Killing Bono...

I was gutted to find out this offbeat comedy wasn't a documentary, but in keeping with the spirit of the title I've come up with my own versions of similar films I'd like to see made.

So if you're a film-maker then please feel free to borrow a title and get cracking:
Butchering Boyzone
Crucifying Chris De Burgh
Dismembering Phil Collins
Massacring Any X Factor Winner
Smothering Blue

The Sweet Smell Of A Little Bit Of Success (Then Failure)...

The shortlist of eight scripts from the sitcom writing competition I entered has been announced and, despite checking several times, my name was not on it.

This is a bit of a pisser because I thought I'd written something pretty good when I submitted the next two episodes. But the judges obviously thought not.

Fortunately I have faith in the scripts I submitted and I'll hang onto them and tinker with them and maybe submit them for something else in the future. I've written enough rubbish and watched enough bad stuff to know when I've written something that is strong on format and good on gags. The time for this show will come...

In the meantime I went to training last night, which was good, then had a few pints with my fellow hapkido students, the Other Woman and surprise guest the Missus, which was lovely, and suddenly the disappointment wasn't quite so awful.

Then this morning two ideas I've been playing around with suddenly crystalised in my head and I couldn't get to the keyboard fast enough. And the Boy's home from uni and seeing him always makes me happy. And there's also the play about cartography to finish.

I'm lucky. I remain too ambitious and have too much good stuff going on to stay down for too long...

Black Belt Grading: Part IX...

It was part two of my black belt grading this weekend and the head of my hapkido academy was in London for the weekend and he shared the following story. It's a good story and it deserves repeating so I've stolen it verbatim from my instructor's website:

An old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside each of us. The battle is between two 'wolves'.

The black wolf is evil. It has anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The white wolf is good. It has joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied:
'The one you feed.'

Other Woman News...

The Other Woman has been on a press beano to LA to interview the cast involved in a remake of Teen Wolf for the Twilight generation.

So she's doing the usual round of face-to-face chats with the cast when on her last interview she starts to flag as she is interviewing one of the teen beauties involved in the film. Struggling to fill her allotted interview time she goes off-piste and starts discussing other actresses the actress in question admires until the interviewee mentions Meryl Streep and goes on at some length how she admires her work.

Cue the Other Woman to ask the best interview question I have ever heard:
'So how do you think Meryl Streep would react if she was attacked by a werewolf?'
Even better the actress in question gave a full and frank answer.

The Other Woman is quite possibly a comedy genius.

Rebranding Telly: Part I...

I've decided some telly shows need a title rebrand to more faithfully express their content and the people involved. So here are some I've decided on so far:

Cash in the Attic = Please Let me on TV I'll Do Anything
EastEnders = Shit Shouty Cockney Telly Land
Jamie's Dream School = Should Stick to Cooking, Geezer
Loose Women = Mad and Menopausal
Midsomer Murders = No Blacks, Please, We're an English Rural Idyll
The Model Agency = Nothing of Importance and Populated by Cunts

More will be added at a later date...

Sarah Millican...

If there's one thing I can do to satisfy the Missus, one thing that never fails, one thing that always lasts a long time and invariably brings a look of satisfaction to her face... it's buy good presents.

And that's quite handy because I am not very good at sex.

One of the things I bought her for her birthday last September were tickets to see Sarah Millican and the date finally arrived and we headed to the Bloomsbury Theatre to see Millican's stand-up show.

For those not in the know, Millican is a thirtysomething divorcee from South Shields with a good line in self-deprecation about her weight and dress size. That's funny enough but it's the material she does on her current relationship and her ascent from Job Centre worker to full-time stand-up comic that really steals the show. She's also quite filthy but even when she delivers a punchline about using her vagina to make potato prints so she can show its shape to a friend it somehow seems cheeky rather than smutty.

That has a lot to do with her non-threatening, friendly and slightly vulnerable on-stage persona and the fact she builds a genuine rapport with her audience right from the start.

Millican's well on her way to comedy stardom now with a Radio 4 series and countless TV and radio guest spots under her belt. But if you want the real thing go see her live. You can't help but warm to her and love her. Even when she's utterly filthy.

Me and the Missus have also taken one of her gems of advice onboard and turned it into a new rule: your belly should never be bigger than your breasts.