A Tale of Two Podcasts.

My ongoing mission to tie up loose ends saw me recently edit the final episode of More Than Mostly Comedy (recorded at the last Hitchin Mostly Comedy on 9th December 2021) and my share of the edit of our most recent instalment of The McCartney McAlphabet. Both are available wherever you pick up your podcasts (you lucky thing, you).

I'm now in the unusual position of all my editing being up to date, which is a rare treat. In the case of More Than Mostly Comedy, I purposely saved it until I felt ready to look at it and for a time when the stresses of the Fringe had passed. I knew it would be bittersweet because of the circumstances. Unsurprisingly, I didn't want to spend much time wallowing in the last remaining link to something that had been so central to my life for fourteen years. The thought of being confronted by audio from a show that wasn't supposed to be our last was daunting. Both my partnership with Glyn and Mostly Comedy were things I'd fiercely protected, and however difficult it had been to keep the club open post-pandemic, I didn't want to step in the shoes of the version of me who was still fighting for it. The prospect was sad, plus it irrationally felt a bit pointless to edit another episode now it was over, particularly with another solo Edinburgh on the horizon, which, at that point, added to my gloom.

However, it was nice to hear that the concept of doing the podcast live worked, and the reaction was good. We'd strengthened our interviewing chops doing all those Zoom recordings during lockdown, and it felt good to do it in front of an audience. And when your guests are as interesting as Simon Day and Norman Lovett, the outcome's bound to be entertaining. Plus, the fact we hadn't interviewed Simon before gave me more impetus to complete it.

The unfinished episode of The McCartney McAlphabet thankfully came with no baggage, aside from my frustration that it had been in the can for so long. I'm pleased with it and look forward to doing more, with the bonus that I have fewer things in my way now to slow the edit.

That's not to say I'm not feeling tense about work right now. In fact, I'm very worried about it. Losing Mostly Comedy doesn't help, both for the sense of continual motion it gave and the slight income. I was toying with the idea of putting in a one-off show for Christmas, but the escalating cost-of-living crisis and the uncertainty caused by the Governmental damage to the economy these past few weeks put paid to that. There are currently far too many obstacles to make even the odd date worthwhile or viable, so I'm not going to do it. In some ways, that's for the best, as it always takes over the time I could devote to something else. The stagnation running the club has caused the rest of my career is self-evident, and I'm trying to redress this, albeit slowly. I have to make sure whatever I'm doing fits my current circumstances, which is proving difficult. I look forward to whenever that next project presents itself; I just hope it's not porn.

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