The Script Writing Begins

She is very knowledgeable. In her spare time she follows current affairs. She knows about everyone who’s having an affair in our town. And to check they’re still current, she follows them...

Scripting a comedy show is a tricky beast. In our previous Edinburgh hours there was a simple, but effective formula:

1. Pose a question to the audience that relates to the next song.
2. Improvise some quips in response to their answers.
3. Tell everyone their job in the next song.
4. Perform the next song.
5. Repeat 4 times.
6. Anna J performs a surreal monologue.
7. Return to steps 1-4 and repeat 3 more times.
8. Bucket Speech. End.

This worked well. Not least because both of us were in full time work with long hours and the idea of learning anything more than the songs themselves was unrealistic.

This year things are different. This year we've dialled down the day job hours in favour of a little work-life balance. This year I decided to swap the golf visor for a blonde wig and a show that really only works as a full show and can't be diluted into something shorter than a twenty minute set.

This weekend Anna and I embarked on our first run-through of the songs since last week when we worked on who was exactly singing what in each track.

Singing is a big part of this show, unlike First World Problems which tended to only detour from the rap in choruses. My strongest singing voice up to now has been a low baritone with more than a hint of Phil Oakey from The Human League about it.

However, in DDP (an acronym for Disco Divorce Party which sounds like a department of government) I'm pushing a Gemma-Collins-having-a-breakdown vibe and this needs a little work as I currently start songs sounding nominally like the "fabulous" GC herself before turning into anyone from Michael Caine to the randy grannies created by Harry Enfield. Anna, of course, has only to switch up the moody Anna J to someone less adolescent and is already in fine voice.

Still, the songs themselves are, in my considered opinion, very much all killer and no filler and are in many ways a lot more ambitious than those in the FWP cannon. Recordings will not be online anytime soon though (see previous paragraph.)

The script is in development. The quote that kicked off this entry is from the start where we introduce each other in the style of a gameshow / dating profile. As a barometer of sophistication this will probably be as cerebral as it gets but who knows, it's taken me two hours to write two links so we've got some way to go next.

After that, learn it all - leaving opportunities for audience interaction and improv - and after that...

Dance routines.

As you can see from the photo, our cat is very much looking forward to this.