At times, it’s fair to say I sometimes wonder if I’m a character in a sitcom and I just don’t know it. A case in point this week was when I had to explain to my neighbour who had kindly offered to paint my window ledges for me why I had a blow up doll lying face down on my living room carpet. Who hasn’t found themselves in a similar situation? Anyone?? Someone??

In case you are wondering why I happen to have a blow up doll in my possession, please note it’s nothing to do with the privations of lockdown. The doll was a leaving present from The Naked Magicians whose support act I was when they had a month’s residency at the Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End. (It’s a fabulous show. If you ever get the chance, go see it!)

Ursula, (to use her stage name) has spent most of her time with me ever since, squashed up in a rather deflated manner among a pile of handbags. I decided to feature her in one of my videos and called upon a good friend to blow her up for me.

Working under the precept of why do today when you can put it off till tomorrow (or possibly the day after), I never got round to filming this little cinematic gem for a few days. In the meantime, poor Ursula was left face down on my living room floor. It was during this time that my neighbour offered to paint my woodwork for me (not a euphemism).

Once the penny dropped that if my neighbour was standing at the window, she could easily see Ursula through said window, it was by then far too late to hide her.  I therefore felt duty bound to explain myself and zipped outside to give a somewhat detailed – some might say ‘too detailed’ – account of why Ursula was sprawled over the floor of my living room. My neighbour stared at me for a moment, pointed out that she didn’t have her glasses on and hadn’t actually noticed her. I wisely turned on my heels and went quietly back inside.

In more sobering news, I was interviewed this week for the podcast The Right Side of the Brain. This podcast aims to bridge the gap between the creative and the clinical, featuring a guest from the world of either arts or health, and asking them critical questions on how to connect the two. The podcast is produced by Interact Stroke Support. A great charity which, as its name implies, is dedicated to supporting stroke recovery. You can listen to their podcasts via the link below.

https://www.interactstrokesupport.org/podcast

More chatting was in order on Thursday with another round of MY Comedy Chats. In the hot seats this week were Shazia Mirza, Jojo Sutherland and Kate McCabe. It was a lot of fun – so much so that we were half an hour into the show before I looked at my watch for the fist time: the next time I looked we’d done our time. In live performance that is always a good sign. I remember once asking a comic who was doing an hour long one-man show at the Edinburgh Festival how it had gone. ‘I knew it was bad, Maureen,’ he told me ‘when I looked at my watch and realised I had 59 minutes left to go.’

You can check out the show for a limited time below.

I’ve also been busy doing another political video. Personally, I find filming these things are a time-consuming nightmare but doing the research and writing the spiel does at least get your intellectual and creative juices running. Moreover, at a time when live performance is not on the cards for a while yet it really is our only outlet at the moment. Enjoy!

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