Today saw my second Edinburgh show and my last preview.
I actually felt far better about today's performance compared to yesterday's, which was ironic in a way, as we went up late due to a waiting for five audience members who'd rushed to the door of the venue, thinking they could buy tickets there, to be redirected to the box office only to never come back; I have that effect on would-be punters. This late start meant I had to consciously pace things up and cut the odd line here and there to finish on time, which actually made the whole thing feel more cohesive; on this basis, I'm going to start tomorrow's show next Wednesday.
Amongst today's bijou audience was the technician from Glyn's and my first Edinburgh show The Balloon Debate, with his girlfriend, who we last saw in either 2010 or 2011, when we were up here with Mostly Comedy (and possibly our Meadow Bar show Big in Small Places; it's hard to remember which, as each year rolls into one).
As soon as I saw them in the audience, I relaxed. They're such nice, supportive people that I knew they'd be on-side, which made the show a lot more fun. I'm really liking working in the space, which makes the show feel like a conversation (with the only catch being that one of the people talking has a mic).
I got so engrossed in catching up with the two of them after the show that I forgot I was supposed to be rushing back to my flat to do a radio interview for the Herts, Beds and Bucks station Bob FM about my Edinburgh exploits, with the prerecord booked for 1.45pm. Thankfully, the station forgave my tardiness (not to be confused with my TARDIS), and we did it a little later on.
The rest of the afternoon was spent completing two Q&A interviews about the show in Costa Coffee, then wandering around a few of Doggett & Ephgrave's old Edinburgh haunts, having not had the time to really take in the fact that I'm up at the festival until this point. I walked to Bristo Square (being instantly confused by the lack of Udderbelly), before slipping past the Gilded Balloon toward the Assembly spaces (feeling sad after a flashback of watching Paul Daniels there), then walking onto Nicholson Street and past The Counting House where we did Mostly Comedy for two years with progressively later start times; the second year we kicked off at 00:15, which was long wait to do a show to a largely pissed audience; you make these mistakes so you never have to make them again.
This evening, I haven't done much. I didn't really feel like it. You've got to be in the mood to go out and you don't always want to do this on your own. I also want my show's early start in mind and make sure I don't muck things up due to overtiredness; it's the reason I'm here and I don't want to waste it. Consequently, I'll only take the one dose of Ketamin tonight; I mustn't overdo it.