PEA GREEN BOAT 10″

Vinyl re-release of 15 year old comedy-art-drone piece on Green Vinyl.

An owl wakes up at sea in a pea green boat. It is accompanied by a cat, its natural predator. There is some honey. What chain of events led to this dangerous situation?

This is a long awaited luxury vinyl repress of the legendary Pea Green Boat record. On Pea Green Vinyl! (note – it’s slightly darker than it looks in the photo)

It’s more or less identical to the 2007 release, except this time we have pressed the record on pea green vinyl, and in deference to the times, each disc comes with an mp3 download.
Also we’ve removed the references to myspace from the back of the sleeve.

Buy at Go Faster Stripe

ED FRINGE ROUND-UP

Before I had kids I used to aim to see 100 things in the fringe. Now I aim for 30.
This year I went to 41, but some were art exhibits I have used to bump the total up.

COMEDY

The best comedy shows I saw were
Nish Kumar – Actions Speak Louder Than Words (Pleasance),
Lloyd Langford – Rascal (Free Fringe, White Horse), and
Joe Davies – Who’s The Daddy? (Free Fringe, Dragonfly).

I also saw Colin Hoult – Anna Mann (Pleasance), Emma Sidi – Telenova (Pleasance), Bill Burr (Pleasance), Kieran Hodgson – Maestro (Free Fringe, Voodoo Rooms), Improvised Sherlock Holmes (Just The Tonic), James Acaster – Reset (Pleasance), Wil Franken (Stand), Paul Currie – Fffffffmilk (Free Fringe, Heroes At The Hive), Spencer Jones (Free Fringe, Heroes At The Hive), Johnny & The Baptists (Summerhall), Michelle Wolfe (Pleasance), Andy Doyle – (Stand), Simon Munnery’s 30th Fringe (Stand), David O’Doherty – (Assembly), Grainne Maguire (Pleasance), Ghost Bus Tour (Edinburgh streets), Kunt & The Gang (Free Sisters).

I saw 20 shows, of which 8 were at the Big 3 venues of The Edinburgh Comedy Festival.

MUSIC

The best music I saw by far was Richard Dawson at Summerhall.
He is an absolute one-off and we are lucky to live in his timeframe.
We also saw both of the Blueswater blues-history shows, Blueswater – Queens Of The Blues (Space Triplex), and Blueswater – Titans Of The Blues (Surgeon’s Hall) three times each, and they were superb.
I also saw Barry Humphries’ Weimar Cabaret (Usher Hall), in which Miaow Miaow was brilliant, the Melbourne Ska Orchestra (Gilded Balloon), a few of the Captain’s Bar folk Sessions (Captain’s Bar), and Nick Cope of the Candyskins doing Songs For Kids (Gilded Balloon)

ART

Arthur Smith – Museum Of Socks (Pleasance), Scottish portrait photos (Scottish National Portrait Gallery), Ruby Pester and Nadia Rossi – Mother Tongue (Summerhall), Mark Fell – Diagramming The Listener (Summerhall), APG – Context Is Half The Work (Summerhall).
As usual, Summerhall’s basement was enchanting.

THEATRE

The best theatre I saw was Team Viking by James Rowland (Just The Tonic), a superb Ben Moor/Kitson style story-telling show.
I also saw, and was in, The Chilcot Report reading (Bob’s Blundabus), which was magical, Counting Sheep by the Lemon Bucket Orchestra (Summerhall), which was thought-provoking 80’s-style anarcho-agit-prop theatre and all the better for it, and Let’s Put The Band Back Together (Summerhall), which starred the bloke from Futureheads.
I had bought tickets for Kitson’s play but I am a middle-aged dad with early starts and I fell asleep without even getting to it as it was on too late.

FILM

I got to introduce the astounding Gallivant, by Andrew Kotting (1996) at the Cameo on the last night, and watch it on the big screen, which was an incredible experience.

