Mess Around UK 2011 – London Night 2

Hey ho all

Night two of the London run of Mess Around took place tonight, and it was one of the most fun ones ever.

There was a lot going on at once and it’s a little hard to do justice to it – it really was one of those “you had to be there” shows – but I’ll do my best.

It all started before the show as I sat backstage trawling through tweets. There were a couple that caught my eye from people that were on their way to the show, and I made a note to follow them up on stage. They included:

BalernoDad Jonny Seaton –

@sohotheatre to see @adamhillscomedy in #messaround bit of an impromptu one but looking forward to it! Still wearing suit #asking4trouble

followed by:

BalernoDad Jonny Seaton

@KearaPatricia off to see @adamhillscomedy in Landan tonight, does this count as homework for your comedy course??

and

BalernoDad Jonny Seaton

@adamhillscomedy break a leg would be slightly inappropriate so #breakafunnybone

Turns out Jonny Seaton was a Business Manager from Edinburgh, who had taken part in a comedy course with my friend Keara Murphy. He said he had a few minutes of material, so I asked him if he’d like to give us an impromptu performance.

However, the other tweet that had caught my eye before the show was this one:

bobballardsport Bob Ballard

really looking forward and getting a tad excited (calm down dear) at seeing @adamhillscomedy tonight.

A bit of research showed that Bob Ballard is a BBC1 Sports Commentator – so I suggested that after Jonny did his spot, he should replay the entire thing while Bob commentated it. So we did.

Jonny’s gig looked like this:

I then took the liberty of taking a few promo shots for Jonny’s website. Firstly, the “performing” shot:

Then the “performer’s perspective” shot:

And finally, the “standing ovation” shot:

The set was really good, and included the line “There are too many Aussies in this place. Which is a sentence that also applies to London.” It got a round of applause.

Jonny then repeated the set sotto voce, while Bob provided his expert BBC commentary. I can’t tell you how funny it was but I can say this – I have never laughed so hard at something an audience member was improvising. Fair play gentlemen, and thanks to you both, you can of course follow them on twitter @bobballardsport and @BalernoDad.

Oh, this is Bob:

While all this was going on, I was dipping in and out of the story of a couple in the third row, which in short went like this:

He was another Johnny, an Englishman who looked and sounded like an Australian. She was his Aussie girlfriend who sounded like a Brit, and according to Johnny – “we’ve known each other for two years, but we’ve been together two weeks this time.”

That sentence peaked the interest of all in the crowd, especially a typical Aussie bloke in the front row called Gordon. Turns out Gordon was married – to the guy next to him. When I expressed surprise, Gordon asked “Why are you surprised? Cos I’m married or cos I’m a homo?” We then decided that “homo” should now be the only politically correct term for gay people, and somehow landed on the slogan “Cos nothing rhymes with homo”.

I kept at it with Johnny and his lady (Man I feel bad, it’s two hours after the show and I have completely forgotten her name. Please leave a comment if you were there and remind me) and found out they met on their gap years in Jerusalem, have seen each other occasionally since, and are now together in London.

I then constructed a movie trailer around their life that included such lines as: “He was a posh boy from London. She was an Aussie on holiday. They met in Jerusalem and wailed at the wall. Love brought them together, but travel visas kept them apart…” and so on.

As their story reached a crescendo I suggested that what we needed was an appropriately mushy love song. Gordon broke out a few bars of “Hello” by Lionel Richie, and I knew what must come next. Gordon and I took a mic each, and broke out a duet of “Hello”

I asked Gordon’s husband Mark to take a photo which he did:

I took a photo of the subjects of the song too, and they looked like this:

He also took a video, and as soon as I can work out how to upload it to youtube , I will.

Finally, I picked up on the thread of a story that started last night with a young man called Alistair. Alistair was a 20 year old in the front row who was looking for love “actively.” I have taken it upon myself to find a lady for Alistair, and after one lady last night offered to return to the show tomorrow, I found another love possibility by the name of Milena from Bulgaria.

She was also in the front row, and upon seeing a photo of Alistair, declared him an 8 out of 10. When I showed the photo to Gordon and asked for a rating he replied “I’d give him seven and a half inches”

Once again the show ended with a cliffhanger, as I asked Milena if she would come back to the show on Friday (the only day she is available).

She replied “Maybe”, the crowd went “Dum dum daaaa”, and I left the stage.

To be continued…..

Adam