The Extra Wipe #1: Pub Chat, Audience Number Stresses, and Guest Requests

[00:00:03] Hello and welcome to The Extra Wipe, a new spin-off from The Following Through Podcast. These are going to be shorter episodes with an assortment of bits and pieces that we haven't had time for in the normal episodes. You'll also hear some surprises, voice notes from Siobhan, and a preview of the next full-length episode. But the best thing about these episodes is you'll now get to have us in your ears every single week during the season, alternating with the regular episodes.

[00:00:32] And finally, this episode is dedicated to Siobhan's mum for requesting our episodes be much shorter. This is for you. Or Podomedy, I don't know how to say it. Podomedy. Podomedy. The network that we're with, which is going to get us loads of new listeners. Hopefully. Hopefully. We welcome you. Hello. And they're going to think we're sort of these IRL podcasters that always meet up. I was glad you said the L there. Maybe.

[00:01:00] And A, because there has been, there's that Irish affiliation. There is. There is. And you and my mum were getting on very nicely. We were. She bought you a drink. She bought me a drink, yeah. And I felt bad she spilt some of it on her hand. But she's so funny because as she was walking back to the table with your drink, and I think a little drink for herself. She turned around to Lynn, the promoter, and went, I don't really normally do pubs.

[00:01:26] And at the moment she'd come in, I turned around to Lynn and went, she's talking bollocks. She likes pubs. We've gone to pubs all our lives. So she's pretty partial to a pub. Yeah. Yeah. She just loves to say, oh, you know, I won't be here long. I'm going to go. Like she stayed when we had a drink. I drank with my friends. She stayed for another half hour just standing up, being like, I'm about to go. Because, because did you get your height, Jean, from your dad? Because she's quite small, your mum. Yes. I think I must have done. She's not that small, is she?

[00:01:56] I'm shorter than I thought. Because I thought Siobhan's mum would be tall. You've met her before, have you not? No. The wedding? I didn't meet her then. You didn't meet her. No. My 40th, she was there, but you didn't meet her then. I didn't meet her then. Because it was a big event, wasn't it? Yeah, it was a big event. Was she at Dave's? She wasn't at Dave's, no. Okay. You met all my aunties at Dave's. I met some of your aunties. Right. Do they listen to this podcast? No. Okay. My mum, she gave me, after the show, she said, your podcast's too long, you need to make them half an hour.

[00:02:26] Then she went, the Valdunican twins' podcasts are half an hour. She started talking about how good the Valdunican twins are. Oh, fuck the Valdunican twins, them again. I was like, Mother, you know you've got twins. I'm one of them. They're like your twins. Who are the Valdunican twins? They do that Operation Ouch program. They're doctors. She went, one of them's just become a professor. I was like, alright, fuck Chris Valdunican or the other one. Zand, Chris and Zand are their names. I'm thinking of Valdunican, isn't Valdunican a singer? Valdunican's a singer. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking of.

[00:02:56] He's done a cover of Streets of London, I think. Yeah, an old man singer. An old man singer. Valdunican, which of course with a name like that. Valdunican! I don't think he's Irish, but he sounds it. I think he probably is. So the Valdunican twins, that's what we'll just call them. She was like, oh, they're really good. She loves to kind of just pick a podcaster or comedian and say, aren't they good? But she was a great sport in the heckle show, wasn't she? She was good. Yeah. And obviously it was lovely to bring her to your show as well. Yeah, yeah. I think that warmed her up for yours. Oh, did you know your show warmed me up for mine?

[00:03:26] Honestly, Alex, I could not be asked. Because there was an outdoor heater. That's why. There we go. Yes, there was. It was outdoors. We've performed outdoors in October. Well done us. But no, I relied, it's relevant for this podcast, for the topic we're having today. Yeah. Because actually my intake was reliant on being from the area and having friends. Like they were all friends or friends of friends, but you had a full house of people that you didn't know. Yeah. And this is where I want to, look, I feel heartened and it was lovely to see friends. And it was lovely to have them down. And I enjoyed the show.

[00:03:56] I'm happy with the show. But it'd be, yeah, I feel like a bit of a pest. I was pesting my friends. And when they come down, you then feel indebted. Because they come down to support your show. Yeah. The third in the trilogy I've done in October by, some people call it a tour, but a tour has to be organized. These shows have fallen together. I only organized one, the other two promoters got in touch with me asking if I wanted to do a show. It's just coincidence how it happened. And the first two, the one for London.

