I have to quickly post that I saw Billy Connolly tonight at The Hammersmith Odeon and, despite some recent newspaper comments, I have to say I have never laughed so much or so hard. Of course, I can’t actually remember any of the jokes but I will remember this feeling of joy for a very long time. If you get the chance you really should go and see him.

Of course if you want an alternative view read what The Times said this morning, although I imagine nobody else in tonight’s audience would agree:

He has become a frightful bully, willing to address only the converted and noticeably absent when itÂ’s his turn to be on the receiving end. Connolly has become the patron saint of the truly humourless, one who is little more than three years shy of retirement age. Don’t you wish that, like the fanatics of Baghdad, heÂ’d just hurry up and get on with it?

Well, he still made me laugh.

On this day…

2003: CD or not to CD?
2002: Community of UK Webloggers

Earlier tonight we went to see Cybill Shepherd at The Soho Theatre. It’s her so-called Cybill Disobedience tour where she performs jazz, her own songs and tells stories from her life – if you didn’t know, she once dated Elvis. Well, I think I should have learnt my lesson from seeing her last year. This show wasn’t that different but it’s a little like watching a car crash (or at least aliens trying to fix a car at the side of the road). It’s billed as comedy and was amusing (although not laugh out loud funny) but, really, you couldn’t keep yours eyes off her. Was she drunk (no, I suspect that was pretend) but she was certainly a little odd. Stephanie Merrit in last week’s Observer likened it to “the experience of watching your slightly pissed auntie making an exhibition of herself at a wedding” [source] which I think sums it up.

Entertaining but scary. Strange and a little unnerving.

Oh, and the picture is from her remarkable promotional appearance on GMTV sometime last week. She may just be a great promoter but I think she needs to think a little more!

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So I have to take it all back about TV pop stars. Last night I went to The New Wimbledon Theatre to see the touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar. PY bought tickets for my birthday. I had heard the soundtrack as a child but never seen the musical until I was in Norway a couple of years ago when I saw it in Norwegian – which of course made little sense to me but was an amazing staging in an outdoor setting. This one was, thankfully, in English. Fame Academy star James Fox was Judas and he put in a superb performance. He was very impressive with a much more powerful voice than I thought he had the last time I saw him perform his own material.

Glenn Carter was excellent as Jesus (although it seems to have been a role he has played many times) and the rest of the cast were also very good. The only piece I found a little odd was Herod’s Song which was camped up unnecessarily but – overall – an excellent night out and worth going to see. Last night was the first night and it was sold out. I hope the rest of the run is like that as it deserves it.

On this day…

2003: Bush House, London
2002: Tired

PY and I have a knack of seeing musicals in London’s theatreland just before they close. We’re just back from seeing Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Shaftesbury Theatre which we decided to do very last minute.

Amanda Holden is the Kansas girl arriving in New York at the height of the Roaring Twenties and is something of a revelation. She was truly excellent and carried the show. It’s such a shame that it’s closing and she has had some of the blame but I didn’t think it was a killer show.

Although it’s set in the twenties it was written much more recently yet, sadly, it had a somewhat dated feel which Anything Goes (which is older) didn’t when we saw it a few months ago. I don’t think it’s helped by Anita Dobson’s character Mrs Meers, a failed actress pretending to be an Oriental landlady. The character seems dated and the impersonation of a Chinese woman somewhat patronising. I had wanted to see Maureen Lipman in the role (she starred when the play first opened) and was described by one review as, Grotesque and comical, she’s verbally and physically sharp-witted” [source] but I think I am glad I didn’t. I don’t think it was Dobson but the character which was uncomfortable.

Still, it’s such a shame so many of London’s plays and musicals are closing right now. I do enjoy a good night out at the theatre. This, sadly, was only mediocre.

On this day…

2005: Where Are You?

