I can’t stop thinking about Sean Lock. I didn’t know him all that well, but in the late 90s/early 00s we shared an agent and I was his support act for a few gigs here and there. He taught me two things that have enriched my life. Firstly, I remember seeing him on the last night…
…of the Edinburgh Fringe one year. “Sean! I’ve not seen you out all Festival. Where’ve you been?” “I’m thirty-six, Chris.” He then went on to tell me that he never read any reviews at the festival - his or anyone else’s. “You’re enjoying yourself for the first few days…
…then the reviews start to come in. And even if they’re brilliant you’ll find something in them that annoys you. Then, if you read someone else’s you’re either cross because they don’t like someone you think is good, or angry because they love someone you think’s shit…
…They make you wish ill on your fellow man, and that’s no good. So I never read them.” And after that I never did. I’d tell my venue staff I didn’t want to know when the press were in and my PR knew not to tell me anything till it was all over. The second thing he taught me…
…as we drove somewhere disappointing in my old Renault 19, was the Half An Orange For A Head joke. I laughed for an age. A comedian’s joke. Pure playing with form and expectation. The perfect gag for Sean Lock to tell you on a car journey. I’ve repeated it often since.
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Hi, Twits. I need your help. My daughter (13) is absolutely convinced I was lying to her when I said that every Wednesday is Norfolk Census Bear Day, on which a bear visits every house in Norfolk and eats the citizens who aren’t supposed to be there. (1/2)
It would be tremendously helpful to her, and also to me, if you were to tweet (not as a reply to this) your #NorfolkCensusBearDay experiences to confirm the existence of this ancient and much beloved/feared tradition.
Oh, man. You people are something else. This is excellent, excellent work. Thank-you so much for helping instil in my child an appropriate fear of bears in Norfolk of a Wednesday. #NorfolkCensusBearDay
Hello. I'm going to do a minor thread here for ac-TORs about self-taping for casting. The rest of you may go about your business. Please to understand that the following is meant absolutely as an aid and in the spirit of helping. So. Allons-y...
I've spent the last few years on the other side of the casting table and it's taught me a few things. The first is that no-one's agent EVER teaches them about how they might go about self-taping, which they absolutely should be doing. Drives me NUTS.
In their absence, may I offer the following small nuggets - the advice they should be giving you to give you the best chance: