Ria Lina - You Should've Been Here Last Week

[00:00:00] You Can Count The Punxers On One Hand, But Our Sweat They Wake Up, Lady Rant, They Were Filled Up To The

[00:00:13] God Homes, They Were Pueing Down The Street They Tainted You Should've Been Here Last Week, Us Where?

[00:00:20] You Should've Been Here Last Week, Oh Yeah, You Should've Been Here Last Week.

[00:00:31] Hello and welcome to another edition of You Should've Been Here Last Week, the podcast

[00:00:35] presented by myself, Steve Gribbin and fellow comedian Paul Ricketts.

[00:00:40] There he is down there, whatever. And in this podcast we interview prominent performers

[00:00:47] and promoters and indeed artists who make up the kaleidoscopic cornucopia that is the beauty of the British comedy

[00:00:57] milieu. Oh my goodness! So this week we have as I'll guest on the podcast the standup

[00:01:04] comedian, writer, performer, panel show, goddess and indeed qualified virologist, the marvelous

[00:01:14] realina. So today as I'll guest we have realina and obviously she has appeared on TV, radio

[00:01:26] as well as many stages renowned comic but today we're not going to talk about that,

[00:01:31] not a bit, but we're going to sort of focus on touring which seems to be a big thing now

[00:01:37] amongst comedians to sort of making a choice to go on the touring route rather than

[00:01:44] doing the clubs as a way to get more success and build up an audience which of course

[00:01:50] naturally you've gone into this due to your TV appearances over the last couple of years.

[00:01:57] I suppose the first question I'm going to ask about this, what's the big difference between touring

[00:02:02] and doing normal club circuit?

[00:02:04] Touring is an interesting one. The main difference is the stress levels because

[00:02:09] you're selling tickets off your own name. So when you go on the circuit people go will you come

[00:02:14] and do this slot for this amount of money? You say yes and in theory no matter what happens

[00:02:19] at the gig you get that money whether two people show up whether it sells out you get

[00:02:24] what you agreed. There are times where people cancel a gig, cancel a circuit gig and

[00:02:29] they go yeah I can't pay you because the gig didn't happen and you go I'm afraid

[00:02:32] that's not quite how contracts work. We have an agreement that if I'm willing and

[00:02:37] able to show up and do the job that you pay me regardless of how many tickets you sold

[00:02:41] but that's a totally different conversation and could probably take us a month by itself.

[00:02:46] I mean a whole episode by itself just to discuss it.

[00:02:49] I've got a big list of the people to do that.

[00:02:52] Anyway, but when you tour you're obviously banking on your own it's basically like doing

[00:02:58] Edinburgh. I think people who have ever been to the Edinburgh French Festival or any

[00:03:02] festival know that when you're going there you're going to go see an artist do a show

[00:03:06] in their own name and so therefore they eat according to how many people come to see

[00:03:12] the show and it's the same thing but we just do it all across the country over a series

[00:03:17] of weeks or months and by the end of it if you've done it right you have an ulcer.

[00:03:24] Does that think when you're doing an Edinburgh show isn't there as well?

[00:03:29] You can't stop yourself from I got told off one year by the guy that was running my

[00:03:34] show for standing outside counting the people coming in before the show had started

[00:03:40] and that was all I could think about.

[00:03:43] No, I don't know what's wrong with you.

[00:03:46] I don't know what's wrong with counting your audience.

[00:03:49] Well, I should have been concentrating on getting ready for the show but I was like

[00:03:53] already at the beginning of the show going on Christ 23.

[00:03:58] 23 so can we pause on the house and thinking about having 23 in Edinburgh French?

[00:04:04] Do you know what, I deliberately chose a higher number than there's actually two.

[00:04:10] The thing about number counting especially in an Edinburgh show is it just exactly puts

[00:04:15] you off. I've even seen acts who come up on stage and I can see them in the first

[00:04:20] minute of their show just scanning across the rose going less than the less than

[00:04:25] the 12 I need to make my money back.

[00:04:28] So it's just you can't make your money back with 12 given I mean the expenses are

[00:04:33] insane by the time you've paid to get into the brochure which if people don't know

[00:04:38] this, it's 300 quid just to be listed in the brochure then you need to in some way

[00:04:43] in the room. I know that they said there's free festivals and free fringes but those are now

[00:04:48] coming with modicum but upfront costs and then you've got your PR pay for your flyers,

[00:04:54] your flyers, your accommodation in Edinburgh and it's a similar sort of it's a similar

[00:05:00] sort of process with touring up front touring you've got you know you book all of the

[00:05:05] rooms if you're if you're lucky those deals will be on a ticket split so you'll agree

[00:05:10] that you're not going to split the cost of tickets so you're not having an upfront

