tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-158914172012-01-29T10:03:33.659ZChris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.comBlogger5861100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-66629160032266028262012-01-24T16:07:00.002Z2012-01-24T16:07:33.289Z

I found out yesterday that on the same day as my show for the Leicester Comedy Festival, the EDL will be marching in Leicester.  Also that day Unite Against Fascism will be doing a counter march. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That's right - passing trade. I'm sure the show will have elements that will appeal to both groups.  The EDL can sympathise with the character of my manly uncle and

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-16275220178582133692012-01-23T18:46:00.001Z2012-01-23T18:46:52.233Z

Got a bit behind again with the old blogging, increasing the backlog of updates I need to do but I'll get there.  I've got until 31st December after all. Today was an odd one.  For the show in Leicester I've been compiling a slideshow of the screen grabs of the tweets calling me a paedophile and such like which was an odd way to spend an hour this afternoon.  Here is an example of one of them;

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-70196421968024086862012-01-18T17:56:00.001Z2012-01-18T17:56:39.639Z

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Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-50124721558239529222012-01-14T10:48:00.000Z2012-01-14T10:48:05.522Z

In the interests of actually getting people to come to the show on the 4th February, I decided against doing the more unfamiliar bits at the Other Preview Show last night, so named because this was the preview show that was in a much smaller venue with more obscure names. It seemed like a scenario to play it safe so I just did the bits I know well, indeed bits that are in my set anyway, in the

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-27542617660656899322012-01-13T16:28:00.000Z2012-01-13T16:28:00.051Z

Tonight I am previewing some of 'Napkins' as part of one of the Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival preview show and am both nervous and curious to find out how some bits will go.  I've done them before but not for a while and the actual show is getting closer and closer so I'm excited about getting certain bits out at the same time as being anxious as to how they will go. As uncomfortable as I am

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-69327974907267713912012-01-12T10:36:00.000Z2012-01-12T10:51:45.624Z

You may have noticed, Kenneth, that I have been going back and updating what happened on days where I did not blog.  I've been filling in the gaps so to speak.  With a backlog of four days still to get through, I'll be doing them piecemeal at the same time as updating in 'real time'. I've also been trying to dip my toe further into the Twitter waters, just because it seems like a useful tool.  

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-49767835778800126572012-01-07T16:09:00.000Z2012-01-11T11:04:46.928Z

I've been reading up on, and watching, the 1967 version of 'Casino Royale' for Gag Reels at the end of the month.  I'm hoping I've made the right choice.  There is definitely some comic mileage in it, especially when contrasted with the novel, and the story of its genesis is fairly amusing. Plus there's the odd apocryphal tale from the making of it that may or may not be true but are funny all

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-55884205797227887542012-01-06T12:26:00.000Z2012-01-08T10:33:13.855Z

Reassuringly, the gig last night was fun.  There's always the worry that having a gap might make you forget everything. Getting back wasn't so smooth.  Yes, it was cheap (£6!) but the announcer came on to tell us that the train would be delayed as, "This evening a customer was struck by a train."  In the same way a match is struck I suppose.  Or a Terry's Chocolate Orange.  But then it would

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-33404752866265474162012-01-05T10:17:00.000Z2012-01-08T10:26:37.138Z

First gig of the new year tonight, and it's down in Lon Don.  I actually quite like London, but then I'm not there very much so don't really get the chance to go off it.  What's more, I've fairly recently discovered how insanely cheap it is to get there from where I live.  £12 return.  And that's on a train and everything, not a Megabus or bale of hay being towed by a tractor.  An actual train.  

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-34975403714569113222012-01-04T10:43:00.000Z2012-01-04T10:43:09.191Z

I do like a bit of spam and this spammy comment left yesterday on a post from exactly a year ago made me chuckle.  Maybe we've mad it through to the other side?  Can we all now laugh at these?  I mean, obviously ones with links make me want to kill, but these ones are sublime aren't they?  I particularly like 'contradistinction.' Choosing amongst a myriad of great things was not my strong point,

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-75109151363459633132012-01-03T23:25:00.000Z2012-01-03T23:25:05.867Z

The Leicester Comedy Festival (now Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival) is fast approaching and my show there is only a little over 4 weeks away.  This is a sobering thought.  Officially, it's the first real performance of it.  Despite it not being the finished article, it's not being promoted as a work in progress or as a preview.  Though I do feel confident with the bones of the show and am

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-23801246343881076582012-01-02T12:13:00.002Z2012-01-02T12:13:34.752Z

Which I suppose is technically Bank Holiday Monday Resolution 1 is to clean the porch out. Not before I've worked out what film to do for Gag Reels at the Frog on 31st of this month.  I thought it would be better to pick a film that a) I know quite a bit about b) I dislike c) Is not a comedy, as making jokes about jokes, believe it or not, is not something I think I'd be good at So

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-80841133557937455912012-01-01T12:55:00.000Z2012-01-01T12:55:05.440Z

It is my fond hope that 2012 is much, much better than 2011, which has been a bit shit.  There's no reason why the beginning of a new year will make this so (it's only Sunday when yesterday was Saturday, that happens all the time) but I suppose it's measured by the stuff that happens between 1st January and 31st December and then an average is taken to determine how 'good' the year has been.

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-53717607692816139162011-12-15T16:58:00.001Z2011-12-15T16:58:31.794Z

Today I was sat at a table in a cafe (on a comfy seat: RESULT, eh!?!?) next to a 60 something couple who were mid-conversation when I sat down. The man, who was wearing a trendy little scarf indoors, was rolling up the sleeve of his stylish shirt (unbuttoned for the first two buttons, revealing a little of his grey chest fuzz) and said, "They LOVE taking blood from me because my veins are so

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-75057063660969301272011-12-14T18:02:00.001Z2011-12-14T18:02:31.678Z

Back in at 4am. Up at 7. Locked out of the house until about an hour ago (5pm). Bit tired. It's that discombobulating tiredness, the sort of fatigue that makes you see everything as almost comfortingly fuzzy.  So it's not been a bad day all in all, not really.  I mean, I was locked out of the house for pretty much the whole day without a coat, gloves, scarf or a hat, but it's been oddly

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-52014246240366381502011-12-13T14:41:00.002Z2011-12-13T14:41:47.795Z

I am currently feeling a bit headrushy.  I think it's the sugar.  See, I've been baking a chocolate fudge cake for an archaeology thing (I shan't be there so won't get any of the cake and I forgot to make a mini one for me) and of course after putting it in the oven I licked the bowl clean. It's a big cake for this thing.  I do regret it a little bit, licking the bowl.  And spoon.  And finishing

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-4633056834036249582011-12-09T11:12:00.001Z2011-12-09T11:27:04.098Z

A couple of days ago, my neighbour startled me by fiercely and angrily knocking the front door.  Reacting like a 73 year old woman, I exclaimed, "Oh!" and nearly dropped the mug I was drying. Affronted by the aggressive knocking I resolved to answer it, but to take my time over it.  There was really no need to be knocking the door like that.  I placed the mug very carefully on the mug tree.  I

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-87423932809861052102011-12-07T16:40:00.001Z2011-12-07T16:43:36.323Z

Bit of a shitter today really. Still, I did have some chuckles remembering a bit of feedback to one of our sketches the other weekend.  We'd opened with a sketch set in the Zulu War and afterwards a proper, dyed-in-the-wool Yorkshire farmer came over to us and said; "That first sketch made me a bit emotional actually because one of my ancestors was at Rorke's Drift." Then he thought for a

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-88986774617391210262011-12-06T14:02:00.001Z2011-12-06T14:06:07.250Z

I tell you what the problem is.  Habit.  See, if I get into the habit of tending to this blog regularly then it gets a lot easier to do so.  But if I can't get on it for a couple of days, any momentum is lost.  Which is what has happened of late. Dom and I are reconvening to do some more sketches tonight at the Dunning Kruger Effect in Manchester as we rekindled our passion for sketches at the

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-76119919713828638362011-12-02T16:34:00.000Z2011-12-02T16:34:00.347Z

The second podcast by myself and Dom went up yesterday and you can listen to it here.  The podcast as a series can now be downloaded or subscribed to at iTunes.  Again, I still don't think we've fully gotten a grasp on the podcasting potential but we're enjoying them and I think we'll get used to it the more we do. Anyway, this episode covers our jaunt up to the Little Festival of Everything at

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-5222180828249790952011-12-01T15:21:00.001Z2011-12-01T15:26:53.681Z

Hello, I know it's early but I thought I'd put it up here that it seems you can now buy tickets for my show at the Leicester Comedy Festival from here.  It's on the 4th February (which isn't as ages away as I thought), lasts for an hour, is at the excellent Crumblin' Cookie in Leicester and will be a fun evening. If you fancy it, it's not like it'll sell out dead quick or anything.  There's bags

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-91477917148789134062011-11-30T13:20:00.001Z2011-11-30T13:38:57.737Z

A woman has been racist on a tram and was filmed being racist on a tram.  I heard about the video a lot before I saw it and even prepared for the contents I was still taken aback.  And while people like her make me ashamed to be British, what makes me proud to be British is how the rest of the people on the bus think she is utterly vile. Obviously on YouTube, commenters think she's speaking for

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-68966533538800536512011-11-29T13:57:00.001Z2011-11-29T14:19:55.442Z

Ha, ha got you, you gullible pigeon.  I wasn't really murdered by Anne, I just didn't really have chance to let you know I was alive and well.  Sorry to have worried you, Kenneth. The weekend was excellent and The Flanagan Collective's Little Festival of Everything was superlative.  It all ended up being quite the spirit of fun.  Highlights for me were Shady Jane's Mitford Sisters performance,

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-35956665252848203582011-11-26T11:42:00.000Z2011-11-26T11:42:00.040Z

I am currently in Yorkshire with no signal whatsoever.  The sketches were last night and, as I write this, I don't know how they went.  I'm well in the past, you see.  It's still yesterday morning for me, not this morning. I haven't even got a clue where I stayed last night.  A couple of days ago I was contacted by the festival organisers to tell me that some of the villagers had very kindly

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-89768516816433074462011-11-25T09:33:00.001Z2011-11-25T09:42:39.183Z

There's a company who run gigs all around the country who have a bit of a bad rep.  And it's completely justified.  I won't name them, but I've never had a positive or straightforward experience of dealing with them.  Nonetheless, I am a poor comedian at the beginning of his career and will take whatever work is thrown my way.  Even if it means sacking off doing a couple of sketches for no money

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-39482912575474613072011-11-24T21:27:00.000Z2011-11-25T09:32:04.921Z

Today has been spent doing something I haven't done for a long time.  Learning lines.  At almost the last minute, Dom and myself have been called upon to resurrect the old sketch act (that we're in the process of transforming into a new sketch act with new people - James Wilcox [Duckhouse], if you're reading this, we want you  involved still but you make it really hard to get hold of you) at an

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-26864390438585002072011-11-23T09:06:00.001Z2011-11-23T12:36:12.158Z

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Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-71175837432860245172011-11-22T13:13:00.000Z2011-11-22T13:13:00.514Z

The first in the series of podcasts I've started with Dominic Allen is now up online.  It won't be up on iTunes yet but you can listen to it here if you want to. We're new to the podcast thing and still finding our feet with it, but I quite enjoy doing them.  We're hoping they'll be weekly, probably every Wednesday from the 30th. Anyway, this inaugural broadcast sees us discuss the conversation

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-63959855906544219552011-11-21T17:03:00.000Z2011-11-21T17:03:00.078Z

I was back in Leeds on Friday night, for a gig which luckily erased all memories of the casino gig in Leeds from the weekend before.  I arrived in the city with an empty stomach and a couple of hours to spare.  I'm not going to be a dick and say, "It was curry o'clock!" but I did fancy a curry.  So I found a nice quiet little place and went in.  I'm not all that bothered about being seen to be

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-90080296698379979732011-11-20T16:30:00.000Z2011-11-21T17:18:49.505Z

Thursday, a strange conversation in the greengrocers.  You remember, the one who loves a chat, the one I have to steel myself to go into because I know I am severely ill-equipped for the small talk that will undoubtedly ensue.  As I walked in I noticed that he and his colleague had ensnared a bald man with their amiable, conversationalist ways.  However, far from idle chit-chat about rainfall and

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-34293993219118018722011-11-17T11:17:00.001Z2011-11-17T11:35:40.510Z

Twitter is awash with wryness it seems.  In among the inane of course.  I applaud anyone who can think of something wry to say pretty much as soon as they've woken up.  I myself tried for 2 hours this morning and the best I could come up with was, "Something wry." Then someone, who is hilarious on Twitter and the perfect example for what I was talking about, tweeted me an absolutely beautiful

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-40577394945029981882011-11-16T16:47:00.001Z2011-11-16T16:56:25.299Z

I was in London yesterday for a gig and I do quite like London, I'll be honest.  For example, it's one of the few cities in the UK I know for ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN I can get a muffin in.  For readers who don't read all that often I can't just have a common or garden muffin because I am a fussy vegan.  Anyway, yesterday I did a gig and had a muffin. Banana and walnut, if you're wondering. I also

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-30129558789909490992011-11-14T19:12:00.001Z2011-11-14T19:22:56.802Z

I'm a bit wary of only ever updating about gigs, but as it happens they're the only interesting things that are happening to me at the moment.  Dominic and I did get round to doing a podcast before the weekend, chronicling our jaunt to Cambridge, although that's only a test and we're not counting it as a real podcast.  Besides, Dom decided to go on a rant that a lot of people might potentially

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-31214730844171291822011-11-11T10:41:00.001Z2011-11-11T11:22:32.398Z

I've always wondered about the immense pride some people have in where they're from.  I have it in myself, too.  Not disproportionate amounts, but just enough to feel ever so slightly happier simply going back to where I grew up.  I think maybe it's just the by-product of the nostalgia brought about by something that triggers childhood memories, yet it fascinates me.  After all, it was a complete

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-32489513171525400702011-11-10T11:58:00.002Z2011-11-10T11:58:25.250Z

For the second time in a week I'm heading back to the area I grew up, somewhere I don't normally go to this regularly.  In fact, last time I took the chance to drive down through the little village I'm from for the first time in a number of years, to take in the certain shade of grey you only seem to see round there. In the few years since I was last in Great Wyrley the library has been razed to

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-46686254263013436222011-11-09T16:41:00.003Z2011-11-09T16:41:58.291Z

I must be thinner than I thought.  It's finally grown cold and so, to protect my protruding ears (doubly at risk now no longer shielded by long locks), I ventured out into the autumnal/wintry air with my trusty beanie hat on my head.  Only to find a lot of people looking at me with sympathetic eyes that seemed to be saying, "Leukaemia?" Which isn't a look to aim for, I don't think.  Ravaged by

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-92074740442803216832011-11-08T14:46:00.001Z2011-11-08T14:46:13.596Z

Right, another hiatus, this time down to broken home internet.  But now that new broadband has been fired up in this abode (to make extra sure it was working, the engineer spent a few minutes checking his Facebook), I'm back online. Depressingly, since the hiatus not much has happened.  I did another early run out of what will eventually become my solo show at Southport which was enjoyable and

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-38599330138174084132011-10-11T16:35:00.002+01:002011-10-11T16:36:39.707+01:00

I have recently contributed to a book that is out this week.  It's not a massive contribution but it came about from this blog so I thought I'd mention it here. You may remember if you're a long term reader (hello Kenneth) a story from earlier this year.  This post from March concerned me being heckled by a six month old infant at a gig in Totnes in Devon, and was cause for me being

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-83756961335059418252011-10-08T23:09:00.000+01:002011-10-08T23:09:08.573+01:00

Going to the greengrocers I know I'm going to have to immerse myself in small talk.  Not that I'm so grumpy as to loathe pleasant exchanges of words with my fellow man, but I am just completely crap at it so I dread the prospect.  The grocer is jolly and it had been uncharacteristically hot and sunny for the time of year, so I knew it was going to be small talk about the weather. I've found the

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-86482081212480602892011-10-05T12:35:00.000+01:002011-10-05T12:35:13.089+01:00

I've been really busy recently, which has been tiring but excellent.  If anything, building up a momentum only serves to make you better.  And because of the unreliability of current car I went by train.  'Trained it.'  Up to Liverpool for a couple of nights at one of my favourite gigs.  For some reason this particular gig has a very bad rep but I've only ever found it really fun.   I hadn't

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-19398205620677038182011-09-21T15:27:00.001+01:002011-09-21T15:27:08.145+01:00

Last night was a gig for freshers week in Lincoln.  It's been 8 years since I went to university yet I looked 2 at least 2 years younger than any of them.  I tweeted that as a joke before setting off for Lincoln but when I got there and was waiting in the foyer of the SU bar a bouncy man saw me and asked if I was waiting for a freshers liaison. So it turns out that, instead of it just being a

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-30275999002509115422011-09-19T16:15:00.001+01:002011-09-19T16:15:57.965+01:00

"Your arrogance is irritating," so went a comment on the post before last, the one about the run-in at the festival in Nottingham. I was away at the weekend and so didn't tend to the blog but had been having a think since the last post, but before I saw the above comment, about how negative I've become of late. Most material I write is a moan or a whinge, which must just be how I approach a

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-17026805110903704452011-09-16T16:09:00.001+01:002011-09-16T16:09:29.642+01:00

When staying in Glasgow the other weekend I had something of a cold and had taken some Berocca with me to dose up with Vitamin C.  On my last morning, alas, I had used both of the provided mugs for tea and, too lazy to wash them up as I was in a hotel and for some reason my brain wouldn't let me be anything else, I thought I'd use one of the little plastic cups from the bathroom. Unfortunately,

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-56903000792624200402011-09-15T12:41:00.000+01:002011-09-15T12:41:06.880+01:00

August seemed to be a month of festivals for me.  There were regular gigs in there but more festivals than I’ve ever been to.  But I never go to festivals, so that’s only by default.  There were 5. - Stockton Weekender (hard) - Leicester Summer Sundae (excellent, easily the best festival I went to of them all) - V Festival – Weston Park (tough) - V Festival – Hylands Park (tougher)

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-38091325941280025472011-09-14T11:45:00.000+01:002011-09-14T11:45:07.516+01:00

I'll do the festivals blog soon.  Not in the mood today.  Still angry about the last one at the weekend.  Combine that with only having 4 hours sleep on account of not getting back until 3am (I stuck around to watch the excellent Tom Stade and had to stop on the way back for chocolate spread and shampoo) and it probably won't make for a balanced or objective blog. So I thought I'd blog about

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-47640455112644903782011-09-13T13:04:00.002+01:002011-09-13T13:05:40.248+01:00

In the interests of catching up on what's happened since June, I thought I'd start with yet another scrape I got into.  I get into quite a few, like the Famous Five but crap.  And there's just me.  The Crap One. One weekend towards the end of July I was down south for a couple of gigs, the first one not being paid – a tryout for a club that hadn’t seen me before, but not too bad because it

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-40259257279703948202011-09-12T11:51:00.000+01:002011-09-12T11:51:17.931+01:00

Right, here goes. I've done a bit of tidying on this page and am ready to start using it properly again.  I've been told off (rightly) for neglecting it, and neglecting it more than once.  So what do these words mean now? "Yeah, but you always say this, Chris, that you're going to start updating again and then you never do really." Well, I'm actually now as of tomorrow not allowed to do

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-57237072819888188362011-06-27T15:15:00.001+01:002011-06-27T15:15:34.628+01:00

For those of you keeping score, the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth beats the Hat Museum in Stockport. Now, the last thing I want to do is to upset hat lovers in Stockport. I’d hate to incur their wrath. So, for the record, it isn’t that I dislike the hat museum in Stockport. It’s just that out of that and the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, it’s just the

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-41853841333193151552011-06-24T12:33:00.000+01:002011-06-24T12:34:29.135+01:00

Today’s bafflement is why people take a catchy tune and sample it in their song. Clearly, the reason is to make their own tune sound better. In the same way someone would plagiarise chunks of text book to make their essay look cleverer. “Why don’t we take this and use it to polish our turd?” “No, it hasn’t worked. And now we’ve covered it all in our shit.” If it’s catchy, maybe people

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-72398657344955437722011-06-22T23:23:00.001+01:002011-06-23T00:17:00.816+01:00

Recently I’ve discovered several things. Firstly, that almond and hazelnut flavoured rice milk is not only delicious on its own or in coffee but also on muesli. It’s really nice. Makes you go, “Mmm that’s nice.” Secondly, living at the bottom of our garden is the biggest spider I’ve ever seen that wasn’t a tarantula in captivity or on a film. I was pottering about at the bottom of the garden

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-22285297302092090612011-06-21T12:00:00.002+01:002011-06-21T12:17:57.470+01:00