[00:04:24] So I was hoping to do, so I did a gig in London and the venue were really keen to make it a regular thing. And I was just desperately trying to, it seemed like the weekend everyone was ahead of a plan. So you had a plan, chiffon, didn't you? But I don't hold you solely responsible for... So it was my mum's birthday. Yeah, well, yeah. You could have brought her along. Well, I did today. You did. Yeah, but... So I have done my bit of bringing mums to shows. I needed people more for the London show a couple of weeks.

[00:04:51] But I think you're also, if you're relying on friends, you're postponing the inevitable because they're not always going to be there. Yeah, exactly, exactly. They weren't in Edinburgh. No. And that was quite good to see what happens. And I did have some full shows. Yeah. So that's quite good to see what happens when your friends aren't there. Yeah. Because if you're going to make money and a living app comedy, you need to be reliant on the general public. Yes. You can't just be your friends. Because I think if you pack your shows with friends, it can lure you into forced into security. Yes. Yeah.

[00:05:21] And when they don't show up, you're devastated. Well, so, okay, the preview, I had a lot of... I had friends, but do you know what? You filled that out. You had friends and family. Your cousins were there as well. But your friends were previous audience members. Yeah. About 50% of those friends were previous audience members who used to come to the heckle shows. So they are audience who've become friends. Yeah, well, you make friends with everyone. I do. So what's the line then? Because actually... I didn't know everyone in that crowd just there. I think if you meet them from a previous gig... A previous gig.

[00:05:50] Yeah, they're not technically your friends because they didn't know you previously. They've come, they see me as a comedian, they've come and they're fans. So I've got, I have got some of those, but I just... It's interesting, obviously the last episode that we did was the Edinburgh one. Yes. And I obviously, you know, you've been editing it, I've been listening to it, and it's bringing it all back, just how burnt out I was. And I think I'm still a bit just like, it's made me just go, oh, comedy. Come on now. Yeah. I don't know, it's just burnt me out a bit. I don't know what it is about it, because I'm really glad to have done it and it was a great experience and it's a great show. Like, it's a really fun show.

[00:06:20] So everyone who's come has had a good time and I don't feel guilty about Friends coming today because I know it was a fun hour. Yeah. But that's the thing, Edinburgh Fringe makes you question everything. Yeah. It does. Yeah. I just still can't get over how hard it was and how intense it was. Yeah. And I got back to Morden. So obviously the episode people have just heard was me had to go on... Me had to go... I can't speak anymore. Me had to go on train in a nappy. The most articulate of persons.

[00:06:49] Language professional. I had to go on a train in a nappy. I was going back to that quote from the Gabby Rolls episode. Which one? The most articulate... She was saying about how she was the most articulate of... Of 20 persons. There we go. Yes. Oh, man. Oh, good old Gabby. Yeah. I got back to Morden. Yeah. And I felt a palpable sense of relief. And now, I don't know if you've been to Morden. It's not normally a place where people feel... I don't mean to Morden. But I know there are people who want me to go there. Victor.

[00:07:20] Victor. Yeah, my boy Victor. Oh, I love Victor. He's written us a lovely review, Victor has. Where was that published? Facebook. Okay. He tried to do an Apple account, an Apple review, and he couldn't... He like set up a whole account. He said, it's too hard. Bless him. He went out of his way to do us a review. So, we love you, Victor. Thank you very much. Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't even know what my point was. Should we be doing a podcast when we're tied? Oh, yeah. I got back to Morden and I felt a sense of relief. Yeah. And I got home. And the kids weren't back yet from camping.

[00:07:50] Yeah. Which obviously was good because I got to have a shower. And I just... It was that feeling of, oh, I'm home. Now, Morden, bless it. It's a bit of... Aesthetically, Edinburgh is a much more attractive city. Like, Edinburgh is a holiday destination. Morden isn't, but it will get there. But it's not. Like, it's not an aesthetically pleasing place necessarily, apart from Morden Hall Park, which is lovely. Well, keep that off your tourism videos. Yeah, we will. But I just was like, oh, I'm back. And then the kids got back and it was like, great.

[00:08:19] And even bedtimes have been hard, but it just... It made me appreciate my life. Do you know what I mean? I think before going, I was like, oh, I'm going to get to be a comedian for eight nights and like be away from the kids and stuff. And actually, I am in this stage of life. I am a mother. I'm all about... I helped out at the PTA disco. I fucking loved it. Work in the tuck shop. Like, I'm in this stage of life and I'm just... It's helped me to embrace it a bit more. Yeah. So that's kind of life affirming in that sense. It hasn't made me a better comedian.

