Oscar Pike - show 3

It's probably too late for me to be writing this as I'm feeling very rough and should be sleeping, but it's nice to get things off my chest sometimes. Tonight we were at the ADC Bar for the first of two nights of 'Is It Too Late To Save Oscar Pike?'. The more I think about it, the more I'm proud of this show - it's probably the best thing I've written, but the production itself exceeds that, I've said it before and I'll say it again - Michelle Golder (director) is a genius, she didn't do anything different tonight but the quality of production shines through in a different venue sometimes and the way in which she has produced my rambling little script is a marvel, in a different space yet it still works a treat. Okay, let's be honest - I wasn't all that tonight, I felt very rough last night and never really shook off my bad throat and occasional sense of dizziness, and going into the show I was far from at my best. My own performance was a little slow, some of my comic timing wasn't there at all, this was below-par Paul Richards. But compared to what? The second show at CB2. Which was probably the best we've done it so far. Thing is though, and this probably sounds arrogant now, our bar has been raised over the last few weeks, so even tonight when I wasn't the sharpest we really got away with it. I say 'we' - me, I mean, the rest of the team are consistently outstanding, in fact there are times when they drag me along a little and keep the show going. By the end of tonight's performance I was back in the zone, I just took a bit of time to get there. As a whole though it was still really strong, no major cock-ups, it was nearly a sell-out which considering sales weren't all that good beforehand was a real bonus, and the added bonus of having Fred's House play live at the end made it all feel like a proper good show, a good night out. The team moral also seems really good, lots of high-fives in the pub afterwards, lots of banter, we're becoming a nice little unit. The audience themselves seemed to really enjoy it, so I should probably stop being so negative about my own performance. It's just...well, this is the best thing I've written, this is the best production of any of my work, and deep down, perhaps very deep down, I've always felt there was a performer in me. This goes back to the days when I used to watch my Paul Merton Live At The Palladium video as a child...I can do this, and this is such a good opportunity, good material, outstanding production team, good audiences, but I'm still not quite hitting it just yet. Tomorrow it's the last date before a long break and then Edinburgh Fringe in August. I'd like to do more with this show but realistically we probably can't - everyone is so busy, and I just don't think working with anybody else on this apart from this team would work, so I must enjoy this one while I can. Suddenly tomorrow night at the ADC feels like a big one to me, to realise that potential. We've been close, but tomorrow night we'll fucking storm it.