I got back from this year’s Arts Marketing Association conference feeling quite pleased with myself – this is unusual – usually I return with feelings of inadequacy or guilt, and/or the feeling that tweeting at post 11pm, half-cut on cheap white wine “My Harsh Opinions About Everything People Are Doing Wrong” wasn’t, after all, such […]
I’ve not written a proper “bloggy” post, I realised earlier today, for quite a while. I’ve tended to focus on things with actual purpose or focus, you know things like “my thoughts on marketing” or the classic “please come and see my show on Wednesday at 7pm at 81 Renshaw Street in Liverpool“. I thought […]
Regular, loyal readers will know that every year I write 10 New Year’s Resolutions, then, at the end of the year, mark whether I’ve achieved these resolutions and make 10 more. It’s been my version of motivation all-bran – keeping me doing things productive in a world where I own a PS4 and Fifa 17 […]
I have been given two pieces of rock solid theatrical advice in the past 15 years and both I’ve used when directing shows. The first was from a now-acclaimed performer and creative who said the key to any show was to “get in quick, say what you have to say concisely and get out quick”. […]
So today was the big day, the first work-in-progress performance of the show I’ve been working on for the last 4 months at the lovely Lantern Theatre. I was feeling pretty nervous about it in the preceding week. Firstly the show was only really finished on Friday and I was aware that the ending and […]
It’s just turned midnight as I start to write this post – I can’t sleep you see – not for the usual reasons which are largely combinations of late night coffee, excessive bourbon eating, Fifa 14 and Netflix – no, tonight it’s just shitting hot and getting into bed is incredibly sweaty and sticky. That […]
***some ramblings *** I’ve hit somewhat of a roadblock of late in my quest to be universally loved as a comedian and merchant of mirth. (Come on now, you have to admire that as a sentence right? It’s fuckin horrendously crap, anyway, back to roadblocks). I say “of late” quite loosely as, realistically, it’s been […]
I’ve been gradually working my way through Netflix to find the best programmes available. It’s an eclectic mix of comedy, drama and whimsy which I hope you enjoy. Safety Not Guaranteed We live in an inherently cynical world. Magic, fairies, time travel, crazy ideas and perhaps even surprised wonder seem increasingly suppressed. This beautiful film […]
I’ve come under a bit of criticism in our household recently for my alleged addiction to “that game”. The game in question is, of course, Football Manager 15, which, arguably is less a game and more a life calling or perhaps religion. I have to admit I was getting quite irritated by the previous version […]
I’m not a big fan of the whole New Year’s celebration and, in particular the resolutions that accompany them. After all it is a somewhat arbitrary date from which to enact change. I’m a particular fan of smokers who decide to quit in the New Year. This is usually in November, they’ll walk up, tell […]
So Sam, how was the gig tonight? Well, to be honest both strange and good. Strange and good? Come on, don’t be coy, tell all. Okay, so I did the storytelling set tonight. The one that’s artistically very clever but ultimately a bit of a lazy cop out?
Sometimes you do a gig, a gig you expected to be amazing, a gig you thought would lift you on to a higher emotion, artistic and comedic level, where you prepared new material that was crafted, analysed, road tested and developed to near perfection, and then you perform it to an audience who you think […]
It’s 10 past midnight and I can’t sleep. This I suspect may be for one of two reasons. The first is that I woke up at midday today and as a consequence my body thinks that it’s 9pm, the second is that it is from the adrenaline of doing my fifty third (I think) gig.
“Who am I?” I’ve had a few conversations with both new comedians and theatre companies recently about marketing themselves to increase bookings and profile.
It’s inevitable over the course of doing something that you will have moments of great highs, moments of great lows and long periods of bumbling around in the middle desperate to achieve the former and avoid the latter.
When I was around gigs 5 – 15 I went through a stage of recording how each gig had progressed – inspired by the brilliant Ste Price. I lost touch a bit and became a little more infrequent, mostly because I felt for a while I plateaued at a certain level – enough to be […]
Just a quick post tonight after I reached two milestones in my comedy career. Firstly I just did my first charity gig. To be honest I’d heard a lot about charity gigs being often the worst and hardest gigs to do and approached this one (Help the Heroes) with a degree of trepidation.
This is an article written for York Theatre Royal’s blog for Floating but I thought I’d share it on here too… Whenever I speak to people about Floating there are always two questions they ask. The first is a fascination about where the idea to write the play came from, how it was inspired, what planted the seed […]