No Expectations....Always The Best Way
Sooooo last night I was on my way to The Comedy Store to do a benefit gig for Beating Bowel Cancer, when I got a text from my pal Gina Yashere inviting me to her agents' Christmas Party. I still wasn't feeling great but thought 'sod it' and messaged her back saying I'd love to go.
When I got to the Store, the lovely Stephen K Amos had turned up to see me in between gigs, so I invited him along too.
The gig started off a bit chaotic, Junior Simpson was meant to be the MC but he'd had to cancel, and they got Shappi Korsandi in to fill his space, I really didn't fancy doing a set so I asked her if she'd swap and gawd bless her she said yes.
So I MC'd - really glad I wasn't doing a set as the audience seemed a little bit unused to live comedy - and brought on a cavalcade of comedy talent including Christian Reilly (Shappi's new husband), Geoff Norcott, Ed Petrie, Shappi and Paul Sinha. Everyone did great sets and Shappi's auctioneering skills raised £500 for a Wasps Rugby shirt.
The audience had a great time and the organsisers were really pleased with everything, so it was with a glad heart that I made my way over to meet Gina at Soho House. We got there about 11.30, and a lot of people had already left. Those that were there had obviously made good use of the free bar too!
Gina was fab, introducing me to everyone including Lenny Henry who is huge! He's also dead friendly, and his teasing of Gina cracked me up. My old mate Sean Hughes was there, as was Rosie who used to work at The Comic Strip offices a million years ago when I was doing the PR for The Bullshitters.
Steve turned up with the lovely Dan from Jongleurs just as it was all winding down, so we went off to The Groucho Club. Having reminisced with Rosie about Keith Allen, who should I bump into but the man himself. I've known Keith since I was 18 but haven't seen much of him over the last decade or so, in fact the last time I saw him was almost 2 years ago at Malcolm Hardee's funeral. We had a little catch up and talked loads about Lily and how brilliantly she's doing. He even thanked me for sticking up for her on MySpace. It was really good to see him.
There were a few other faces in there Neil Jordan the film director and Cillian Murphy the very cute actor, plus a lot of 'industry' people all slightly the worse for wear.
I realised it was my first time at a showbiz bash sober! What was odd (to me) was that I had a really cool time anyway, no booze, no coke, just lots of laughs. I even stayed till 3am!
Gina doesn't drink either, so bless her she gave me a lift home which just made for a perfect night out.
When I got to the Store, the lovely Stephen K Amos had turned up to see me in between gigs, so I invited him along too.
The gig started off a bit chaotic, Junior Simpson was meant to be the MC but he'd had to cancel, and they got Shappi Korsandi in to fill his space, I really didn't fancy doing a set so I asked her if she'd swap and gawd bless her she said yes.
So I MC'd - really glad I wasn't doing a set as the audience seemed a little bit unused to live comedy - and brought on a cavalcade of comedy talent including Christian Reilly (Shappi's new husband), Geoff Norcott, Ed Petrie, Shappi and Paul Sinha. Everyone did great sets and Shappi's auctioneering skills raised £500 for a Wasps Rugby shirt.
The audience had a great time and the organsisers were really pleased with everything, so it was with a glad heart that I made my way over to meet Gina at Soho House. We got there about 11.30, and a lot of people had already left. Those that were there had obviously made good use of the free bar too!
Gina was fab, introducing me to everyone including Lenny Henry who is huge! He's also dead friendly, and his teasing of Gina cracked me up. My old mate Sean Hughes was there, as was Rosie who used to work at The Comic Strip offices a million years ago when I was doing the PR for The Bullshitters.
Steve turned up with the lovely Dan from Jongleurs just as it was all winding down, so we went off to The Groucho Club. Having reminisced with Rosie about Keith Allen, who should I bump into but the man himself. I've known Keith since I was 18 but haven't seen much of him over the last decade or so, in fact the last time I saw him was almost 2 years ago at Malcolm Hardee's funeral. We had a little catch up and talked loads about Lily and how brilliantly she's doing. He even thanked me for sticking up for her on MySpace. It was really good to see him.
There were a few other faces in there Neil Jordan the film director and Cillian Murphy the very cute actor, plus a lot of 'industry' people all slightly the worse for wear.
I realised it was my first time at a showbiz bash sober! What was odd (to me) was that I had a really cool time anyway, no booze, no coke, just lots of laughs. I even stayed till 3am!
Gina doesn't drink either, so bless her she gave me a lift home which just made for a perfect night out.
posted by JoJo Smith at Tuesday, December 05, 2006
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