started the casting process for the musical, and chased up a few of the acts for their DVD extra content. Opened 'talks' with the promoter about bringing the new Oscar Pike show to the fringe, seems positive.

Sent out another 200 or so emails about fringe sponsorship.

Got a really big agent coming to watch me at the fringe, they seem keen on what I do.

Got frustrated with staring at a screen all day - first for work and then for my own stuff, so went and had a drink with Vicky, which was very nice and much needed.

Sunday 15th May 2016

Had a seriously long lie-in, felt brilliant. Got up at 11.30am and felt great, refreshed, and then got on with some work - catching up on emails, went to release '50 Ways...' digitally and then changed my mind and now I'm very much sat on the fence with it. See, financially releasing it through the site I've found it's okay because there's no upfront fee, but the cut they take is ridiculous. In short; we'd sell it for £3 a time, and I'd get about half of that...or I could just put it on YouTube and get more hits which may benefit my career? I don't know! I don't want to just give it away, yet equally if I'm only gonna make a tenner a month from it would I be better off just making it a free thing in the hope an industry bod sees it?

Claudia's designed some nice artwork for the musical...she's really good at it, you know, which is handy to know.

Evening solo show in Wisbech. I was worried about this one; this is the one where I had to audition a couple weeks back. I didn't like the vibe on arrival, but it was bloody lovely, you know. My mate Rob supported me and shouldn't be a support act - he's been around a lot longer but was very humble and our shows worked well together. Due to the fact the event was overrunning I had to cut my set short by 10 minutes and it threw me completely...I was starting threads that didn't have a meaning. The audience, though, were with me all the way - so nice.

There was points tonight - especially the intro, where there was a sense of confidence in the room, that they were watching a class act. Even the rap was strong. And then there were points were I clearly got a bit lost. And then Ginsters/crying scene was really, really strong tonight and people were actually crying with laughter. Then it all dipped again. This can be a great show, but at the moment it's a nice, 3 star, free fringe show...like I have been for about 2 years. It's easy to get fooled when an audience like you...that doesn't always mean it's a winning show. I know where I'm at, and I know I can just be a bit better at this.

Saturday 14th May 2016

Things felt a bit tense last night, but seemed better at the trio gig this afternoon. Before the gig I had an early start, taking Mum to get her haircut and shopping and stuff...she can see that I'm tired, I think she's finally worked out that I'm a good son.

Afternoon gig for a friend of a friend's 40th birthday with G+V. Off stage any problems were kind of talked about, in a relaxed, let's not argue sort of way. The message is fairly simple: we all spend a lot of time together, we're gonna disagree sometimes, we're gonna snap every now and then, but the bigger picture is that we all love each other really and it's all gonna be fine. As was the gig; covers stuff, generic function fodder, but the audience loved it and it was an easy show with a couple bookings to come from it. These shows pay well, I'm happy to go along with it.

Evening went to see the amazing Max and Ivan, and then didn't enjoy the karaoke afterwards.

Friday 13th May 2106

Work was marginally successful; I'm worried I'm getting too good at this. It's all by accident, of course, but as I'm away on tour for a bit of next week it's good to get my hours up.

Scheduled over 500 emails regarding fringe sponsorship, and also for a November tour and to many industry people who I'm inviting to the shows...time to make this happen.

Getting frustrated by the soap...I can't seem to get any of the cast I need to be available at the same time. It was a big ask in the first place but I hope all of this work won't go to waste. There's a real danger that it will.

Evening gig with the band in Northamptonshire. We're arguing a lot at the moment, and certainly not the democracy we were a few months ago. I'm just keeping my head down and going along with it, even if, like most of the band, I strongly disagree with decisions that are being made. Gig was fine - tight, professional, we smiled at all the right times.

Thursday 12th May 2016

Really trying to get this soap finished, upping the filming schedule and just cracking on with it. It's tough though having such a big team, especially when half of them aren't really into replying to emails as quickly as I'd like. I can see this dragging on, which is the last thing I need as all of the other projects are about to clash.

Found a way of releasing the movie digitally, got chatting to some big comedy agents about my work and composed 502 emails about Edinburgh Fringe sponsorship.

Did a full day (well, 10.30am-4.30pm) in the office to get my hours up.

Evening spent working on the '50 Ways...' stage show, which at the moment is structurally sound but the content isn't at all funny. I don't want to just 'add' jokes in but...oh well, I guess it's a good thing that it's in the 'spoken word' section of the programme this year and not comedy.

Wednesday 11th May 2016

The danger of living with a really enthusiastic housemate is when you get back from filming, knackered, moaning about how far behind you are on all the projects but still with a burning desire to do more...he just encourages you to do more. Naughty, Edd. He needs to cut this enthusiasm and belief in my work, it's dangerous.

Did a good long old freelance session today, as well as keep up with the usual barrage of emails about gigs and stuff that will no doubt lead to double bookings at some point.

Evening filming with the soap. It's really interesting working with different people this week - over the last week I've worked with 3 different sets of actors, tonight's were by the least enthusiastic about the script to the extent I wonder if they actually like it at all (whilst Monday's lot were just excited, because it's a bloody good piece of writing) but that was always going to be the case and we're too far in now.

Got back, made more plans, big ideas. It's 12.28am as I write this and I'm just waking up again.

Tuesday 10th May 2016

Got woken up by a message at 2am from a close friend that simply said "help" - I called her straight away, calmed her down.

5 hours later I was up again, this time to quickly reply to some work emails and then off to Hunstanton where Mum wanted to view a house. She liked it more than the others, but still not enough to tempt her into a move. An easy-ish 3 hour round trip, my little car is still hanging in there, just.

Got back and tidied up the 4 Lab musical script ahead of the others seeing it next week, and then did a spot of soap opera scene editing.

Flagging, big style.

Monday 9th May 2016

I know it's pretty obvious, but I have more ideas than time right now. And I know it's pretty arrogant to say so, but they're bloody good ideas too. Quite a few of them Christmassy.

Did a few hours freelancing from home in the morning/early afternoon and then did some more work on the 4 Lab musical. Confirmed a big solo show.

Met up with Rob for a quick drink to discuss the soap, then we met up with the rest of the cast for that night - Sarah, Emma and Chloe, to film the 'Morris family' scenes. A superb session...different to the others, different camera angles, slightly messier. That'll be the theme for the Morris family now. They're all good actors, you know, Chloe in particular - she's fairly new to me (was in a short film with her earlier in the year and got chatting), she's one of those 'proper' actors but seemed to enjoy the friendly, relaxed (slack) way this is working. So much more to do, but so much good has been done already.

Got back and wrote until the early hours. First draft of the musical nailed. Good job too as it opens next month.

Sunday 8th May 2016

Ah, sleep, oh how I've missed you...slept in till 11am, before doing a bit of work on the musical and ate nice pizza. Good start to a Sunday.

Filming the 'Clive' stuff with Tom was really enjoyable, we're building each others' trust here I think. It's odd being in something that I've not written, and even stranger when I've been cast in the lead. Today it mostly involved me in a club trying to impress girls, and failing. As before, it's like I've been typecast...

But I know I do 'loser' well, and so does the writer. They hired out a working men's club in Cambridge and made it look convincing enough, it's a polished production.

Then dashed over to the BBC studios to record a live session with the band and have a chat with the lovely Sue. Really nice, that one, as a band now that the pressure of last night is off we just relaxed, enjoyed each others' company. Discussed recording dates for album number 3 - that'll start in October.

Saturday 7th May 2016

The musical with Claudia and Marcel is now also confirmed for a fringe run. Marvellous.

Took Mum out in the morning - it's the dog's birthday (I got in trouble for forgetting).

Early soundchecks with the band for our big local gig. I got a bit touchy because of the stage layout. I get being a drummer we have to be at the back, but my whole line of vision was blocked. To me, even though it was such a big gig, it might as well have been a rehearsal because I couldn't see the audience. Well, that was my fear anyway but as the gig progressed things got better. Vix worried a lot about how moody I was before the gig, and my little moment of tardiness could have caused disruption but it didn't. It's just because I felt so far away from my bandmates, I didn't want to lose the connection with them - the banter on stage is a huge part of it for me.

The gig itself, in front of a lovely audience of over 200 people, was so long - 2 straight hours, but we broke it up by bringing in a string section, and the returning Lachy joined us for a few numbers. It was both spectacular and draining. Didn't go to the aftershow party because I was just running on empty, these are frantic times.

Friday 6th May 2016

Went into the office, not getting the message that I'd be the only one in until I actually got, well, in, but that's cool - it's a productive environment to get stuff done.

Things went a bit crazy today. Confirmed the '50 Ways...' show for Edinburgh, which is a relief...11pm slot, I need to work out a way I can do this drunk. But it's in one of my favourite venues, at least.

And then I got offered a book launch venue for my debut novel, which is rather exciting, and it's in Warwick which is random but you know...they were the only people who actually wanted it.

And then we confirmed the West End run for the musical I'm writing with Claudia and Marcel.

Calming down a little, filming the soap with Lara, Alan and Paul tonight was a joy - such talented people, who dedicate so much time and energy into bringing this hastily written dialogue to life. I've fallen on my feet, here.

Thursday 5th May 2016

There was a point today where I looked at my schedule and realised that I'm not as in control of things as I thought I was...then I sat down and spent an hour writing and sending press releases for all of the current projects and realised actually everything is going to be just fine. I just need an hour sometimes to take stock.

Our run of big charity comedy shows is creeping up, so spent a bit of time working on that, and then did some 'proper' work - freelance stuff.

Called Mum, who has changed her mind again about where she wants to move, and then drove over to Histon to meet up with the guys - for some reason my engine warning light has gone off. Do cars just fix themselves? Awesome!

London gig with the band, tiniest venue ever and a real struggle to get the kit on stage; I went for a bass drum/hi-hat/snare/crash set-up, which works for most of the songs apart from those which were reliant on toms - so 'Just a Car' and 'Earthquake', both of which felt like a struggle. I love it when we play tiny venues like this though because we ram them, there was a really nice buzz in the audience tonight and we played 2 new tracks.