[00:08:48] Probably think it's made me a worse comedian because I'm still a bit like, oh, comedy, you're still there. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I do. And it does make you question everything, Edinburgh Fringe. And you do think, is it worth continuing? And a lot's going to hinge for me on the settlement from the fringe. So I think I'll be arriving in the next... Probably should be in the next couple of weeks when I get the money. Well, and it's going to depend... How much money I get is going to depend whether or not I do it next year.

[00:09:18] Because if it's minimal, then it's not really worth doing. Oh, so when you say continuing, you mean continuing to do Edinburgh Fringe or continuing to do comedy? Well, that's the thing. I can't really do comedy without Edinburgh Fringe. Really? Really? No. No, I need it. I need it. If Edinburgh Fringe... I base my years around Edinburgh Fringe. Okay. And if I don't have that, then everything else seems a little pointless. Okay. Wow. I'm doing bits and pieces here and there, but I need that focus. Yeah. I need a target.

[00:09:48] If I don't have that, then I just sort of meander and don't do anything. Right. Okay. So you would need that focus to get you to keep doing it. Yeah. Because for me, my focus is gigs. I just do the gigs. I get the gigs. Yeah. And then if I get a good gig in the diary in March... I mean, I'm on a bill with Rosie Jones in March, so I can't just not gig anymore. Yeah. I need to not be shit in time for Rosie Jones. I need to put some good gigs in the diary as well. Yeah. Because that gets you... That forces you to keep going, doesn't it? Yeah.

[00:10:18] But yeah, there are times where you're just like, can't be arsed. Like, the last couple of weeks, I've just felt like doing my day job and looking after my kids. And that's it. Yeah. And that's enough to be getting on with. Yeah. Because we have also entered the midlife crisis era of our lives. Have we really? I just thought I was going to get more fabulous. Yeah.

[00:10:36] And I am. Like, look at me. I'm going to get a little bit of a pain that comes out with ideas that you've got a structure for this extra wipe show, where it's like Siobhan's voice note as like a feature because I'm always sending you long, rambling voice notes. Is that what you're thinking?

[00:11:05] Is there... What's the rest of the structure of this show? What's your thinking behind it? Talk to me, boy. Then I'd better have a shower. No, don't use this. This is just a functional, conversational, ooh, tell me what the extra wipe's going to look like. That's not... That's not fun. That's not content. I mean, yeah, okay, I sing at the end. That's vaguely entertaining, but I don't think... I don't think the shitters are going to want this. Um...

[00:11:35] Oh, I need to have a shower in a minute. I said that, didn't I? Oh, we've got a video message here. I wonder who this is from. Let's have a look. Hey, Alex and Siobhan. This is Dre Baldwin. Many know me as Dre all day. I'm sending this video along with a message to my assistant about me appearing on Following Through. Specifically, I'm reaching out because I believe your audience will benefit from a conversation about how to stay disciplined and continue executing even when motivation and willpower leave the room or they never showed up in the first place. Now, my background for you two is as a pro athlete.

[00:12:04] Played basketball overseas nine years after walking on the Division III college. That experience led to me creating a performance framework called Work On Your Game. That's based on mindset, strategy, systems, and execution. Same stuff any professional needs to perform consistently in any high-stakes environment. So, Alex and Siobhan, if this resonates, if you believe your audience will benefit from this conversation, your following through audience will benefit from this conversation, and I hope you do, because I believe there's a ton of synergy here, then I would love for us to connect on your platform and have a real conversation.

[00:12:32] Either way, I appreciate you two for taking the time, and I look forward to connecting. Talk to you soon. Yeah, I don't think he's listened to the podcast. Coming up on the next episode of the Following Through Podcast, me and Siobhan go to Go Ape, followed by The Pub. Are you fucking kidding me? Look at those gaps. I can't do that. Just watch where your feet take it slowly. Oh, my bra strap's fallen down, Alex. Oh, and listen. Please.

[00:13:00] Oh, down beside that red firelight. Oh, you're gonna let it all hang up. Fat bottom girls, you with the rocket world go round. Alright, let's never do that again.

[00:13:20] This podcast is part of Podomity, the UK's podcast comedy network. Why not laugh at what else we've got?

[00:13:48] Visit Podomity.com