I often feel left out of things, usually because most of other people’s conversations make little sense to me so I feel very out of my depth. I don’t know who a lot of people are and very little about football so when gigging in Liverpool once and the compere telling me to point out to the Liverpool audience, to get them onside, my uncanny resemblance to the football player Yossi Benayoun, I had

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-65499089337755548792011-05-27T16:18:00.002+01:002011-05-27T16:49:04.761+01:00

I've been working on the new material for the show on 17th June (and beyond....................) over the past week and am consequently really excited about getting it out at a couple of new material gigs in the coming weeks. Obviously, it might not turn out to be as funny as I thought it was but that's why I'm chomping at the bit to get it out. To see. A couple of smaller bits have had a run

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-73356415674638206442011-05-18T19:10:00.003+01:002011-05-19T12:54:17.566+01:00

That advert for Match, the online dating site, has just come on and the couple of happy dipshits, who deserve each other incidentally, sing because they're both kooky and individual and 'mad' and seem to think 'The Godfather Part III' is an old movie.Now, is a film made in 1992 that old? Is it considered old, like a classic of yesteryear. 'Jurassic Park' came out the following year but I don't

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-86976779990398634332011-05-16T14:22:00.003+01:002011-05-16T17:58:48.221+01:00

Right, this is frightening.I will be doing a work-in-progress of my first hour show, which I have called at the moment 'An Opera Written on Napkins', on the evening of the 17th June in Leicester.I have decided to take the plunge and go ahead and do it. So do come. If you choose to come, you'll be among the very first to see it. It'll be like stepping in an untouched patch of snow. Or cracking

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-15269598306532162522011-05-11T14:05:00.002+01:002011-05-11T14:24:32.028+01:00

So yesterday The Apprentice commenced once again, a series I never normally watch but had decided to this year because of knowing one of the contestants from school. And the year I decide, "I'm going to watch The Apprentice this year," I have to be elsewhere when it's on.That's something of a lie. I didn't have to be. I chose to be. Even though I used to do A Level German with one of the

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-77362671606958342152011-05-06T16:28:00.001+01:002011-05-06T16:28:47.674+01:00

I found out the other day that an old classmate (and neighbour, I've since remembered) is going to be on the new series of The Apprentice. What happened on Facebook was akin to an online school reunion, with everybody from my school year group commenting on each others' posts, sending messages etc. Thinking about it realistically, if any of us were going to go on The Apprentice, it was going to

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-73391393739520244842011-04-26T12:17:00.003+01:002011-04-26T13:52:57.245+01:00

At a lot of gigs there are joke competitions. An activity for the interval; punters can spend the break thinking up hilarious punchlines to a set-up arrived at by committee just before the break in the hope that theirs is the funniest, winning them a bottle of wine or free tickets to the next gig. They're a common occurrence.In my limited experience as a compere I have presided over two of

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-5311349269255264002011-04-21T20:59:00.005+01:002011-04-21T22:46:41.721+01:00

Woeful updating record. Yet again. What's new? Nothing. Still a woeful updating record. Although, to be fair, it's been a horrible couple of weeks where Stokes Law has been in full swing. Catastrophe after mishap after disaster, all piling up one after another...Although (and I am hyper-aware of both tempting fate and how much this sentence may give away about what's been happening if you

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-38265401224255980182011-03-25T13:58:00.000Z2011-03-25T13:57:57.638Z

Not a great gig last night. One of those where the crowd and I were seemingly incompatible. Like a blind date where, by the end of it, we've decided we probably won't be seeing each other again. Unless by accident. In fact it started pretty lacklustre but then it seemed to improve before ending on a damp squib. When telling a chatty woman to be quiet, I was told by another in the crowd, seemingly

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-76106314189321671092011-03-23T10:26:00.002Z2011-03-23T11:25:53.672Z

The gig with the baby in Totnes has been written up by the compere that night (much better than I did I might add) at his excellent blog, which can be read here. I enjoy reading the entries there, a particular highlight is the gig with Jim Davidson, but whenever I do read it it's another blog that really puts me to shame.A good, regularly updated blog. I can but dream.

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-39894707193795982842011-03-09T12:05:00.000Z2011-03-09T12:05:01.106Z

A press release? Describing something which cannot really be adequately explained? Something for which you need to be there to see, hear, feel and smell for yourself? OK. The Dunning Kruger Effect is what happens to you when you go to the Frog & Bucket on Tuesday 12th April and then on the first Tuesday of every subsequent month. There is a science graph like the wibbly bits on shampoo

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-6370944269739063822011-03-08T12:35:00.002Z2011-03-08T13:53:54.530Z

Before I started doing stand up comedy, and as I made my first tentative steps into the scene, the thing that would worry me more than anything was the danger of being heckled. Someone potentially derailing something I've been working on wasn't something I thought I'd enjoy. The subsequent worry was then if I would be able to deal with it if it did happen.In fact, when family, friends or

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-546969229166504792011-03-03T22:11:00.002Z2011-03-03T22:15:34.579Z

Right, so what’s been happening? Well quite a lot if the last trailer post was anything to go by, right? Perhaps the most bizarre run of gigs I’ve ever done in a row, which were actually a lot of fun to do and I’m pretty grateful for having done them as I think it’s useful to find yourself at odd gigs every now and then. Presumably because of being local, I ended up picking up a few gigs