[00:05:14] cost but then some venues will say but it'll cost this much to go in our mail out

[00:05:17] this much to go in our brochure this much you know if you want us to do a flyer drop

[00:05:21] in the local area everybody will want a certain number of flyers and posters so

[00:05:25] you're buying all of that up front you are you know PR if you're going to hire someone

[00:05:29] to help you get local press attention to get bums on seats that will have upfront

[00:05:35] costs how are you going to get there all of your train costs, your accommodation if

[00:05:39] if you've done it smart and my my tour managers are brilliant I'm working with

[00:05:43] little wander and they're absolutely brilliant so they've every week it's a

[00:05:47] run of gigs but in a similar area like I have a Southwest run and then I come

[00:05:51] back and I have a you know a Yorkshire run and then I come back which really saves

[00:05:56] on cost so instead of going from London to Yorkshire and back again and then the

[00:06:00] next day to Dorchester and then the next day to Tonton it's it's all very

[00:06:04] sensibly laid out but I've seen some crazy I've seen people's listings you know

[00:06:10] when they put they publish here's my tour and you go you're zigzagging across

[00:06:14] the country day after you know in one week what do you want to book this I had

[00:06:20] one of the I had only one in my last run of tours where they booked me in leads

[00:06:25] and then Kendall and that's and if you look on a map it seems to make sense

[00:06:31] because they're both in the north and and they're quite close to each other but

[00:06:35] if you look at it from a public transport point of view there is nothing that

[00:06:39] crosses the moors that gets you from leads to to Kendall so you actually have to

[00:06:43] go down to something like Sheffield across you know or down into the Midlands

[00:06:47] across and then up again to get to the Lake District and so that was

[00:06:51] that was the only crazy link that I had in the last one but these are all the

[00:06:55] things that go into it before you've even sold a single ticket.

[00:06:59] So you've got the costs. You also you just touched on it the travel so you have

[00:07:07] you done you're doing your tour by train. This one I'm not so the last one I did I did

[00:07:13] 21 dates last year and I did it all by myself and I did it by by public

[00:07:17] transport and it broke me my goodness it broke me so this time I'm very much

[00:07:24] I've basically this is another cost I'm gonna have a tour manager

[00:07:28] and he's going and we're gonna lease a car and he's gonna drive me everywhere

[00:07:32] but I looked at sort of the costs analysis of it. It's similar to having a tour

[00:07:38] opener if you have someone who opens for you on tour which I don't because my show's 90

[00:07:42] minutes so I do both 45 minutes by myself but if you have a tour opener the idea is

[00:07:46] well you pay them to do a quick 20 minutes set in the first half they drive you

[00:07:50] there and back and then you have a bit of company as well so I've opted for

[00:07:56] tour manager and and and a merch table

[00:08:04] like I can do 20 minutes of comedy in the first half but what I can't do is sell

[00:08:08] t-shirts in the interval so that's the plan. I mean we could talk about the

[00:08:14] artistic difference as well isn't it because there is you know you've got to write

[00:08:18] it just to show half if you're touring does it have to have a theme does that help

[00:08:24] I mean I think we've all I mean this is where we get into the nuts and bolts of

[00:08:28] stand-up isn't it and the archery of it and where it is actually not you can do

[00:08:32] an hour of funny stand-up at a tour and I don't think audience members are gonna

[00:08:38] leave going oh I didn't I didn't feel closure at the end of that all I did was laugh

[00:08:42] I don't I don't think that's ever going to be a criticism from from a ticket

[00:08:48] paying audience member but if you want critical acclaim or if you want you know

[00:08:52] to be considered for Netflix or an Amazon special the recipe I think there does have

[00:08:56] to be a little bit more art to it but I think it's important to say there is a huge

[00:09:00] difference in my opinion there's a huge difference between a tour show and

[00:09:04] an Edinburgh show and I think they're two different things I think to have a

[00:09:08] theme to have a to have an arc yes I just saw Ed burn last night and he did do his show in

[00:09:14] Edinburgh and then he took it on tour but he very much had a message and a

[00:09:19] theme that he was sticking to but it was a tour show so I think the show was about

[00:09:24] an hour and twenty minutes which is obviously long Edinburgh shows tend to be

[00:09:29] 55 60 minutes because everything in Edinburgh is an hour long slots you rarely

[00:09:34] getting longer than that Edinburgh shows tend to have a real paythouse moment you know

[00:09:39] at about 40 minutes where they just go and then he died in order to just wake

[00:09:45] up the Edinburgh audience who is watching their fourth show of the day yeah

[00:09:49] because the theme of death is quite common one of the Edinburgh shows isn't it

