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Tom Rosenthal's Diary
01 September 2011
Highlights from the run of shows included the Geldof family friend who took issue with my jokes about Peaches and those cheery birthday drunkards who whooped very excitably when I entered the room, only to tell me after a minute that my dad was funnier than me. There was also a boy who had to leave to urinate about 10 minutes into the show. I mean, 10 minutes - go before you come, surely? All of these people and more have made it such a fantastic experience; the buzz of performing an hour of comedy that has come to fruition solely through your own inspiration and creative drive is something that I cannot equate to anything else.
My favourite days were a couple of comedian V critic football matches. We lost to the critics 7-3 due to a less-than-convincing performance between the sticks from Paul Sinha, but gained some respect with a 2-1 victory over Scottish Division Two team Stenhousemuir. I also enjoyed the one-off feast of cartoonish violence that was The Wrestling at Pleasance Grand. This was a wrestling match between comedians and actual wrestlers, under the premise of good (captained by a Bible-belt preacher played by Russell Kane) versus evil (led by Adam Riches' Mediterranean gangster figure) wherein my alter ego Explosenthal made his sexually charged demonic gimpishness felt. I wore a full black-and-red body suit and leapt into the ring in a tag team match alongside a proper wrestler called Rishi Ghosh, who as far as I could gather was some sort of evil monarch. We fought against a fearsome team comprising character comedian Colin Hoult and Dan 'The Hammer' Head, who seemed to be there solely because he liked head-butting things.
Coming back to London post-Edinburgh, I have, as all comedians like to say, 'got a few projects on the go'. People go up to Edinburgh thinking it will make them a star, and generally, in the first few weeks back they have to realise that, well, they're not. But I'm heartily looking forward to getting stuck into stand-up again, and filming the second series of Friday Night Dinner with Simon Bird.
Prior to Edinburgh I had a busy time of it, most recently performing in Arnold Wesker's Chicken Soup with Barley at the Royal Court in Sloane Square. It's a very fine, if slightly surreal part of London, with telephone boxes and newsagents being replaced by Lamborghinis and excess. I myself live in Islington, where inhabitants range slightly more widely from yummy-croissant and smoothie-loving-mummies to garage-blasting Nokia-sponsored reprobates. It's a fantastic place to live, and after Edinburgh I will probably sit myself at The Screen on the Green on Upper Street every night for a week just to catch up on what the rest of the world is doing. I am also hotly anticipating the start of the new football season with my darling club Dynamo Gobbler FC, formerly of Tufnell Park, who will this season be playing their home games at Regent's Park. If anyone is at a loss for what to do on a Sunday in London (there's just so little) tweet me on @rosentweets and I'll send you a fixture list. We got promoted last season. If we maintain such form, in 15 years we'll be in the Champions League. Season tickets only £60.
Apart from that, like any good lefty arts type, I'll be spending some quality time at the National Theatre, with all its fake grass and sand. I'm very much looking forward to seeing The Kitchen, another Wesker classic, with the rest of the cast from the Court. This is yet to be properly arranged, but I'm pretty sure they all read ES, so let's sort a date. The 18th?
Other things London has to offer me include: my gym, at Clissold Park, full of lifty-things and pain; the Emirates Stadium, home to the ever-dwindling but potentially world-crushing Arsenal; Fabric, in Farringdon, with its nerve-shattering basslines and unsettling clientele; and finally, HMV, in Angel, where I'll be getting FIFA 12 and a few box sets to soften the post-Edinburgh back-to-the-real-world bump. ES
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