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-3142653567666575902011-02-24T11:50:00.003Z2011-02-24T12:04:24.645Z

A busted computer and not very much spare time has meant that I've once more yet again once more yet again left tending to this blog, which is a bad thing. I find it useful when I'm doing it regularly. Plus I've got a few things to write about so when I can get on here more I've got backed up stuff to stick up here. Which means I can make this a 'Coming Soon on A Sort of Contrived Eloquence'

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-51240624907968475402011-02-15T08:22:00.001Z2011-02-15T08:22:33.684Z

Yet again you'll notice I've not been updating this. It really makes me shamefaced. Which I think is the one with the dollar sign for a mouth.Anyway, since the last update, I've been quite gig busy which has been brilliant. A lovely weekend in Bristol, the Leicester performance of Nerds (which was a great show to go out on if it's the last time we do it) and others here and there which have all

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-47002411026061061432011-02-03T13:28:00.001Z2011-02-03T13:28:38.514Z

I'm off to Lincoln tonight, then Bristol tomorrow and Saturday and then heading back to Leicester on Sunday morning, meaning that I'm going away until Nerds on Sunday afternoon.I've been traipsing around Leicester looking for places to put posters and flyers up in the hope we'll get an audience, especially as the only people definitely coming are reviewers and awards judges. And me and

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-27507183378846934222011-02-01T21:55:00.000Z2011-02-01T21:56:03.999Z

Hello February, nice to see you. Glad you made it. Don't tell it, I know how much you like it because you're forever following it around, but January is a bit rubbish.A quiet diary and a general sense of 'bloody hell' accompanied it this year. But you'll be better, Feb. Can I call you Feb?Although few in number, the gigs in January were on the whole pretty good. An odd one in Sheffield whereby I

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-22558182674870089492011-01-24T20:33:00.000Z2011-01-24T20:34:46.615Z

Today is a day of prejudice. Homophobia in the newspaper. Sexism in football. Two shitstorms that were (rightly) kicked up today.The first one being the ludicrous and venomous - in equal measure, meaning the reaction when reading it is spitting at the same time as laughing - article by Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail, a newspaper, if her article is anything to go by, she may secretly fear

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-59904428101841752882011-01-23T15:49:00.002Z2011-01-23T16:23:21.768Z

It's not long now before Graham and I wheel out the Nerds of a Feather show again, possibly for the final time. This will be the first time I can walk to perform the show from my house, given that we'll be doing it as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival.(Sunday 6th February, 5pm at The Crumblin' Cookie in case you fancied coming - tickets can be bought from here)In preparation, I thought I'd

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-79712190069748640932011-01-20T11:54:00.001Z2011-01-20T11:54:37.435Z

I registered with a new doctor yesterday and had to have a little consultation with the nurse. You know, where they measure you and stuff. I've always been curious about my height because it seems to fluctuate, which to me says that I'm unreliable when measuring myself.And I can't seem to go by what other people say they are, thinking, "Well I'm a bit taller than them so I must be..." because

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-71002887292866357952011-01-19T10:48:00.002Z2011-01-19T11:36:48.407Z

I've lately been letting the negativity wave wash over me. Although, to be fair, it's hardly been a struggle to be negative. But then it never is, is it? Despite those annoying people who say, "You know, it takes more effort to frown than it does to smile," I find the effort goes in to being positive in the face of something negative. It takes absolutely nothing to sulk.The gigs, despite a

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-55531273403813476282011-01-13T00:24:00.000Z2011-01-13T00:25:16.177Z

There were many things that did not surprise me today. I got hungry again, despite having had breakfast, at around 10am. The stupid man who drove into the car rang again. And still couldn't talk properly. I got annoyed about something.But, well, I absolutely was definitely not expecting to discover that yesterday Gerry Anderson announced that there would be a new series of Thunderbirds.I would

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-30488314034736276812011-01-11T20:28:00.001Z2011-01-11T20:28:30.229Z

Flicking through the telly channels is utterly bizarre when you haven't had a telly for ages and ages. After watching some nice spider monkeys, macaws and excellent turtles a channel hop was in order.> > Fat people crying, that's what was on. And apparently, in the next episode, more fat people will be crying and standing around in their underwear whilst Davina McCall looks caring when the fat

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-62577912945550010892011-01-09T13:21:00.002Z2011-01-09T13:37:12.803Z

I wasn't looking forward to the gig last night. Whilst it's true of most gigs that you never know what to expect - given that a comedy gig is a brittle beast and can go either way because of the slightest of variables - this one is virtually impossible to read. There is no compere, it doesn't start until 9:45pm and there are 3 acts doing 20 minutes, 30 minutes and 40 minutes. My success at this

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-4941221718095279082011-01-07T17:15:00.003Z2011-01-07T17:26:31.077Z

I used to quite like The X Files, it was a pretty good series I thought. But I never saw the second film, the one from a few years ago that was made after the series finished. With a psychic paedophile priest. I don't suppose I felt it important enough to go out of my way to see it. It slipped under the radar.But it was on telly last night so we started watching it. It didn't seem that bad

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-17571977713964475192011-01-05T21:16:00.002Z2011-01-05T21:48:23.864Z

What do you want to hear about in this post? The choice is either a traffic jam, or how the actor Max von Sydow of Seventh Seal and Flash Gordon fame (and Blofeld in Never Say Never Again) came to my door to ask me to be his sidekick on an expedition to a far flung planet Ibisor to liberate the indigenous population after a hostile invasion by the ruthless Auserirdisch.The traffic jam, you say?