[00:09:54] death or your ADHD diagnosis I think that's sort of the themes that we're seeing these days

[00:10:01] death or ADHD you decide so I think a tour show is definitely different I

[00:10:08] think this is my first tour so I'm very aware that it's an introductory tour I'm

[00:10:13] getting you know people are coming to see me sometimes as in the case of I

[00:10:17] think 100% of the card of audience only 66% of whom actually showed up to the

[00:10:23] show came to see me because yeah well if you put your tickets on sale a year in advance

[00:10:29] people forget that they bought them or when the date comes they go oh we have

[00:10:35] those tickets but we also have you know the kids school play is tonight or the

[00:10:40] life life gets in the way life happens and so there's always I found that on

[00:10:45] average about oh I'd say between 10 and 20% of advanced sales don't show up

[00:10:52] but in Cardiff it was 30% and in a room that only held it was between 80 and 100

[00:11:00] seats there's a small little theater is a cute room you know and I done at

[00:11:04] Gagan there a couple months prior which was lovely so I was really looking forward

[00:11:09] to it it's a great art center and we'd sold out fairly quickly and in fact there

[00:11:14] was a bit of a waiting list and then 30% of the people didn't show up so

[00:11:18] the room felt empty it really felt you know it felt unsuccessful even though I

[00:11:23] was standing going I know I've sold out but it doesn't feel sold out because

[00:11:28] people haven't showed up but then those that did show up stared at me they

[00:11:32] chose to suddenly see somebody get on stage and go let me tell you about

[00:11:37] dick pics. I mean in a sense though it's part of the bargain that you've

[00:11:43] had to strike to get the people to come in the first place you have to be

[00:11:47] seen on the TV don't you? Exactly how I negotiated co-hosting pointless I

[00:11:53] said look I'll do this because I need the ticket sales but you know and they

[00:11:57] went oh all right then no I think I love how you phrase it as if it was a

[00:12:02] bargain genuinely they came to me and said will you do this?

[00:12:08] How much would you say that social media is I mean because you're a big and

[00:12:13] very very skillful user of social media how much would you say that contributes

[00:12:18] to the success or not of at all? I think that's very much depending on where

[00:12:23] you stand thank you for thinking that I have a big and successful user social

[00:12:28] media I can tell you though and I look to other accounts I go wow those are

[00:12:33] big and very successful users of social media I wish I could be like them.

[00:12:39] Yeah social I mean social media is is a necessary evil isn't of what we're

[00:12:45] doing now and and it and it I mean what's happened in technology in the last

[00:12:51] sort of 20 years has forced comedians to learn skills that none of us wanted

[00:12:54] to learn we never wanted to learn how to edit or I mean look what we're

[00:12:59] doing now we're recording a podcast and Paul's going to go away and and and

[00:13:02] successfully audio edits which is again nothing that we used to was never

[00:13:08] string to our bows in the old days we used to it used to be a little bit more

[00:13:12] of a meritocracy before television and before the internet where you just had to

[00:13:15] get on stage and be funny and then a TV producers would come and and go you

[00:13:19] it is your turn you right now sit in the light and you get on TV and then

[00:13:24] that's it your you know your future was made and and we can see that we can

[00:13:28] see generationally people's careers according to when they got famous I mean

[00:13:32] there was a bit of a bottleneck that happened and I don't know exactly when but

[00:13:36] there was a bottleneck that happened maybe before let's say before the pandemic

[00:13:40] hit where up to that point where we had five TV channels and people kind of

[00:13:45] just watched a little bit of of cable and the streamers were just starting to

[00:13:49] come in if you made it on television before that point you were in everybody's

[00:13:54] minds you were in everybody's living rooms when live at the Apollo first started

[00:13:57] 1819 years ago you if you did that that's it you were selling DVDs at Christmas

[00:14:02] whereas now there's so many choices of what to watch including YouTube clips

[00:14:08] not just Netflix and not just Amazon and not just be that that BBC I player

[00:14:12] isn't the draw isn't the pool that it used to be people don't sit and watch

[00:14:16] television on a Saturday they sit down and they watch whatever they want to

[00:14:20] on a Saturday so just because you've done Apollo doesn't mean that you will sell

[00:14:25] out your next towards used to and it also means that that getting from stage one

[00:14:30] of television entry which is okay you've guessed it on mock the week or you've

[00:14:33] guessed it on live at the Apollo doesn't mean that you'll get to stage two and

[00:14:37] stage two is where they go we we have a program we have this new format

[00:14:41] and it's perfect it's perfect for Steve ribbon we must get him hosting and in

[00:14:46] the old days they go who Steve ribbon and they'll go he's this great comic he does

[00:14:50] these fabulous songs topical songs and he's perfect to host a show and they'll

