Sydney A Night at The State.

Well we were a bit of a triumph last night in Sydney. The audience rose as one.

There was only one…

No, but seriously missus….

They stood and cheered.

Very sweet.

We both thought we were a bit off in Act One, but we were wrong, they went nuts at the end, and our friends, well they were frankly embarrassing in their praise. Of course they are our friends and we were giving them free drinks but still, the enthusiasm and the awe was amazing. You can see it in their eyes. And also they said it loudly and often. One of the Campbell sisters, the brilliant artistic one, said it was the best show she’d ever seen, which frankly is going to piss off The Lion King. The more voluble actress club owner one said, well she never stopped saying how amazing it was, and the third sister the clever designer and cloth maker has promised me a shirt. Well her husband did. The indefatigable Joffe beamed proudly and paternally in his Pickwickian way, and said very nice things. It was great to see Glen Shorrock and Jo, ancient friends, and he complimented me on my guitar playing – he’s a muso so that meant a lot, whilst the Umbilical Brothers, again old friends, were filled with nothing but praise. I think the nature of our show took everyone by surprise. It’s the oddity of conversation between old friends, and quirky tit bits about early Python days, that is unexpected, and then of course we show funny clips they haven’t seen, and perform sketches they don’t know, John discourses on racist gags with hilarious examples, and I sing rude songs. It’s a bit of a two man variety show and they really appreciated it. Of course Dave Umbie said it best. “PS – your show was just pipped at the post by Tania’s hair style. Hardly recognised her! Vavavoom!”

I really will have to get rid of her if she keeps on upstaging me, but I’ve grown terribly fond of her over the years, and she just keeps on getting better. I know John and I both agree we would never have any more wives, just a tour manager, but still Tania is exceptional and I would miss her even after 39 years.

So yes it was an amazing night and to cap it all our new best friend Erica Gregan threw a drinks party for us and we all had far too much fun. I met her lovely husband George, and of course he being a Rugby God knows my cousin Nigel Wray who owns the Saracens. Small world.

Sydney is a very social society and I always, always, always have fun here. It seems sad we have only two more days before our flying circus moves on to Melbourne. That’s really too bad. Someone should invent a really good reason for me to stay around here doing not very much. Actually John wrote his memoirs in The Four Seasons here for four months. That’s a very good idea. I should come back here and write his memoirs….

Well it’s a rainy Sydney morning so I’ve asked the wife to bring out her finest lingerie and I’m going to put it on. 

 After breakfast obviously.

 Then a good deal of resting and it’s back to the rather daunting dressing room at the glorious State Theatre, where the walls are filled with signed posters of the funniest people ever: Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey, Eddie, Dame Edna, Joan Rivers etc etc. No wonder I felt a little anxious at the beginning, but the missus said I came on with a spring in my step and no one noticed the limp. That’s thanks to excellent Footlights Training…

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