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Too darn hot! - March 15, 2007
Hi everyone,
How are you all? Good.
I'm in Adelaiade! Woo Hoo! Ok, clearly I'm more excited about that than you. I'm doing 2 weeks here to coincide with the Adelaide Fringe. I have never in my life been to a city that has tried to cram so many festivals and events into one month. The Adelaide Fringe comes in the same month as the Clipsal 500, the WOMAD Festival, the Adelaide Cup, The World Police and Fire Games (whatever that is!) and the Short Film Festival...it's almost like Adelaide is one giant kid with Attention Deficit Disorder.. just running around all day, constantly looking to be entertained. I can't help but feel, next month Adelaide is gonna' have the biggest 'come down' for a city since the Wall Street Crash.
I've been here for 3 days, but I haven't really been out yet, and I shalt imagine I will until the frankly unnatural heat outside subsides. It's currently 40 degrees, which is an acceptable temperature for a cup of tea! (but not a coffee in Hamilton). I was in Perth last week, where the temperature hit 36, and I thought that was bad enough, but I never thought the phrase 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' would take on such a literal meaning. By the way, I mean Perth Australia, not Perth Scotland. I don't want someone in America reading this and thinking "holy shit! Scotland's central belt is up to 36 degrees, maybe we should take this global warming thang, a little more seriously"..actually I do want people to think that.
It's the first year the Adelaide Fringe has gone to an annual event (previously bi-annual), so I think there are a lot of comedians wondering if it can hold the same appeal (and even more comedians thinking "shit, I can't just do the show I did 2 years ago, and hope they don't remember it!") I'm in the Royalty Theatre this year, which makes a change from the cowshed that I played in last year, where the sound was so bad even I couldn't even make out what I was saying! But, all the best to anyway who plays the Freemasons Hall this year.
I've finished up the first leg of the regional Australia dates in Tasmania the weekend before last. Thanks to everyone who came along to a show. I'd particularly like to thank the women in the audience in Devonport, who had a laugh like someone trying to play a violin with an exhaust pipe (I only wish I had thought of that on the night). I only found out after the show, that she'd also played quite a big role in Jimeoin's show when he played Devonport. Anyway, thanks for the memories, the horrible, screeching, haunting memories that keep me awake ever nig...sorry, I mean, thanks.
There were a lot of highlights on the tour. I didn't get a chance to visit all of the big things I wanted to see, but I did get to see a few, which I have taken some photos of, and here they are, along with some other snaps for your viewing pleasure. After Adelaide, I'm doing Sydney, Brisbane and then finishing up in lovely Melbourne at the Comedy Festival. There may well be additional regional dates in May and June in South Australia, if I'm allowed to stay in the country, so please keep checking the website if you're interested in coming along to one of those.
For those of you reading this in Scotland, you may have read an article recently saying that I am boycotting the Fringe this year. That is not entirely true. I was probably going to take a year off from Edinburgh this year anyway. It is true that I never got paid for my performance there last year, because the Venue Manager declared himself bankrupt (from his 6-bedroom house in Richmond!). It has been a bitter pill to swallow, but life goes on. I would never ask people to boycott a venue, because ultimately that has an effect on the performers, but I would urge you not to buy your drinks at the Assembly Rooms on George Street, while the notorious, William Burdett-Coutts is still in charge of the Venue. As a friend of mine said to me the other day "when it comes to financial earnings in Edinburgh, that guy makes Burke and Hare look good!" Anyway, it's up to you...
It will be quite weird not doing the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time in 8 years, but I'll find a nice venue and do a longer show in 2008. I'm gonna' be in New Zealand now in August instead, which is all being booked up at the moment, so hopefully that should be fun. Before that, I'll be doing my own show in Montreal in July at the Just For Laughs Festival, which I'm really excited about because they only pick one comic a year to do a solo show..So, lets hope I don't fuck it up!
Everything else is going fine. I hope those of you who have seen, or are coming to see the new show enjoy it. It's still changing a bit every night, but I reckon it's looking pretty good now. Right, well, it looks like the egg I cracked on the balcony a few minutes ago is ready now, so I better go.
All the best,
Danny
A textbook golf swing, captured before the horror of Ballarat...we may never see it again.
The infamous Woolbales Cafe on the outskirts of Hamilton. 3 coffees purchased. 3 tongues burnt. 'Nuff said.
First big thing. A giant coke bottle. Mildly disappointing start to a drunken idea.
Fullfilling a lifelong ambition, I share a bill with the Australian Bee Gees... (weren't the Bee Gees Australians anyway)
Lost, but calm. My dependable production manager, Russell Snelling.
The Australian drought hits the small naval town of Robertson pretty badly.
One of the best coffee places we visited called the Premium Coffee Roasters Cafe in Wagga Wagga. Worth a detour.
A big fish.
Me outside the Parliament buildings in Canberra..Mr Speaker!
Does anyone know what make of car this is? I saw it outside my hotel room the other day and I fell in love.
