Comedy in Your Eye

Tonight, headed to Comedy in your Eye, at the Camden Eye. Tickets from Design my Night, including a free drink.

So, I headed off - it's a short bus ride, and I intended to eat there. For some reason, Google Maps on my phone showed a really confusing route, also confusing me about where the stop is - not the first time that's happened. Not to mention confusion about where I'd be getting off - never mind, I figured it out. Unfortunately, I took one look around the pub and walked out again! It's tiny, it was packed. Wanting somewhere half decent to eat, I lighted on Brewdog - I remember it being very good in Stockholm, but hadn't been back since.

Well, they had plenty of seats, mercifully - they have a limited menu, so it didn't take me long to order. It was going to be a burger - with fries - and I saw one description that particularly attracted me. The glaze on the chicken included honey - I was there. Ah yes - but it also included hot sauce.. Let me testify that their description is accurate. This is, indeed, hot sauce. I managed it.. mind you, they stuffed so much chicken into the burger that I had to demolish it and eat it with a knife and fork - I'd never have got my mouth around it. To clarify, it was actually tasty - just HOT! The chicken, when I noticed it around the hotness, was succulent. With time to spare, I was going to have dessert - and it was going to be ice cream (they had chocolate or strawberry). Bless, he also asked whether I'd like a glass of water - no thanks, I'd recovered by now. And the ice cream, I have to say, was divine! Next time though, I'll see whether they have sauvignon blanc - the pinot grigio is insipid.

And so, back to the pub - where the clientele was sozzled, and the sauvignon blanc is very tasty. No indication of getting anything free, though. I moseyed in a little early, got a seat near the back - make sure to arrive early to this, it was packed! Standing room is, however, reserved for performers. A guy came around stamping wrists of people who had tickets:

So, there's a big eye to the side of the stage - I think it's supposed to change colour when certain subjects come up. But it wasn't working tonight.

I really have to stop coming to these. They always take the same format - at least the performance space here is less grotty than most. The MC was bland, the first three acts - frankly, pathetic. I might have counted one good joke among them (running might increase your respiratory capacity, but it decreases your ability to use it to say anything interesting). The fourth guy (Ibrahim - something - known as Ibs) showed potential. And then we came to the interval, and I legged it. In my defence, my back had been troubling me all day, and there was no back support - these were all benches, and I was uncomfortable. And this was all looking familiar. I bet the second set was better - but I was glad not to be there to see it.

On the way home, I passed the Co-Op - didn't really need anything urgently, but thought I might pop in. Except - they were closing! At 9.05..? I bet the tills were playing up again. Anyway, nice to be in, on another rainy night.

Tomorrow - my first Crick Crack Club (CCC) event of the year! Online, but never mind - it's Nick Hennessy, at the Story Museum, performing The Kalevala. I think I remember hearing that he's the only non-Finnish person ever to win their competition to recite this! So, really looking forward to it.

Of course, I got confirmation today that it'll be recorded, and available for a week afterwards. So, you know, I can do something else if I feel like it! So I checked.. and wouldn't you know it, there's loads on. In particular, Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) has two events. I looked first at Arms and the Man, showing at the Orange Tree - but it was sold out. However, they are broadcasting next week's performances.. so I've booked for one of those. Can be watched, on demand, any time next week. (And can be got cheaper than a physical ticket).

Which still left me free to check out the group's other offering - so now I'm off to The Wife of Willesden, at The Kiln. Which looks like fun!

Then, of course, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.. film is looking like A Man Called Otto, which suits just fine! Based on the Swedish comedy, A Man Called Ove, it stars Tom Hanks as an old grump whose wife has just died, but who meets his match in the fiesty young family that moves in next door. And, interestingly, its IMDB rating just keeps rising.. Showing in Ennis, handily.

On Monday, back with UITCS for The Art of Illusion, at Hampstead Theatre. Award-winning, it seems..

On Tuesday, I'm headed to Chicago Blues Explosion in the January Blues Festival at the 100 Club. Just a shame their early bird tickets were sold out.

Next Wednesday, with TAC for a classical concert at King's Place (nice and close). This is the Kirckman Society for young artists, presenting Connaught Brass.

On the 19th, Ken's Green Walks for Health (aka Ken's Events, to those of us who know it from before) is off to see the Winter Lights at Canary Wharf. Now, I wouldn't go with them in a fit - but there's nothing to stop me seeing the lights myself for free, eh? I don't see the point in paying Ken £5 to lead a group around..

