Aftermath
Reclaiming my social life, upsetting landlords on Twitter and taking a break
My previous post has had twice as many views as I typically get on here. Either everyone was invested in hearing about my joyful debut hour or they wanted the juice on what went wrong at the King’s. I think we all know which it was (lol) and that’s fine. Feast away. We are all vultures. Did you hear about Sylvia’s divorce?
I’ve actually had quite a few messages regarding the latter, saying I’m being too hard on myself etc. And even some comments from the minority of audience members who were there and enjoyed it/got it. I appreciate your concerns, and the solidarity from other performers. But I’m also happy to own my mistake, like a battle wound. At the end of the day, it was a 5-minute blip among what was an incredible festival experience, and I’m proud of the show I made. I’ll stop banging on it about it now.
I was going to keep my Glasgow International Comedy Festival sketches close to my chest, in case I do the show again. But given what’s happened this week, I couldn’t resist putting out my Landlords’ Charity Appeal, which has already pissed off a few people on Twitter. Won’t somebody think of the portfolio landlords?!
A friend (in a low-income, working family), upon receiving news of their eviction was asked by the estate agent to sympathise “with the position landlords are in”. People are so quick to forget that owning a home (or multiple homes, rather!) is a privilege. Which is why the victim narrative that certain landlords attempt to weave is so laughable. Where is the self-awareness? People are struggling to eat, heat and keep their homes. It’s baffling.
Of course we need a rental sector, I rented for years. We do, ultimately, need landlords. But here’s the thing: you don’t need to be a cunt about it.
I’m freee (to do what I want to do)
I’ve been making the most of my newly free weekends and evenings. On Thursday I went to “MusARC”, an evening of music and chat organised by Gill Higgins (AKA Curlew). We were treated to synths, loop pedals, endangered Ghanian instruments and acoustic punk. Monica Queen closed it off with “Te recuerdo Amanda” (her new single with The Tenementals). You could have heard a pin drop. Or (more likely) the Thai curry in my belly digesting. The first time I saw Monica was her sunshine-addled performance at the free Belle and Sebastian gig for the West end festival in 2006. Free music in a public park feels like an impossible fantasy these days. You’ve got to splurge upwards of £50 to catch anything at Kelvingrove band stand. We were so lucky.
On Saturday I had an excellent day out in Edinburgh to see “This is Memorial Device”. Paul Higgins was brilliant, it wasn’t until afterwards that I realised where I’d seen him before. This was pointed out to me by Johnny Rodger, who we’d bumped into (apparently it’s impossible to be anonymous in Edinburgh). We also bumped into Ròs (of “Year of the Coat” fame). She wasn’t wearing The Coat, and she had a streaming cold - coincidence?!
Edinburgh was a welcome change of scene. I hate to say it but Glasgow feels like a crumbling ruin at the moment.
(Still, I’d take that over tourist town).
My reemergence into public life continues this week; I’m seeing Sophie Rose-McCabe and others at Fearghas Kelly’s new night “Screen Time” at The Stand on Thursday and my favourite Canadian anti-folk band The Burning Hell (if you haven’t heard their hilarious song about Alexa, you can rectify that here) at the Glad Cafe on Friday.
At some point I should probably make time to do some laundry, I still haven’t washed anything from my shows. DESGUSTIN.
Hiatus
While I’m enjoying filling in my time with Fun Things, at the back of my mind there is the question of what to do next, with “Aileen” and the show. A few people have asked about the Fringe. For those of you who came to Oran Mor, you’ll know how (deliberately) parochial it was. It would take a significant amount of re-writing to make the show relevant to a wider audience. Then there’s the financial expense, the travel, the logistics (live band, tech etc.), the burning through of my remaining annual leave. I know when August rolls around, there will be inevitable FOMO as I see other comedians having the best time. But I also know that having two jobs is exhausting, and I don’t want comedy to feel like a chore.
I’ve got a couple of live gigs this month and next but after that, I think I’m going to take a performing hiatus. Although it’s good fun, sometimes trying to fit into the stand up scene feels a wee bit square-peg-round-hole. I’ve got a couple of daft ideas which I’d like to explore but I need time to hash them out. So I think it’s time to retreat back into my TikTok-shaped hole for a bit.
Outro
Thanks to sales of the “West end mum x Libby Walker” merch, I was able to donate £492 to Medical Aid for Palestinians, so cheers to everyone who bought something! That’s the end of the run - there are just some limited signed prints and paintings left on Libby’s website. And if you’d like a badge, you can grab one from me in-person.
My friend and fellow comic James Gardner has made his debut hour, “Born in a Wheelchair” available to watch for FREE on his YouTube channel. Well worth your time.
That’s all for this week!