[00:14:54] go great let's give him a go now they'll go nobody knows Steve ribbon they won't

[00:14:58] watch the show let's give it to you know let's give it to Catherine Ryan and

[00:15:02] they'll go Catherine Ryan's great this show doesn't suit her doesn't matter if

[00:15:05] she'll say yes we want her because people will watch because it's Catherine

[00:15:08] Ryan and she and don't get me wrong she's wonderful and she she I know that

[00:15:13] she also work you know if stuff comes away she's like yes I must say yes

[00:15:18] because we're all we're all wired to say yes to everything that comes in because

[00:15:22] we never know when the next offer is going to come in or when it's going to stop

[00:15:25] but that means that because now we are people led instead of program led it's

[00:15:29] much harder for anybody in this in the block that I'm in to just it's much

[00:15:34] harder to push through to the next level because taking a chance on a new

[00:15:37] person isn't financially viable for any of the channels anymore.

[00:15:43] It's interesting the answer you just gave because that chimes with

[00:15:46] we've interviewed Steve and Grant and he said very similar things that

[00:15:51] you know like five years ago people going this is it the internet is a

[00:15:55] meritocracy it's a you know it's a level playing field etc etc.

[00:16:00] But what people didn't take account of is the fact that millions of

[00:16:03] people with their pile into this new area and this the fragmentation as

[00:16:09] you've just said it's huge and there's this constantly more and more people

[00:16:14] pouring into that space so it's harder to get any traction and it's

[00:16:19] in fact a lot of the time it can be a pure matter of chance you know like

[00:16:23] the hot water video that made Paul Smith famous as spoken to him about

[00:16:27] this was one where he you know he took the piss out of a pair of

[00:16:31] trainers that someone was wearing and within weeks it had got like a

[00:16:36] million views and to this day he still doesn't know why.

[00:16:40] The thing about the internet is that that's the only place we have left

[00:16:43] that's the only meritocracy left for us to get coverage is is the

[00:16:50] internet is to hope that we can get to a point where our follower

[00:16:53] count means that they can't ignore you on the more traditional platforms

[00:16:57] you know that and that's what they're looking at now you were never able

[00:17:01] to quantify someone's success before social media you know they just went

[00:17:09] she's funny we're going to put her on telly oh she's still funny we're

[00:17:13] going to keep putting her on telly or he's really good now you can

[00:17:17] literally go how successful is realena well you just go and look

[00:17:22] across my platforms add up all the numbers and go oh not a successful

[00:17:27] as a road comic in the US road comics in the US have higher

[00:17:31] follower counts than all of us and they've not done telly and they've

[00:17:35] not done anything but they're touring around and playing to an

[00:17:38] audience of 350 million people and we have a country of 70 million

[00:17:42] people so what's good over there it I mean what's good over here is

[00:17:46] nothing over there I'm seeing I mean and their decent comics I'm watching

[00:17:50] them and following them but I'm looking at their credits going I have more

[00:17:53] television credits than some of the road comics that they have 100k

[00:17:56] followers on Instagram because they're just exposed to more people

[00:18:01] over time and also they're exposed to an audience like you know if you

[00:18:04] do the the college circuit over there they're all on insta they're all