On the 20th (a Friday, unusually), back with Watkin's Bookshop for a book launch. This is Fifty Forgotten Books by R. B. Russell. Occult theme, as usual. Let's see whether I can avoid falling asleep this time!

On the 21st, back at King's Place - this time it's the CCC, with Stories in the Dark. Told in darkness, by the sound of it - sounds divine!

On the 22nd, back with Cultureseekers for the Hieroglyphs: Unlocking Ancient Egypt exhibition at the British Museum. Assuming it's not curtailed due to transport strikes - there is a warning on the museum website that galleries might have to close early!

On the 23rd, I've finally booked for Best of Enemies at the Noel Coward Theatre. This play concerns a series of debates on US television between liberal writer Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley in 1968 - the interesting twist here, given the time and place we're talking about, is to cast William Buckley as black! Had my own seat review on Seatplan to guide me in picking a seat - this is one of those restricted view/legroom theatres. And despite all the theatre offers flooding my inbox, I found the cheapest tickets for this on the official website! Mind you, what with See Tickets doing the selling, I found myself with a second, unexplained, booking fee..

For the next week or so, it's all UITCS! On the 24th, for some reason, I hadn't seen their advertised event to see Orlando, based on the book by Virginia Woolf, and showing at the Garrick. For this, however, I found the cheapest tickets from Official London Theatre (OLT).

On the 25th, we're off to see John Bishop at the Leicester Square Theatre. Love him, so I booked as soon as I saw this advertised - one of the few things for this month that I booked last month! Not that it seems to be selling out..

On the 26th, we're off to The Vaults Festival - specifically, The Welsh Lxdies, a bilingual show about the women of Wales. Then back to Ireland for the weekend again.

On the 30th, we're heading to Noises Off, starring Felicity Kendal, at the Phoenix. Again, cheapest tickets from OLT.

On the 31st, with a group I haven't joined in a Very Long Time - I'm back with London Dramatic Art, from whom I've got a front-row ticket for Sylvia, at The Old Vic; this is the story of Sylvia Pankhurst, and stars the excellent Beverley Knight. Completely sold out - this was my only way to get a ticket!

On the 1st, back with the Horror Book Club - Lordy, that means I need to read a book! :-) I suppose I can use my flights for that. This time, it's The Ballad of Black Tom, based on the Lovecraft story, The Horror at Red Hook, but told from the perspective of a black man. Which means I should really read that, too.. Nice, I'd like to get back to some Lovecraft! In the Prince of Wales, Covent Garden again. Question is, will the kitchen be open..?

On the 2nd, I'm on my own for My Son's a Queer (but what can you do?), a musical at the Ambassadors Theatre.

On the 3rd, my first meeting of the year with London Classical Music and Theatre Group! We're off to Wigmore Hall, to listen to the Hagen Quartet play Mozart. They're Austrian, so that's appropriate.. I just need to remember not to drink the ultra-expensive sauvignon blanc!

On the 4th, well, Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners are back to Greenwich again. Now, I have been there with him before.. not sure how "new" this one will be, but hey, it was a great day last time!

On the 5th, nothing on Meetup appeals massively at the moment - I might go for a walk along the Ken's Events route, if I feel like it! (on my own). Or Over 40 Living the Life has just advertised a walk along the New River.. I'll have to see, as I have to pay to sign up (refunds given to those who then come). And I might well change my mind..

On the 6th, my first actual event with that group. We're off to How Not to Drown at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East - the first event of theirs for which I couldn't get a cheaper ticket! So I decided, if I couldn't beat them, I might as well join them. True story of an unaccompanied, 11-year-old asylum seeker.

On the 7th, excited to be headed to see Derren Brown in Showman, at the Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue. Cheapest tickets with OLT again.

On the 8th, off to The Lehman Trilogy, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Based on the true story of the bank that collapsed. Got the last £39.50 ticket!

On the 9th, back with UITCS for Winner's Curse, at the Park Theatre - an interactive show about a peace negotiation. And then I'm back to Ireland again.

And on the 13th of next month, I'm headed to Allegiance, starring George Takei in a musical based on the true story of his time in an American internment camp during the Second World War. Showing at the Charing Cross Theatre.