Last night saw the last Friends in the UK (it was Black Friday) and the first of the new series of Big Brother. As we all knew the ending to Friends it seemed like something of a disappointment really. Big Brother on the other hand was a very different beast. Having had a few hours to think about it I am slightly less caught up in it than I thought I would be. It would appear the producers have selected all the people who claimed that they would ‘mix it up’. The house is full of individuals who claimed that they would be outspoken. Last night I thought this was a dangerous tactic. Yes, it will be fun when they first explode at each other (which they surely will) but I think it risks getting dull. Part of the fun of the original series was the fact that the housemates had fun and were, therefore, funny to watch. Car-crash television isn’t that interesting after the initial look. A high quota of lesbian, gay and bisexuals looks like exploitation to me and doesn’t make me think of a happy, diverse home.

UPADTE 2 JUNE. The Big Brother links:

• Official Site at Channel Four
• Dermot as Man of the Moment
• Big Brother fansite
• Big Brother links

The big brother popularity poll is a neat interactive idea to get you coming back to the site again and again. I do quite like that idea.

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Reading the Yahoo group, it seems the story line for Coronation Street got all exciting last night and so I now have to remember to catch the ITV2 repeat. It’s funny but I really do only watch it for the gay story line and fast-forward through the rest of the episode.

For the uninitiated, Coronation Street is a classic British soap that has been on screen screen forever (see the faq). Rumour has it that Adam and Eve watched it back at the beginning of time. Anyway, Todd (engaged to be married, father) had a ‘moment’ with his fiancee’s brother (who, to be honest, is hot). It was the first ever openly gay moment on The Street (which is what it’s known as here and has no link whatsoever to stocks and shares and New York City). So, Todd gradually realises his preference is for men and falls for hunky nurse Karl. This week was the big coming out moment. The storyline is helped by the fact that Bruno Langley is also cute as hell too. So, despite the fact I don’t watch the soaps anymore, I keep watching bits of this storyline (and so, apparently, did lots of other people).

And if my friend Steve is reading this I am expecting a nice long comment about Gail Tilsley and what a joy she has been since her arrival on The Street (a hundred years ago – or so).

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In 2003, Kate won Big Brother 3. I started the summer with little interest and then, gradually, watched more and more of it. Last year, I seemed very aware of Big Brother 4 from the beginning. Then I grew to support Fed despite the bad press and gradually you get sucked in.

So, this time next week – in a clever bit of scheduling – we will see the last episode of Friends and then watch as the new contestants enter the new house for Big Brother 5. Perhaps I will try and avoid it again this year. Still, it means interest in Dermot O’Leary will pick up again and that tends to go hand in hand with the beginning of summer. It’s a good time of year!

Channel Four will have a big night next week but C4’s boss Mark Thompson won’t be celebrating with them as he’s just jumped ship back to the BBC.

On this day…

2003: Gone Fishing

Last night the BBC aired the first part of Peter Ackroyd’s London – a totally fascinating history of London. Yesterday’s episode was Fire and Destiny which according to BBC Two’s site went ‘From Boadicea’s torching of the city to recent bombings’. In the programme Peter Ackroyd traces London’s extraordinary ability to survive and grow stronger every time it burns.

Actors re-created historical figures talking about their time in London; Charlotte Bronte, Samuel Pepys and a Roman historian were among the characters featured last night.

Of course the main features of the programme were September 1666’s Great Fire (officially only 4 people died) and the German bombings of World War II (6000 people killed in the first 30 days of the bombing) but it seems that London has burnt many times since its founding in 50AD.

It was a thoroughly fascinating programme and well made. It was not your typical history programme for Peter Ackroyd gives London a real personality. I wholeheartedly recommend the other couple of programmes in the series. I’m quite interested in taking one of the walks have been designed to work with the programme.

On this day…

I went to see the new production of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The new London theatre. Basically I went to see Stephen Gately but he’s taken to having a performance off on a Saturday so we were treated to Lee Watermoth in the main role. It’s a fun musical, not as lavish as the last West End production but a little updated and certainly one to visit to for the fun. The performances were great and I have to admire the cast for putting on such a good show when there were so few people in the audience. Give it a go, it’ll make for a more colourful day!

On this day…

2005: A World Of Hate
2003: My First PHP
2002: Joy and pain
2002: Not Great