[00:18:07] going to follow you after a game and so now that we're able to

[00:18:11] actually be quantified it's a lot harder to just go but I'm really

[00:18:14] funny they go yeah but the world doesn't think so doesn't

[00:18:17] yeah but the thing is don't you think that somebody there are

[00:18:22] different mediums so someone could be

[00:18:26] it's cliffhanger every time he freezes it's a

[00:18:30] sorry they're different mediums basically so you see this now this is

[00:18:37] a phenomenon that's happened over the last three or four years of

[00:18:40] so-called influences yeah making no way on to the UK comedy circuit

[00:18:47] and many of them have not got the chops to do it properly they

[00:18:52] get the you know live comedy as it was just a bit worried about

[00:18:56] the fact that if somebody can be really really really funny and

[00:19:00] then if it doesn't translate I'm saying the powers that be

[00:19:03] are the audience that buy this ticket so you've got let's say

[00:19:06] you've got some is a sketch comic they do short little 60 to

[00:19:10] 90 second videos on on Instagram and TikTok they build up a

[00:19:14] following of a quarter of a million or a million people they now

[00:19:17] can sell live tickets to a live tour and they're going to sell out

[00:19:20] that tour and maybe even it's a mid-level tour maybe they're playing

[00:19:23] thousand or two thousand cedar venues that's good money to you in

[00:19:27] me if we if we got 70% of a sold out thousand cedar venue

[00:19:31] that's us for a month that money but the what you have to remember

[00:19:35] is that people follow people now so if they love that person

[00:19:39] for what they do they will love them when they're human on stage

[00:19:42] and trying to get better they will love them just to be in the same

[00:19:46] as them they will love them if they do a meet and greet afterwards

[00:19:49] and they will buy tickets to the next one they that's a that

[00:19:52] audience is is captured that's a captured audience

[00:19:56] and so we can sit here and go oh but they're not as good at the

[00:20:00] live craft as we are after we've done it for you know

[00:20:03] dozen years but the tickets or souls that then the money is

[00:20:09] had I think that's that's that's the frustrating thing

[00:20:14] there it the connection isn't between talent and money anymore

[00:20:18] that you want to make it go well the best people it used to be

[00:20:20] that and that's kind of the that old mind frame from the 90s

[00:20:23] into two thousands it was pretty much trickle to the top

[00:20:26] and get to the next level it was it was a fairly steady progression

[00:20:30] for I would say 80 to 90% of the comics in the industry

[00:20:34] is that you just sort of trickle up and there are people now working

[00:20:37] now whom I greatly respect who were headliners when I started

[00:20:41] and they're still headliners today because we also

[00:20:45] don't have the drop off that we used to have like when I first

[00:20:49] started all of the headliners they were the headliners

[00:20:52] there was no one above them there was no one like retired

[00:20:55] there was no one above them and here we are and they're still

[00:20:58] the headliners so we haven't had the we haven't had the

[00:21:01] throughput of you know people moving on that we used to have

[00:21:04] we just have more and more people starting at the beginning

[00:21:07] so it needs to be either a cow at the bottom or a color at the top

[00:21:11] something's got

[00:21:14] yes that's really what I came on this podcast is say

[00:21:18] is that we need to call

[00:21:20] yeah

[00:21:21] no but what I'm saying is that is that it is now

[00:21:25] let me when you say what is success

[00:21:28] you can't just go on the funny I was the funniest on the bill

[00:21:31] successes is now is usually always bottom line a monetization

[00:21:36] issue and if by getting a million people on Instagram you can

[00:21:41] monetize a live tour then that has to be seen as success even

[00:21:46] if that tour isn't as funny quote as funny as what any of us

[00:21:51] might put on tour it's how can you argue that their sold out

[00:21:56] tour is in the success do you know me and they will get

[00:22:00] better the smart ones will get better we see that all the time

[00:22:03] people who get success before they're ready for it but they're smart

[00:22:06] they work hard and then and they're given all the chances

[00:22:10] that's what's the most frustrating is when they're not ready

[00:22:12] for it and they're given enough chances to get good at it

[00:22:15] and then you go oh I would have been good from the first chance

[00:22:18] so Paul Smith when you think about it because as hard

[00:22:22] they got any TV credits to tool yeah but saying out a really big

[00:22:27] tool based on followers so I think what you were saying is

[00:22:31] what's more important here is getting the followers once you got

[00:22:34] your followers and built up a huge amount of them

[00:22:37] of course you can do you can do your tour in a strange

[00:22:41] sort of way that is circumventing TV gatekeepers of all

[00:22:45] of that and he's doing it independently well you say gatekeepers

[00:22:49] but actually he's doing it the new way yeah that is the

[00:22:53] new way yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

[00:22:56] Daniel Fox fabulous he's a new comic but with already a great

[00:23:01] track record of writing musicals and successful in his own

[00:23:04] right in that regard but he was doing sketches online