Apart from Dawson, who I already knew, and the sheer thrill of Blueswater, there was no utterly mind-fucking discovery for me this year, but the free fringe and The Stand and Summerhall mean the Fringe as a concept is in good health and it felt like a massive privilege to be there for the 28th time.
Being at The Stand, I filled up my room, got better at the show, covered my costs and made some money on top, after accommodation and travel.
What else are you going to do in August, when you have kids, and no relatives to shunt them off onto? Keepin’ it real in ’16!

CONTENT PROVIDER BOOK

I had a new book out on August 4th, Content Provider, through Faber. “Over the last five years, often when David Mitchell has been on holiday, the comedian Stewart Lee has been attempting to understand modern Britain, and his own place in it, in a series of irregular newspaper columns.

Will Scotland become the Promised Land of the Left? Is it possible to live a life without crisps? Who was Grant Shapps? What does your Spotify playlist data say about you? Are Jeremy Corbyn and Stewart Lee really the new Christs? And so on. Selected, introduced and, where necessary, explained by the author and corrected by readers, Content Provider is funny, grumpy, provocative, confusing and brilliant.”

This is the Faber link: http://www.faber.co.uk/shop/drama/9780571329021-content-provider.html

This is an Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Content-Provider-Selected-Pieces-2011-2016/dp/0571329020/

CONTENT PROVIDER TOUR

This clunky title, as well as being the same name as my next book, will be another full-on, finished, Carpet Remnant/41st Best/Milder Comedian type epic show, with an actual set, although the exact material is currently in freefall post-Brexit.
Until Nov the shows are work-in-progs and then I will tour it for about 18 months (everywhere in UK and EIRE, except Carlisle) into mid-2018, unless there is no demand for it or I get sick or bored. Here’s some dates.

OCT
11th – 15th, 18th – 20th Digital Content Provider w free DVD, Leicester Sq Theatre London

NOV (Digital Content Provider w free DVD)

November 1st – Watford Colosseum – 7.30pm – 01923 571102 – TICKETS
November 2nd – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall – 8pm – 0151 709 3789 – TICKETS
November 3rd – Cambridge Corn Exchange – 8pm – 01223 357851 – TICKETS
November 4th – Cardiff St. David’s Hall – 8pm – 029 2087 8444 – TICKETS
November 6th – Newcastle Upon Tyne Theatre Royal – 7.30pm – 08448 11 21 21 – TICKETS

NOV (Content Provider)
8th – 12th, 15th – 19th, 22nd 24th, 29th Leicester Sq Theatre, London

DEC (Content Provider)
1st – 3rd, 5th -8th, 10 Leics Sq Theatre

JAN 2017
2-7, 9-10, 12-14, 16-21, 23-28 Leics Sq Theatre

The 2017 Content Provider tour will cover much of the UK, Scotland & Ireland and will run – at least – from February to June 2017.

Dates are currently being booked.
As such, the dates below are the ones confirmed so far.
More dates – and the full tour schedule – will be added shortly to the gigs page. For now, though…

January 2017

Monday 30th – Content Provider – OXFORD – Playhouse – 7.30pm – 01865 305305 TICKETS
Tuesday 31st – Content Provider – OXFORD – Playhouse – 7.30pm – 01865 305305 TICKETS

February 2017

Wednesday 1st – Content Provider – OXFORD – Playhouse – 7.30pm – 01865 305305 TICKETS
Thursday 2nd – Content Provider – OXFORD – Playhouse – 7.30pm – 01865 305305 TICKETS
Friday 3rd – Content Provider – OXFORD – Playhouse – 8pm – 01865 305305 TICKETS
Saturday 4th – Content Provider – OXFORD – Playhouse – 8pm – 01865 305305 TICKETS
Tuesday 7th – Content Provider – NORWICH – Theatre Royal – 7.30pm – 01603 630000 TICKETS
Wednesday 8th – Content Provider – LEICESTER – DeMontfort Hall – 8pm – 0116 233 3111 TICKETS
Thursday 9th – Content Provider – LEICESTER – DeMontfort Hall – 8pm – 0116 233 3111 TICKETS
Thursday 23rd – Content Provider – BRIGHTON – The Dome – 8pm – 01273 709709 TICKETS
Friday 24th – Content Provider – BRIGHTON – The Dome – 8pm – 01273 709709 TICKETS
Saturday 25th – Content Provider – BRIGHTON – The Dome – 8pm – 01273 709709 TICKETS
Sunday 26th – Content Provider – BRIGHTON – The Dome – 8pm – 01273 709709 TICKETS