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-5064244981550745282011-01-03T21:58:00.002Z2011-01-03T23:07:07.374Z

This is going well, isn't it? Two days in a row, look.Although not much to say, I'm afraid. The only things I can think of to document are as follows;- The ongoing saga of the things wrong with our Nissan Micra- The cinema last night- That's it, so this third bullet point is misleading.The car thing is probably funny in some way, and that way is probably the, "It's funny because it's got him so

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-83923293128403516342011-01-02T21:30:00.002Z2011-01-02T21:47:57.519Z

Right. In the words Michael Jackson coined not long before he died; 'This is it.' And, like Michael Jackson, I am using it to denote the end of a fallow creative period before a massive uber comeback. I am the same as Michael Jackson.I wonder if anyone searching for Michael Jackson on the web will find this post and misunderstand that phrase. Especially someone from America, noticing someone with

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-27172283917784306402010-12-17T19:40:00.000Z2010-12-17T19:39:37.519Z

So this has been a fallow blogging period, hasn't it? A recent comment asks if I'm dead. I'm not, though the question is spookily relevant.It sounds highly morbid the way I'm about to phrase it but I've been thinking about shaping my hour of comedy around death. More specifically, the way we handle it. I'm aware how lame that sounds but I hope I can articulate myself better in actually writing

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-51660757532092872812010-11-16T13:50:00.000Z2010-11-16T13:49:49.704Z

Walking into town today I saw a red-eyed, red-faced late-middle-aged drunk man having a cigarette outside a Wetherspoons and I noticed he was wearing a jumper that I also have, a man four decades younger than he. Did this mean he was trying too hard or that I am not trying hard enough? Of course there's nothing wrong with an item of clothing straddling a generation or two, despite what some

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-51055198310562211642010-10-28T16:15:00.003+01:002010-11-03T09:40:48.727Z

Last night was going to be another run out for Nerds of a Feather after Manchester last week, which was a lot of fun. We were booked to do a special comedy night as part of the GameCity 5 video game festival in Nottingham.There's a video game devoted radio show called One Life Left, and its hosts - Simon, Ste and Ann - were hosting One Laugh Left, which would not only see Wil Hodgson performing

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-8690282995793247432010-10-16T15:11:00.005+01:002010-10-16T15:48:31.228+01:00

Not the most upbeat of topics to kick off your morning on Radio 4 yesterday and today. Yesterday was a programme concerning disenfranchised elderly homosexuals in care homes and today was about domestic violence.The former was quite moving to be honest. Hearing about an old man who was having to keep his sexuality top secret on account of the small mindedness of others in the old people's home,

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-41409061490311243322010-10-15T15:03:00.002+01:002010-10-15T15:40:06.565+01:00

Stokes' Law. Now that the Fringe is over, and the original run of 'Nerds of a Feather' is finished, I go and start thinking of stuff that could go in it. I know there are still some performances of the show to come, but I could have done with all these ideas back when I was panicking that I didn't have enough. Maybe there'll be a place for them in my own show when I get round to it, or if we

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-17151901830458265232010-10-14T14:48:00.002+01:002010-10-14T15:30:44.823+01:00

It's not exactly avant garde or cutting edge to moan about charity muggers, and I've resisted because of that. Until today, because I found myself surprised by my inner monologue when approached by one such mugger today.Particularly annoying she was as she bounced over to me in the way you only would if you hadn't seen someone for a number of years and were really excited about meeting up with

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-84926821630938862782010-10-12T11:36:00.003+01:002010-10-12T12:03:03.059+01:00

The show at the Lincoln Comedy Festival felt strange. It was quiet, which is understandable given the 3:30pm start time and the fact that nobody knows who Graham and myself are but actually seemed to zip along quite quickly. I could have sworn we only did about 40 minutes between us but looking at the clock after we finished showed we'd done the full hour.Because it was quiet, it didn't feel like

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-37096059409303594702010-10-08T22:27:00.001+01:002010-10-08T22:27:58.939+01:00

In the space of two weeks I've done two gigs where, in the interval, somebody has plied an unusual trade without being asked to. In Nottingham about a fortnight ago at the Just the Tonic's relaunch in its swanky new venue I was surprised to see a man wandering around the crowd selling cockles. Apparently he's a fixture in Nottingham but it's still an unorthodox sight in a comedy club.Then at a

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-72368417195084131332010-10-07T17:07:00.001+01:002010-10-07T17:07:28.442+01:00

Now that I've found a way to blog from my phone, I'm able to post updates on the go, from glamorous locales and exotic whereabouts.This particular update is coming from the laundrette on Fosse Road North in Leicester.A suitably exciting way of getting my mobile blogging off the ground I think. Washing bed clothes. With repeat performances of Nerds of a Feather in the not too distant future I've

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-49661711613214556612010-10-06T12:14:00.004+01:002010-10-06T12:45:37.088+01:00