[00:23:07] and he ended up with a quarter of a million across you

[00:23:09] know he's got to think at least if not more by now a quarter

[00:23:12] million on TikTok quarter of a million on on Insta

[00:23:14] so as a new comic he was able to sell out his work in progress

[00:23:18] tours before he went on tour and I'm like well how many of us

[00:23:22] are desperate for work in progress stage time while we

[00:23:25] work out a show for Edinburgh or work out a show for

[00:23:28] tours I was doing going hang on a second just by doing

[00:23:31] that he's able to say to them honestly hey thank you so

[00:23:35] much for your support this is me vulnerable and working

[00:23:38] stuff out and then I'm gonna take it on tour so they're coming

[00:23:42] twice so he's not needing the circuit at all for that

[00:23:46] self-sufficient and it you know absolutely print but it also

[00:23:49] because he can do that he's going to exponentially increase

[00:23:52] his ability to improve because he has access to all of

[00:23:57] that stage time yeah well I answered my question yeah

[00:24:04] yeah do you need to go and do some Instagram videos no I

[00:24:09] get it's frustrating because again our old my our mindset

[00:24:13] is listen if you a promoter put on a gank and you hire us

[00:24:17] to come and do our jobs our job is to show up and do the

[00:24:20] gig your job is to fill the room with punters yeah now

[00:24:25] some promoters would argue but if I book you a UF TV

[00:24:29] credits or if you you know want the gig to go well it's

[00:24:32] in your interest to reshare the gig so that people show

[00:24:35] up and see the gig and see you know and come and buy tickets

[00:24:39] and there's been this age old debate between comedians

[00:24:42] and promoters as to whose job it is to promote the gig

[00:24:46] and again at the end of the 90s it was a hundred but I

[00:24:50] think is 100% to promoters job because there was no

[00:24:53] social media if you want to put posters up around the

[00:24:56] neighborhood if you're going to do a flyer drop however

[00:24:58] you're going to advertise that that is on you because

[00:25:01] I'm not getting a ticket split I'm just getting a lump

[00:25:05] some and I'm going to get that money whether you sell

[00:25:08] out or not and if you sold out clearly you've made a good

[00:25:10] amount of money probably more than me so it was always

[00:25:13] a hundred percent of the promoter but now we're in this

[00:25:15] fuzzy area of going well you should be retweeting

[00:25:18] now from my point of view as an act if I retweeted

[00:25:21] every gig I did in the year between the three of us

[00:25:23] I mean think about between you're probably doing what

[00:25:25] 300 gigs a year whatever day every weekend that's

[00:25:28] minimum if you just do Friday Saturday that's

[00:25:31] 100 and and for gakes that you're retweeting

[00:25:34] your followers don't want to see 104 retweets

[00:25:40] of gakes they want valuable content they're following

[00:25:43] you for you they're not following you to find out the

[00:25:46] one time a year that you're near them obviously they want

[00:25:49] to know that but if you only have 2000 followers

[00:25:52] you need to keep them happy otherwise they'll

[00:25:54] unfollow you so I'm not going to be some some

[00:25:57] gigs retweet it some gig start promoting two months

[00:26:00] in advance and then they'll text me go hi could

[00:26:03] you please retweet the and I go listen to you don't

[00:26:06] be gigs I have between now and your gig I have to

[00:26:08] do them in order and I have to then balance that

[00:26:11] out with other content but otherwise I'm just

[00:26:14] going to be spamming my audience and they will

[00:26:16] switch off so if you want my audience who lives

[00:26:19] near you to come to your gig you're going to have

[00:26:21] to wait your turn and on the week of the gig I

[00:26:24] will let them know I'm in their area okay yeah

[00:26:27] and so that you know but it's a real bugbear

[00:26:30] now is to whose job it is to push things

[00:26:33] yeah can I can I ask as well I'm I just

[00:26:35] wanted to ask this question about the

[00:26:37] difference between and because you are on I

[00:26:40] know you don't say you're not but you are on

[00:26:42] social media a lot and you're saying that they're

[00:26:44] following you for you it's an issue there

[00:26:46] off because it's a relentless isn't it you have

[00:26:49] to keep keep tweeting or keep you know posting

[00:26:53] on social media I am on there a lot in comparison

[00:26:57] to you definitely I go through phases myself

[00:27:01] which is again this is a mental whole thing

[00:27:04] they're phases where I feel capable of sharing

[00:27:08] and I'll do that and there are times where

[00:27:11] I don't want to talk to anyone and there so

[00:27:13] there are periods of time where I don't I think

[00:27:15] if you follow me over time you would see that

[00:27:17] it's actually peaks and stroughs so it seems

[00:27:19] constant but I don't see so if I'm you know

[00:27:25] sharing a gig so somebody I will share all

[00:27:28] gigs that I'm at I decided a long time ago

[00:27:31] that it was in my interest to let people know

[00:27:34] where I am because that's how you maintain

[00:27:36] an audience is to say hey I'm near you

[00:27:38] we're only in port smith maybe once or twice a year

[00:27:41] so if your fans from port smith miss that gig

[00:27:43] they're going to be gutted so give them every

[00:27:46] opportunity to see it that being said the number

