Stories, Rhymes and Brain fallout.

Good news! I’ve actually found a benefit of getting older, ok it’s just the one at the moment, but it is a big one.  The body creaks and aches and pains are always a reminder of the passing of time (and fitness), but between the ears hidden deep away there is this great little benefit called memory and experience. This week the horrific terrorist attacks in Brussels brought the usual response  as society tried to come to terms with the madness of the few. Political rhetoric of ‘clamp downs’ and ‘determination’ and ‘unity’ and all the other things we expect to be spoken at such moments of grief and anxiety.  Images of human pain and despair mixed with acts of courage,compassion and real unity.  One thing stuck with me, and that was the feeling that ‘I’ve seen and felt this all before’ not exactly the same, but very similar moments and feelings of despair and anger and solidarity all mixed together and racing through my brain.  I heard one politician sa...

This last week I've done gigs in a (ex) Convent (and that on a Sunday morning) , in a ex pat club in Budapest and yesterday in the old mine district of Beringen (Belgium) in a Theatre, tonight I take my show to a Cultural Centre on the edge of Brussels, Halle. Stand-up Comedy at home everywhere there is a stage a microphone and an audience that are willing to open their minds and listen. Personally I prefer the intimate clubs and places where the audience almost sits on stage with you. People who just watch Stand-up on TV seem to think it's all about the Michael McIntyres of this world in huge arenas or Theatres, if that's your thing ,do it, but real -gutsy, rock n roll stand-up will always be the small venues, with affordable tickets and exciting new talent. In huge arenas you get a certain percentage of the audience who are there because it's a huge 'event' and some of them are not stand-up comedy 'regulars' - this week the hype is a comedian next ...

The irony of the bussiness  I'm in (comedy) is that a lot of the time the audience goes home happier than the artist. The adrenaline rush of the gig usually wears off a couple of hours after the show and doubt and self-hate sets in soon after that. Usually the truth is that a show is usually never as good as you think it was and never as bad as you think. There is something magic about being on stage and hearing people laugh at something you say, whether  for 10 people or a 1000 people the kick is there, and very very addictive, but like every drug it gets harder and harder to reproduce the first 'kick', you get used to it and the search for the 'high' becomes more and more difficult. I can remember being almost physically sick before a gig in the early years whereas now it takes 'effort' to produce the tension needed to create the 'edginess' on stage. Performing comedy on stage is an addictive drug, and like all addictions it's a love/hate ...

After last weeks comedy tour - 3 countries ,Five Days ,four towns - it’s time to take a rest, and you don’t need to be religious to consider Sunday as a good day to do that. We all need a ‘home’ even if it’s not your birthplace, a ‘home’ it’s somewhere where you are safe and able to be yourself, so today I’m a ‘sloth’ in tracksuit slippers and unwashed. Listening to some great music on BBC Radio 6 (THE radio station for all good music btw- thanks internet) . Thinking of how good it feels to be home with all my stuff and loved ones around me I can’t imagine how it must be for the majority of refugees who had to leave it all behind in a war zone because of some religious nut jobs and foreign interference, poor them. Everywhere we were on our tour ‘The Rufugees’ were a main talking point, the few religious or/and macho men among the refugees who are causing a backlash against all migrants. The biggest fear seems to be the increasing influence of Islam as a repressive religion, people...

Helsinki to the airport, 2,70 eur on the train (for a twenty minute trip) not bad, fast clean and efficient. Helsinki airport has the advantage of being small, although there's a Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 they are only about three steps apart. Security and check in all friendly and fast, no complaints. I still hate security though, especially when traveling alone, my prosthetic joints set of all the alarms and the guys at security see that as an opportunity to test their techniques, I even got swabbed for drugs this morning, I consider that a compliment (they think I'm rock n roll). No drugs on me except nose spray for my cold which is threatening to drown me in snot. Security is a drag when you wear this much clothes, coat, belt,shoes, hoodie ,gloves, then another bin with laptop ,phone and camera . It's just all the hassle of getting all that shit back together with people behind me impatient to start waiting. Now we wait for our flight to Riga and then Riga -Brussels, ...

Yesterday I was really looking forward to our gig in Tallin, Louis Zezeran is a great organiser and always gets the crowds out. It was a full house again(!) and although my nose was blocked and my head feels like a snot factory I felt good and 'comedy hyped'. The first half went well with Stewart Johnson starting then two local comedians who really rocked. Then the second half, I saw and heard a 'warning light' when the young Estonian Comedian had to tell some people to shut up during her set. After Louis' set it was on me as headliner, the first 15 min went well and the crowd were up for it, then this girl (sort of attention seeking selfie bitch) just started loudly talking, not heckling, just talking to her boyfriend who was really embarrassed by her 'look at me' attitude. I told her a few times to shut the fuck up, made some jokes about it, advised her boyfriend to stay single etc etc -- the traditional way that usually works, but this girl would just...