April Chat

Free stuff, cheap stuff, more free stuff.

Anyone else getting a twitchy bumhole about the elections? Honestly, my anus is going like a rabbit’s nose - a nice Spring image for you.

In Wales we are electing members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) and it’s neck and neck between Plaid and Reform. Most of my adult life I’ve felt totally let down by election results so I’m very worried, hence the bunny bum.

I’m also feeling a bit lost about what to do, my instinct is always to try and fix things (wobbly drawers, clasps on jewellery, problematic men in my twenties) but at the same time what can any one person do? You try and have the chats one on one and live by your moral compass but - sorry to sound like the most boring man at a house party - you’re up against rather a large network of billionaire owned corporations and systems. It makes you want to give up. I find my head spiralling down in this direction frequently if I’m honest but the only thing that can jolt me out of it is starting small and trying to change wee things where I can. Long story short I messaged Deborah Frances White of the Guilty Feminist podcast, called in some favours from comedians, icons and musicians I know and now we’re doing a huge show in Cardiff this Sunday.

I’ve tapped up the skills of the true Queen of Wales, Carol Vorderman. What a woman she is and I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about Reform… We’ve got Priya Hall being hilarious and some other belting performances lined up. We put this show together with very little time and hundreds of folk are coming along which I think is a good sign? Come along this Sunday if you want a fascinating, uplifting night that I’m crossing my fingers will give us all a bit of hope because I think without it we have no chance.

Free stuff you say?

Speaking of hope, I’m delighted that the panel show I host for Radio 4, Best Medicine, will be back! Working on Best Medicine really is the best medicine, I end up meeting so many clever people who are changing the world and it absolutely fills my cup. The recordings are a blast too. If you haven’t listened to the show before the first few series are in most places you listen to podcasts, I’ll link here.

Much to my chagrin the live shows are all being recorded in London - I promise I asked for elsewhere - if you’re in the area and want to be in the audience of the record I have popped a link below to some free tickets. If you can’t make it, worry not the series will be out later this year.

All Killa no Filla is coming to the Fringe for one night.

Against all my better judgement I’ll be popping up to the Edinburgh fringe for an All Killa no Filla show on August 25th. If you’ve been reading my nonsense for a while you’ll know I have as tense a relationship with the fringe as I do with the actual fringes I’ve cut into my own hair. Both negatively effect my appearance and bring out the worst in me and yet I persist.

We haven’t taken AKNF up for a few years and I’m really excited to be back and in THE best big venue, The Pleasance Grand. I’m hoping all the lovely memories I have from performing there and seeing great stuff in that room will make up for the long drive / one million pounds I will spend on the train up.

Free tickets in Cardiff.

What Just Happened, the topical comedy panel show I’m a team captain on is back! As I said, it’s the run up to the Senedd elections which I’m sure, editorially, will be an absolute walk in the park… Every week there will be a different line up but I’ll be there with Robin on every show. Also, I lost the shirt I’m wearing in the press shot below and I’m forever gutted, I got it free at a Swap don’t Shop too so that feels extra painful.

If you’d like to be in the audience for the recordings they’re all taking part in Cardiff every Wednesday. If you want to be in one of those audiences and see what we weren’t allowed to include in the show then book a free ticket below. Yep free, you just have to laugh indiscriminately at my jokes which is actually a very high price to pay.

Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

If you haven’t been to this comedy festival it’s like Glastonbury for people who are obsessed with James Acaster. The beautiful mid-Wales town of Machynlleth becomes home to thousands of comedy nerds, the smallest fraction of which will be performing there. It’s a very nourishing weekend and I really missed it last year while I galavanted around Australia. I’m making up for it this time with, at present, nine shows over three days. It’s a real smorgasbord of stuff but the weirdest has got to be the show Tarot and I are doing, Mach for Good. Yep, we’re becoming Take That for one night only complete with live band. We’re inviting some of our favourite pals to sing their very own tribute to the Fab Five (then four, then three) and it’s going to be daft. We haven’t publicly announced the line up yet but as a teaser I will tell you we have a great line up including Spencer Jones, a super group of female comics and a cameo from comedy royalty.

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Recommendations

Here’s a little list of things I’ve enjoyed recently. I’m not being paid for any of this but if anyone wants to throw me money to lie about products it’s really the only reason I did ten years on the comedy circuit, I just wanted a life of plugging dog treats and sex toys. For the absence of doubt “plugging dog treats” are not themselves a sex toy.

To stay -

By The Wye.

I’m writing this in the dreamy smog of having just returned from a wee holiday in Wales. You may or may not know that I’m very lucky to co-host a podcast called Pod of Wales. Esyllt Sears and I go on holiday all around Wales and make a podcast about it, it’s really great. Visit Wales help us decide where to go and we’ve visited, eaten and slept in some absolute corkers. There’s only one place I booked to stay in again before I’d even left and it’s where I’ve just come back from. It’s called By the Wye and Dawn and Steve who run it with their son Dan are the most charismatic, passionate and practical people I’ve ever met. They’re amazing hosts and there’s something very special about nodding off in a cosy tent with both a woodburner and river roaring away and then waking up to the sound of a woodpecker in the trees above.

I also booked for my Brother and his family and my niece had a phenomenal time running free in the woods and inspecting all the fairy houses when she wasn’t busy playing the wooden drum kit.

To eat -

Harry’s Nut Butter

You had me at Nut Butter but then you kept me at the jar of paprika peanut butter I waded through in about a week. I can’t remember where I first got this - I think it was the farm shop at the Hawarden Estate - but I take my peanut butter very seriously and this is now my favourite. I bought a kilo tub of it and another of the pumpkin seed flavoured one too, they are both exceptional. Did I also order one of every flavour of the truffles too? Who can say because ultimately there are no truffles left now so I guess we’ll never know.

To follow -

Ed Easton

You may or may not know I’m an offstage member of a sketch group called Tarot. This is made up of the kindest and funniest people I know, one of whom is Ed Easton. He’s been writing the Lion’s share of the sketches for years in Tarot and he’s such a brilliantly funny performer. Tarot is on a sort of live performance hiatus as we’re being swallowed up by a BIG PROJECT which probably won’t go anywhere... Anyway all this means Ed has had a his usual level of funny but nowhere to put it so he’s started doing more funny stuff on Instagram and it’s so brilliant. He’s just gone viral with a bonkers, existential song about his septic tank and if you like silly, dark, funny stuff then I’d recommend following him.