Home by 2am, which is a victory.

Wednesday 4th May 2016

Got a royalty cheque yesterday that I wasn't expecting. Not a bad one, either. It's for something I wrote two years ago that has been selling somewhere, clearly. I just need to keep doing lots of stuff like this, it's still only pocket money really but pays for a few tanks of fuel and a cheeky Rustlers burger.

Woke up to a tweet with someone praising my drumming on an album I played on a few years back. That's nice...is this Richards Retro day or something?

Did a full day in the office, the alarming thing was just how good I seem to be at this job. That was never the plan, I'm an artist, a freelance, floating, creative dude. The boss likes what I'm doing for them, and rightly so, of course.

Had a date tonight. This blog isn't about that sort of thing, so won't say much. But I'm not very good at dates, just to confirm that.

Tuesday 3rd May 2016

Did a spot of freelance work in the morning, and then did a little work on the musical. It's coming together, slowly. As are the talks with the West End venue.

Took Mum shopping, and then did a spot of filming for Jo's new video - she's got a new single coming out and I was asked to make a cameo in the video for it. I got to play a man who couldn't fix a car, not that I'm typecast or anything.

Got back, wrote some ideas down for a sitcom and then over to the studio for FH rehearsals. Bumped into Rob, who is playing guitar for us on the 'Make or Break...' comedy tour in a few weeks. Nice chap. I keep forgetting his name. FH on cracking form, the Junction gig on Saturday is going to break hearts. (in a good way)

Monday 2nd May 2016

Up early, even though it's a Bank Holiday Monday, to pick up Emma and then over to start filming the office scenes for the soap. Julian's great - a powerful, powerful man but also so generous to not only lend us his office to film in, but also look after us so well, too.

Both Josh and Emma were on good form today. Emma occasionally tried to make the innuendo scenes into something a little more raunchy (understatement...her 'sighing' was really out of context with the material) but we honed her back in - this is a family(ish) show where much is suggested but little should actually be seen. It'll be fine in the edit.

So much more to do with this soap, we've made a good dent in it, but nowhere near halfway yet.

Got back and started editing the footage, naming the files (they've just been dumped in my PC in a rush) and working out where we stand with it all. That took bloody hours.

Responded to a bunch of emails I should have done last week - a screening offer for the film, another stand-up show, some filming for tomorrow.

Doesn't feel like I've achieved a lot today yet I've spent 7 hours sat at a laptop replying to emails and generally keeping the admin of life ticking over.

Sunday 1st May 2016

Treated myself to some proper sleep, and then over to Mum's for Sunday lunch.

I know I talk about it a lot in my show already, but it's an odd experience going through my old bedroom and throwing lots of stuff away. My childhood, basically. I've got a big huge box of things I'd like to keep, I'll probably store it in my bathroom here or something.

I've realised that when Dad got really ill last year, really, really ill, they had to clear my old room to bring in the hospital bed. Much was taken away by the 'man with the van' (Mum gave him £50 to clear as much as possible), including my old bed, stereo and also a huge box of my old band memorabilia. It was desperate times, if Dad didn't get the bed then he would have died in a hospice - that's the priority, I'm glad he died in the nicest way possible.

But basically, I've lost all of the recordings I was ever on from 2000 - 2010 I think. It's a shame. It doesn't mean anything really, but it's a shame. The posters remain, they were in a drawer, as were the old set lists.

Met up with some old friends for a drink and realised we have very little in common. Went home and listened to a couple of mp3s I've found in my emails of those earlier days. I'm finding just glimmers of my former band stuff, and it's got me thinking a lot. About those days, when I was writing for the local paper, really active on the local scene, playing in about 8 bands. Young, wild haired, on the verge of something but trapped by a 'local hero' tag. On listening to those songs I could hear genuine happiness in the playing, but I'm not convinced I actually was.

It's been a tough few months, but creatively I'm in a much better place now then I ever have been. Probably.

Saturday 30th April 2016

Up far too early for a Saturday (like, seriously, 8.20am) but worthwhile - the filming of the Lara/Izzy scenes for the soap was great, they were both on good form and after a slow start we got everything done. This soap is gradually coming together.

Evening gig with the band, minus Vix who was on a hen party. A wedding gig, shouldn't have worked but we worked harder for it and got away with it. I wouldn't like to do a gig without Vix again, but equally good to know we can pull it out of the hat if need be. That audience (drunk, I assume), were more forgiving than most, though.

Friday 29th April 2016

Opened talks with a West End venue for the musical...if we're doing it, we may as well do it big, yeah?

Did some freelance work, was quite good today I thought - my spreadsheet looks beautiful.

I'm over-thinking everything at the moment.

Evening met up with Izzy, Lara and Sarah with the intention of filming the cafe scenes for the soap opera but the volume and vibe of the location didn't really sit well with our plans so we just had a drink and exchanged much banter instead. A lovely evening.