[00:27:49] of times that I've had someone message me

[00:27:51] the week after I've been in their city and go

[00:27:53] hey when are you next in this city and I'll be

[00:27:55] like last week last week and especially

[00:27:59] my tour dates where they went oh I missed that

[00:28:02] when did that happen I was like last year

[00:28:04] I put my tour tickets on sale last year

[00:28:07] I've been coming to your city for a year

[00:28:11] you missed me by a week I could I can't and then

[00:28:15] like oh but I keep checking your website

[00:28:17] I'm like you clearly haven't checked my website

[00:28:20] but I promise you I promise you 110 other people

[00:28:25] knew that I was coming last week because

[00:28:28] they showed up to the gig so so there is

[00:28:33] I will I will promote every gig what I try

[00:28:36] and do is add a little bit of content

[00:28:38] so when I'm when I don't want to when

[00:28:41] I can't give of myself because you know

[00:28:43] mental exhaustion and mental health and the

[00:28:45] rest of it I will just retweet their

[00:28:47] times I just go I'm you know it's I'm

[00:28:49] just going to bed it's 1 a.m. retweet

[00:28:51] but I do my best to share it with a quote

[00:28:54] it's you know you can quote share something

[00:28:56] like I try my best to go hey folks

[00:28:59] I'm down in in in

[00:29:01] uh

[00:29:02] Worthing hope you're worth it whatever

[00:29:04] just just something to say

[00:29:06] I am consciously behind this retweet

[00:29:08] so that they know that I am

[00:29:10] putting myself you know

[00:29:12] that I'm putting part of myself there

[00:29:13] instead of just a mindless retweet

[00:29:16] but I do go through I do go through

[00:29:19] faces and you will be faces where you will

[00:29:21] see me tweet my dinner and to tweet

[00:29:23] you what I'm cooking

[00:29:24] and then there will be whole weeks

[00:29:26] weeks if not a couple of weeks where I go

[00:29:28] I just can't face it and I think that

[00:29:30] that's legitimate because I think

[00:29:31] mental health wise being on there

[00:29:33] all the time also how much you give

[00:29:35] of yourself I've never ever post I

[00:29:38] think when I did a show I know

[00:29:41] that's not true 10 years ago I did a

[00:29:43] show called School of Reason and it was

[00:29:45] about homeschooling my children

[00:29:47] and so my children were in that promo

[00:29:49] and we're in that campaign but

[00:29:51] other than that like as a day to day

[00:29:53] I don't post my children I don't go

[00:29:55] I might say that I'm with my children

[00:29:57] or might say hey I took my kids to

[00:29:59] Leeds Castle but I don't post a selfie

[00:30:01] with my children so they've

[00:30:03] so if my children are walking down

[00:30:05] the street you would not be able to

[00:30:07] go that's real in his kit

[00:30:09] that's up that's kind of up to them

[00:30:11] and they're not old enough

[00:30:13] yet to make that decision and actually

[00:30:15] none of them they all have social

[00:30:16] media accounts until my knowledge

[00:30:18] none of them have ever posted

[00:30:20] public pictures of themselves

[00:30:22] and that and and whether that's

[00:30:24] because they're just not

[00:30:26] minded to do it or whether

[00:30:28] that's because they've actively

[00:30:30] seen my life in my social media

[00:30:32] and if therefore

[00:30:34] shied away from it on purpose

[00:30:36] I'm not sure.

[00:30:37] Yeah so when you get into a

[00:30:39] touring situation does that mean

[00:30:41] that you go into social media

[00:30:43] overdrive?

[00:30:45] Well actually this funny you say

[00:30:47] that I'm just thinking now about

[00:30:49] ways of providing content

[00:30:51] and how to do it.

[00:30:53] I'm not sure about how

[00:30:55] being boring if you know so

[00:30:57] so I am about to go on tour

[00:30:59] which actually gives me a lot

[00:31:01] more time to create content

[00:31:03] and one of the things I don't

[00:31:05] do a lot I don't do a lot of

[00:31:07] pieces to camera so you see

[00:31:09] that I'm on social media a lot

[00:31:11] but you don't see me going hey

[00:31:13] Fox I'm just backstage and I'm

[00:31:15] just doing this I'm not

[00:31:17] comfortable with that I don't

[00:31:19] see you going to be comfortable

[00:31:21] with that I'm not comfortable with

[00:31:23] that I'm not comfortable speaking

[00:31:25] to them that way.

[00:31:27] But I'm trying to think how can

[00:31:29] I how can I bring people on

[00:31:31] tour with me which could be fun.

[00:31:33] But how do I make that fun rather

[00:31:35] than make that like oh she's

[00:31:37] in another and I've seen some

[00:31:39] wonderful ideas from people

[00:31:41] Reese James I think did this

[00:31:43] lovely thing where every

[00:31:45] dressing room he went into he

[00:31:47] went into the room I love some

[00:31:49] of my costumes for you love

[00:31:51] Madonna or whatever it was.

[00:31:53] But you know and it was always a

[00:31:55] letter from somebody outrageous

[00:31:57] and that was a really cute little

[00:31:59] thing that he did that I thought

[00:32:01] was fun. So yeah I saw another

[00:32:03] friend of mine who's actually on a

[00:32:05] theater tour and in every venue

[00:32:07] that she went to she had a little

[00:32:09] countdown of how many days were

[00:32:11] left and so that was cute as well.

[00:32:13] Really, no thanks for talking

[00:32:15] to me. I'm really happy to

[00:32:17] find a really nice really

[00:32:19] awakening.