So I've relocated to Leicester now, and the upheaval of the move and the weeks preceeding it have sort of prevented me from tending to this as much as I would like (is that the best excuse thus far?) but now I've almost nearly approached something approximating 'settled' (and there's an office in the new house) I can start this again.I've also found a way to blog on the move, in my usual way of

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-49535557279258147562010-09-12T15:21:00.004+01:002010-09-12T15:50:36.800+01:00

I was in an action scene from an action film last night. But in real life.I'd been driving back from Coventry after a gig at the Showcase Cinemas. It's always slightly weird given that it's in front of a massive cinema screen, but I've always really enjoyed it and last night was especially nice. I was very nearly home, about to put on my indicator to leave the motorway when a car zoomed up

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-55883743838311472442010-09-11T11:10:00.004+01:002010-09-12T15:21:11.508+01:00

This was probably the toughest Fringe thus far for me. I probably took on a bit too much and added pressures combined to make me feel utterly exhausted, resulting in something of a burn out on the final night, which I may go into at a later date. If I feel up to writing about it or, more pertinently, if I'm struggling for something to write about.On the whole though I think it went well. This

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-25779301261334419382010-09-10T17:06:00.001+01:002010-09-10T17:07:37.910+01:00

So the customary August/Fringe blogging hiatus happened. I'll get this up and running again soon, with a view to keeping on top of keeping the gig list up to date. Oh, and updating the blog itself. Promises promises...

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-91857546820865644302010-07-30T20:24:00.003+01:002010-07-30T22:07:19.159+01:00

The 'homecoming gig' (as it came to be called in my head) was... Odd. Readers of this blog will know I was pretty nervous about this gig for a myriad of reasons;1 - Edinburgh notes had been lost and only retrieved the day before2 - It was my first gig in my hometown since starting comedy3 - It was a gigI was wound up for most of the day because I was in charge of the shop, by myself, and knew

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-37257959000665734022010-07-27T09:54:00.002+01:002010-07-27T10:57:55.130+01:00

This time next week I will be in Edinburgh. The Fringe won't have started yet, but it will be crowning. You'll be able to see the head and there'll be an awful lot of shouting.This year I'm prepared for a slog, more so than I was last year. Last year I don't think I knew how hard the Fringe was, not really. This year I think I'm better equipped. I've made the most of being up there by doing

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-7266693718791800632010-07-25T14:26:00.002+01:002010-07-25T14:45:38.533+01:00

I'm waiting for a new power lead for my battery-depleted laptop. I hope it arrives soon. Ideally no later than Tuesday. See, it's got all my Edinburgh notes on it. And on Saturday I'm heading up the Fringe (stopping off doing previews along the way). And on Thursday I have a preview in the Midlands."Well why didn't you back the notes up on a memory stick or something, Chris?"See, I did. Except

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-21682265785851175492010-07-21T21:50:00.002+01:002010-07-21T22:25:38.049+01:00

I was thinking today that while, out of those I went to school with, I wasn't exactly the least likely to become a stand up comedian, neither was I the most likely. Nearer the former than the latter, I would say.I was never the class clown. Any time I did make a joke it was met with complete silence. Were the actual class clown to now try and make it as a stand up comedian based on what used

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-19413057217689991022010-07-20T16:18:00.004+01:002010-07-20T16:29:24.976+01:00

Maybe it's normal, but with the Fringe this close I've found myself in the frame of mind that everything I've got (material-wise) for Edinburgh isn't very funny. Especially as there are still little bits I haven't tried out yet.This time in a fortnight I'll be in Edinburgh gearing up for the Fringe, having done my last preview before the run starts and I'll probably be much more frantic than I

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-36852555850399251652010-07-15T09:15:00.002+01:002010-07-15T09:31:34.582+01:00

It's my birthday today. And while there's no denying that time has passed 25 years since my birth, I myself don't seem to have aged 25 years. By all accounts, I've stopped around the 18/19 mark. So basically, there's another year added on for people to disbelieve.Perhaps somehow, down to some wibbly space-time phenomenon, my body has been stasis locked at around this age? Or, as someone said

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-66246800040587102432010-07-04T10:12:00.002+01:002010-07-04T10:28:00.050+01:00

I'm glad I've got Lovefilm looking out for me. Through the post came an envelope from Lovefilm and in it were two gift cards, each for 2 free months' subscription to Lovefilm. And a letter, telling me to give them two friends or family to help make them like me more.It's heartening to think they have my interests at heart. "We need to talk about Chris... I don't think he's integrating as best

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-10430672553303687092010-06-28T18:29:00.002+01:002010-06-28T18:54:31.751+01:00

Felt like a right plum today. Sat on the bed with all the windows and the doors of the house open because of the unreal heat (for this country, I might add... I'm aware it's much hotter lots of other places) talking to myself. Well, that's what the postman must have thought when he threw the post on the doormat.I couldn't chase after him and say, "No, I'm not a mental! See I'm doing a comedy

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15891417.post-25118300896791027272010-06-24T09:00:00.002+01:002010-06-24T09:09:01.204+01:00

I reckon I could be a football commentator. Everyone could be. See, I don't know that much (for 'that much' read 'anything') about football but it doesn't sound like you need to. Listening to the England match on the radio yesterday, I heard some wonderful little nuggets."If England want to win, they're going to have to play REALLY good football..."Well obviously. It's easy to focus on the

Chris Stokeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11265182735334266877noreply@blogger.com1