General comedy stuff updateys.

1. Stand-up at Papanui Tavern: pretty good! Some obvious stand-outs and some less great but what can you expect, really?  I think I'll have a go at it next month. Looks like fun.  Yeah - night went well. Will and I had to leave early to catch a bus so we missed the last act (who was supposedly very good), but mm, Jeff and Stephen were very good...though sort of knowing them makes me biased. Shay Horay was painful to watch until he started his *real* act, of blowing up a head-surrounding rubber glove and enveloping his face in rubber bands (separately). There was a guy who was doing it for his first time and he really kind of shot himself in the foot by just telling jokes (which were not his). But yeah - nice. Only problem was that I always seemed to be the one stuck at the table when everyone else got up. But hey.

2. EELS: extended for two weeks. I'm in it tomorrow with a cast of people I haven't played with before. That should be interesting and hopefully a good show. Scriptless on Friday too.

3. General Court Jestery stuff: I'm pretty much expecting not to be hired as a full jester. I don't really see myself as being that good, and even regardless of that, if they're looking for variety in the company they really only need look at Gareth - he's the clear leader in my opinion. I'm not too worried about it - I just want to play as much as possible before I go.

4. Writer's Quest: had the first read through on Sunday. The script is an unusual combination of often really great dialogue with some suspiciously, well, wanky bits. I don't know if that is intentional, to make fun of that kind of writing, or not. But the final speech is tough reading. Very steeped in theatricality.  Although I guess that's the style this play is going for. But then again it does have stretches of really awesome dialogue. Hmm. Anyway, the cast seems really cool, and of course I'm almost definitely the youngest one there (the margins may be slim, but they're there). I'm a bit unsure about the whole "training as a cast" thing - never done that before, but I guess I've just always been in pseudo-intellectual talking heads stuff (apart from Ben Gunn last year).

5. It's cold.

6. I will now listen to uplifting music. Uplifting because I wrote it to be uplifting, dammit.