Next batch of lounge shows, final scenes filmed

It's been an interesting few days, getting to grips with the new show. I've performed, 'Getting Lost In My Hometown' three times as a lounge/work in progress piece over the last week and, whilst I'm happy enough with it, it's clear I've still got a bit to get my head around. The performances were at Michelle's, Inge's and Lee's - the latter two were in front of audiences pretty much of complete strangers. The performance at Michelle's felt good, eventually - I was very comfortable, if a touch rusty, in front of such lovely people. It worked at Inge's and Lee's and the performances were very similar; by the end of both performances everybody I spoke to had nothing to say but positive things about it, there was plenty of laughter - in theory this should be a case of 'job done.' But the opening of the show feels like a problem still; it takes about 10 minutes for things to settle (although tonight I got an unexpected early laugh about me being a generic man because I like "breasts and Pro Evo"). Yet, on paper, I'm really fond of the material and I think the start is snappy enough, so it must be my performance that's the problem here...and it is; it's a composure thing. I appreciate there's a certain element of the audience needing to get used to me, they have no idea what to expect, but it's kind of my duty onstage to make them feel comfortable a bit quicker. Of course a key factor in all of this is that lounge shows are, as a concept, challenging...it's weird, for the audience, for the performer. It's thrilling when it works, it's a unique thrill but I look forward to them all with both equal excitement and dread. The biggest bonus is that these shows will be a lot trickier than anything I'll face on the tour or at the fringe, so I'll be heading into those in good form I reckon.

Also this weekend I played with Fred's House in Hemel Hempstead - I'll confess to not being fond of Hemel (understatement), but the venue was a brilliant theatre where the likes of Eddie Izzard had previously performed. We did well, we're in really good shape at the moment. Got lost on the way home, but we all expected that by now - the M25 junction was closed and I ended up in Enfield. Earlier on Saturday I popped in to London with my old chum Jack to see the outstanding Chris T-T play an afternoon concert at Union Chapel. Chris T-T's new album is brilliant, it was a cracking gig.

This morning, just before a meeting about a show, I was up early to busk some French reggae. This is all of course for the Oscar Pike film, these were the final scenes that needed nailing. Guilliame was back in character, and we were joined by Gaf from Fred's House on bass who really, really enjoyed it (to the extent he even added French backing vocals). The busking felt less intimidating than the open mic slot a few weeks back, people are generally used to seeing oddballs busking and we could do whatever we wanted. We made £2.10 in half an hour, but more importantly; we got some cracking footage. That's the film all done then - just need to nail the editing of it, and then work out what the hell we're going to do with it. I'm quite proud of how it's looking - it's a lo-fi film that doesn't really go anywhere, but it builds into something rather moving and there's a few chuckles along the way.

Anyway, sleep I think, haven't really done that for four days.