March 2017

Thursday 2nd – Content Provider – POOLE – Lighthouse – 01202 280000 TICKETS
Friday 17th – Content Provider – EDINBURGH – Festival Theatre – 8pm – 0131 529 6000 TICKETS
Saturday 25th – Content Provider – NORTHAMPTON – Royal & Derngate – 8pm – 01604 624811 TICKETS
Monday 27th – Content Provider – BIRMINGHAM – Symphony Hall – 7.30pm – 0121 780 3333 TICKETS
Tuesday 28th – Content Provider – BIRMINGHAM – Symphony Hall – 7.30pm – 0121 780 3333 TICKETS

May 2017

Wednesday 3rd – Content Provider – SOUTHAMPTON – Mayflower Theatre – 7.30pm – 02380 711811 TICKETS
Wednesday 17th – Content Provider – YORK – Barbican – 7.30pm – 0844 854 2757 TICKETS
Monday 22nd – Content Provider – SALFORD QUAYS – The Lowry – 8pm – 0843 208 6000 TICKETS
Tuesday 23rd – Content Provider – SALFORD QUAYS – The Lowry – 8pm – 0843 208 6000 TICKETS
Wednesday 24th – Content Provider – SALFORD QUAYS – The Lowry – 8pm – 0843 208 6000 TICKETS
Thursday 25th – Content Provider – SALFORD QUAYS – The Lowry – 8pm – 0843 208 6000 TICKETS

Unpaid Charity Benefit Shows

As usual, I continue to work tirelessly for charity.
Sept 14th – White Helmets Syria @ Union Chapel w Michael Legge, Bridget Christie, Nish Kumar, Eleanor Tiernan

Oct 7th – Stop The War, Shaw Theatre, w Michael Rosen, Jem Brister and more

Other live s-up Dates

(mainly 30 mins sets w some previews)

SEPT

12th Tattershall Castle, London
15th Soho Theatre, London
24th Union Chapel, London
27th Soho Theatre
28th Soho Theatre
29th Chippenham Com Fest, rescheduled

OCT

1st Aldeburgh Comedy Festival – TICKETS
3rd Susan Murray’s Covent Garden gig
4th and 5th Red Imp, London
6th Sevenoaks somewhere w Maff Brown
7th Bush Hall, London
10th Happy Mondays, London

Global Globules with Baconface

On Wednesdays at 11pm on Resonance 104.4 fm and on the station website, the barely present cult Canadian stand-up comedian Baconface continues to play lengthy and mainly uninterrupted selections from his late brother’s extensive record collection of ’60s and ’70s psychedelia, progressive rock, free jazz, folk, acid folk, folk rock, acid rock, electronic music, and ethnoforgeries.

In association with the Chilliwack Office of Leisure. [Repeated Saturday 4am.] The shows can also be heard here.. http://www.baconfacecanada.com/global-globules/

Resonance is a groundbreaking 24/7 radio station which broadcasts on 104.4 FM to central London, DAB to Greater London, nationally on Radioplayer and live streamed to the rest of the world.

Dead Funny Encore book

Comedian Robin Ince, the co-editor of the new comedians’ horror fiction anthology, in which I have a piece, writes…
“Hello everyone. Dead Funny Encore is out. i am really pleased with it, as is Johnny Mains. Sorry it took longer than thought, but really couldn’t be helped.

This is a link to book page – https://www.saltpublishing.com/products/dead-funny-encore-9781784630393

We did a horror event at Latitude that viciously plugged the book, http://cosmicgenome.com/features/podcasts/

Here is the book on that Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Funny-Encore-Robin-Ince/dp/178463039X/