[00:32:21] 53 days across the UK

[00:32:23] in Ireland on my website.

[00:32:25] So that was real

[00:32:27] and interesting discussion there

[00:32:29] about touring and especially

[00:32:31] social media and the

[00:32:33] responsibilities of

[00:32:35] comedians to promote themselves.

[00:32:37] So much as this show has been

[00:32:39] about talking to promoters.

[00:32:41] Comedians were all promoters

[00:32:43] and they were all promoters.

[00:32:45] So what was the most important

[00:32:47] thing that you've ever seen?

[00:32:49] And the most important thing that

[00:32:51] you've seen is the content.

[00:32:53] Yes, in the words of Bill Hicks

[00:32:55] it's relentless isn't it?

[00:32:57] Every single day every single

[00:32:59] minute very day.

[00:33:01] You know we are have to provide

[00:33:03] something for people to latch

[00:33:05] on to.

[00:33:07] Yeah it's kind of depressing in a way.

[00:33:09] It's a huge

[00:33:13] large size.

[00:33:15] It's a huge age

[00:33:17] that we haven't grown up with this

[00:33:19] as teenagers.

[00:33:21] So we find this all extra

[00:33:23] honest activity.

[00:33:25] Whereas younger person,

[00:33:27] this is what you grow up

[00:33:29] with and it's what you use to.

[00:33:31] And in a way it's a wake up call

[00:33:33] to us.

[00:33:35] We're going to say look you know

[00:33:37] that being totally plugged into social media all the time, you know.

[00:33:42] What's wrong with reading the book?

[00:33:45] Yeah.

[00:33:46] Says man talking on podcast.

[00:33:49] Yeah I know.

[00:33:50] What's wrong with just ignoring this podcast?

[00:33:52] Getting a book out.

[00:33:53] But that was very interesting.

[00:33:55] She's always very, I mean she thinks about these things a lot

[00:33:59] really and she's got some quite, you know, some really good insights.

[00:34:04] I think that's an interesting way of saying as well.

[00:34:07] Don't just think about the content, but think about different ways of presenting it

[00:34:11] so that it doesn't become boring, you know.

[00:34:13] Yeah, it's quality of content.

[00:34:15] You just can't just retreat stuff.

[00:34:17] Willie Nilly.

[00:34:19] I like that.

[00:34:21] I'm a big fan of Willie Nilly.

[00:34:22] This show is a big fan of Willie Nilly.

[00:34:25] In the fact we're going to do a separate show.

[00:34:29] The license times of Willie Nilly.

[00:34:34] Look, it actually be a great podcast.

[00:34:36] Yeah, Willie Nilly.

[00:34:37] Yeah.

[00:34:38] It sounds like it's going to be a children show, but that's an adult show.

[00:34:44] Where are you going, Willie?

[00:34:46] I don't know.

[00:34:47] Oh, that's so typical of you.

[00:34:50] You're Willie Nilly.

[00:34:52] Well thank you everybody for watching and listening.

[00:34:55] Charlie Friends spread it by the old fashion method.

[00:34:59] Real world of telling people that you like it.

[00:35:03] You can post post on social media about it.

[00:35:07] Yes, that's I will be.

[00:35:11] Please post any praise of the programme to WillieNilly.com.

[00:35:18] Yes, we're going to set up an email for Willie Nilly fans.

[00:35:24] Send your pictures to Willie Nilly.

[00:35:27] As always, it's left to me to say all the big promotional stuff

[00:35:32] about if you'd like to share with your friends and notifications

[00:35:37] like share and also just spread the good news about

[00:35:42] you should have been here last week.

[00:35:44] Look, if you do enjoy the senses podcast and indeed watching it,

[00:35:50] please sign your name in blood

[00:35:54] and become a member of our new cult as it were.

[00:35:58] Come every week, every fortnight.

[00:36:01] Be one of our supplicants.

[00:36:03] Well, you can't come every week.

[00:36:05] You have to come the week before as the title dictates.

[00:36:09] Yes, that's true actually.

[00:36:10] Yeah, because in fact,

[00:36:12] the people that came the week before you came,

[00:36:15] it was a lot more of them.

[00:36:16] So, subscribers.

[00:36:18] Oh, my message to you is you should have subscribed last week.

[00:36:21] That's what we're saying to you.

[00:36:23] That's it.

[00:36:24] That's the line.

[00:36:25] Yeah.

[00:36:31] Oh, God.

[00:36:32] Ah.

[00:36:33] This show is part of Padomati, the podcast comedy network.

[00:36:54] We're the best kept secret on a cast.

[00:36:58] Why not laugh as what else we've got?

[00:37:01] Check out Padomati.com now.