Legends ‘R’ Us

It was Monday morning and I was out with my mate Boo. He’s a Jack Russell crossed with something, I don’t know what that something is but it must have had dangly ears. I look forward to our walks. It gets me up and gives me a good half an hour first thing in the morning to think or reflect.

During this particular stroll it was more about reflection. Over the weekend I had produced a couple of nights of entertainment. Saturday saw me back at Bexley Lawn Tennis, Squash and Racketball Club for my tenth comedy night there and Sunday it was the short drive over to Old Gravesendians Rugby Club for Oz Fest, an evening of fund raising and laugher. 

I was joined by some true legends of the comedy circuit, laughter was plentiful and over five thousand pounds was raised for the Maritime Medway Hospital’s Paediatric Oncology Ward. 

When I woke up on Monday Lyn’s first words were,

“I was so proud of you last night.”

Obviously she’d wandered down the stairs to tell me that because I was on the sofa as we aren’t married, yet!

I can count on three fingers the amount of people whose approval I seek. Lyn is one of them.

I have had a great two weeks (and two days) at home. We saw Joe Marler’s What People Do and Mrs Doubtfire, had multiple meals out with friends and dog walks a plenty. I took Thomas to his first West Ham home game while Lucy shopped with her cousin Jess at Westfield. Their four hours of shopping cost less than the burgers my boy and I enjoyed at half time!

I enjoyed every one of the 1,382,400 seconds on land yet there I was on our walk thinking about 43,200 of them.

Lyn’s words really hit me. I am quick to dismiss any praise. I only have to get a sense that someone is about to compliment me to start figuring out a way to distract them from their goal.  

Why then did I find myself walking across a field in the bright yet cold sunshine thinking about these shows.

Dad.

Dad’s approval.

Dad is what was missing.

I don’t need Father’s Day, a birthday or an anniversary of his untimely passing to remind me to miss Dad. It could be anything at anytime. It could be small or huge. 

On this occasion it was being surrounded by comedians. For both evenings I’d manage to book three proper London comedy circuit legends. Legend, that is a word that is banded around a little too easily nowadays but I promise you it is exactly right to use it when describing Steve Rawlings, Richard Morton and Geoff Boyz: between them there has to be more than a century’s worth of experience. When the charity show poster went out John Lenahan – another legend from the circuit – commented and within minutes he was added to the Oz Fest show.

Whenever groups of comedians get together there will always be chat. Attempts to top each other, get the biggest laugh, often a comic will step on a laugh earned by another comic in an attempt to claim said laugh as their own. Not this weekend. With these four I got to listen to stories without interruptions. I heard hearty laughter from those listening. I learned constantly.

It was while I was sitting on the bench in the first fifteen’s changing room listening to these guys share their stories that I realised a couple of things. One, I get to call them friends these days and that will always lead to me pinching myself. Two, I have learned so much from each of them over the years. These guys have lasted so long because they never settle, they’re constantly tweaking, always searching for an improvement. Three, I held my own. No longer the quiet kid in the corner beside his Dad. I held court. I laughed. I belonged.

As I typed the third ‘thing’ out I realised what scared me a little. I’ve been at this now for more than thirty years. Add that and another forty from Lenahan and that’s a show with nearly 200 years of experience.

I’d love to have known what Dad thought. Heard him tell his stories to that ‘green room’. Heard his laughter throughout.

Were these two evenings the highlight of my break from ‘work’? Nope. The whole time was a highlight. It’s just on Monday I shed a tear on my walk with Boo because that weekend made me miss another mate just a smidgeon more. 

Comments 4

  1. Lovely piece to read Paul. I had tagged Lyn coming down the stairs before I read it.. nicely done. Glad it went well for you all and hope there’ll be more Comedy Nights with great acts on soon with.. the cast of ‘Friends’ 🙌

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