Hello again, I hope all is well with you. And that you have had a very good couple of weeks, despite this continuous wet weather. I honestly think I must have worn my waterproof jacket every single time I have left the house recently. For a man with so little hair I am surprisingly keen to not let it get rained on. It is quite shocking and worrying seeing areas that I know so well and often visit during the summer months being submerged under so much water currently. I do really feel for anybody whose property has been affected by the floods. The thought of being ankle deep in water walking around your own kitchen is horrible. So I send my good wishes and support to anybody who is going through this nightmare situation at the minute.

So the last time we spoke I was off to a James Bond Themed Comedy Birthday Party on the day that my month of not drinking alcohol was coming to an end. So did I or didn’t I start straight back on the demon drink that night? Of course I did. The first thing I did after arriving at the do wearing the classic Bond Dinner Suit and bow tie combination was order myself a pint of lager. I needed to. When I realised pretty much all the men had come wearing exactly the same outfit. Proving ninety percent of men see themselves as James Bond in full suave evening mode, myself included. Fair play to some of the other gentlemen there though. We did have two Odd Jobs, a Q, a Wyatt Earp lookalike (yes I was as confused as you are by this trust me) and the women who is murdered in “Goldfinger” using gold paint. Needless to say the last outfit really stood out. He had on a gold coloured body suit, gold paint on his face, a blonde wig and his girlfriend’s black bikini. You have to admire his total commitment to the part but the fact that this party was also a comedy night with eight comedians performing did mean he got quite a lot of stick for his wardrobe choice. It was a good fun night. All of the comedians were great. A few of them I had worked with before and the rest I got the chance to see for the first time. There is a lot of good stand up comedy talent around at the moment. These guys were all really funny and it was a very entertaining evening. The mate whose birthday it was is a comedy promoter. Who runs the Laughing Badger Comedy Club in Hemel Hempstead. Therefore he has access to some great acts. So managed to pull in a few favours to put on a fantastic show. In which he actually found himself to be the but of many of the jokes. With the climax being everyone being advised of his middle name. Which he had gone to great lengths to keep a secret from even his closest friends. It was a bit like the Wedding scene in Only Fools and Horses, when we find out Rodney’s middle name is actually Charlton!

Now I did actually make a slight mistake when talking about this event. Previously I said that Lee Nelson was going to be one of the comics performing at it. And I was saying that I would be interested to see if he remembers me appearing alongside him in a sketch for the pilot episode of his television show. Well Lee was never due to be at this one. I got my birthday parties mixed up. Lee Nelson will be appearing at The Laughing Badger Comedy Club’s Birthday Party not the man behind its party. So there is good and bad news here, as a result of this. The bad news is that I did not get chance to see him the other week but the good news is everyone can still see him at the Comedy Club’s Birthday Party. When all the details and tickets are released for it. I think that all this information has already been made public but if not consider this as a headline comedian exclusive for an upcoming Comedy Night in Hertfordshire. There is also the chance that I could well be doing some stand up comedy myself at one or two of the Laughing Badger Nights before the end of the year. So as ever watch this space for more details on that.

I was up in London last week in the studios of a national broadcaster recording a demo for them. With one of their senior editors. It was a lot of fun and brilliant to be back behind a microphone once again. In my natural environment. I should find out within the next month, if this will lead to some regular work with them. While I was in the capital I did take the opportunity to pay a visit to my favourite pub. It is a place that I have been going to when in London for around fifteen years now. I was first introduced to it by a friend one Sunday afternoon and instantly felt a home there. Over the years I have taken many members of my family and pretty much all of my friends there at some point or another. The pub in question is Waxy O’connor’s. It is just off Leicester Square right in the heart of London but once you step through the doors and walk down the long staircase to the bottom bar. You are suddenly in a completely different world away from the hustle and bustle. With a very relaxed atmosphere and normally whenever I have been in there great background music. And in my opinion they do the best pint of Guinness in town. If you are ever around that way I urge you to pop in for a quick drink. I personally think there is something very magical and inspiring about the place. I always try to include it on any trip to London where I have some spare time. And I am able to have a drink.

That trip to London is not the only recording that I have done during the last couple of weeks. As part of my work with the Football Association at Wembley Stadium. I ended up taking a group of French school children for a tour and a talk about the place. Which all went very well and despite my lack of language skills they seemed to understand me. And enjoy my presentation. When I had finished one of the teacher’s came over to me and asked it she could record me talking about myself and just answering a few quick questions. Happy as ever to oblige I said yes but only after double checking what see wanted this for. Basically it was to aid learning English in France. The teachers there like to try and record different English people talking and use these to help the children understand how real people in the country speak. Rather than the way the actors and teachers talk on the audio books they mostly use. So I spent two or three minutes talking to the teacher while she recorded this all on her mobile phone. Not the highest audio quality recording that I have done for a while, but she seemed pleased with it. This now means of course that French school children are going to be listening to how I speak to learn how to communicate in English. So I am looking forward to French people in five years time coming to visit England and talking exactly like me. While they are here. That could be quite freaky if I bump into any of them. A bit like when Jon Colshaw meets any of the celebrities he does impressions of and does them in front of them I guess.

I am currently in the process of writing some sketches for a Radio 4 Comedy programme called The Show What You Wrote. It is a sketch show that covers a wide range of topics over four episodes. It is being recorded during June and July and will be on air during August. It is all coming together nicely and I am looking forward to being part of this production. Next month also sees the return of the topical weekly comedy news show Newsjack to Radio 4. This is a something I have written for in the past and will be doing so again this time around. I will bring you more details on my involvement in both of these projects as soon as I can. But remember their names and do look out for them both. They are very clever and more importantly very funny.

Last Thursday I went to the filming of the television pilot for a new sitcom called Party. It has been a successful radio comedy for a couple of years and now the makers and producers are seeing if they think it will transfer across to TV. They stuck with exactly the same cast as the radio show which is Tom Basden (who also writes it) Tim Key, Johnny Sweet, Anna Crilly and Katy Wix. It was filmed at the Elstree Studios and was really good. There were two additions to the regular cast. One of which was Justin Edwards, who is from Radio 4’s Newsjack. And he has actually delivered all the material that I have previously written for that show. The script was very funny and the cast were all brilliant,so good. The atmosphere in the studio was great to, so we all had a good time. I will be amazed if this does not progress into a full blown television series. They ran through the whole show twice. The first time they went straight through it with no breaks. And then after some notes from the director the second time round there were a few more re-takes and a bit of fine tuning. As I said the script was excellent with plenty of laughs from the audience. But still alas the funniest joke in the world will sometimes never be as funny as the actors messing up. It’s just amusing. But I would stress that we were all behind them, willing them to do well and laughing with them not at them with any mistakes they made. It was just fantastic to see that close up a TV sitcom filmed in front of a live audience. It was a wonderful night out. Very educational. It’s called Party and it will be on BBC 4. So do listen out for my laugh, when it goes out.

I have to confess I did watch most of The Jump on Channel 4 in the end. Firstly I have to give credit where it is due to the celebrities who actually took part in the show. At least half of them seemed to return back to the UK with a serious injury of some kind. I have to admit I am not really a fan of winter sports or skiing in general. I have never been skiing for two reasons really. I like a holiday to be hot and sunny on a beach not cold and snowy up a mountain. And secondly because I am so clumsy and accident prone. If I ever went skiing I guarantee you I would definitely hurt myself in some way. So it is my own personal choice to avoid it completely. There is no way I would have attempted any of the events they did on The Jump. no way. So I do honestly have the up most respect for everybody who took part even Amy Childs. The contestants did get a lot of criticism for doing it. But as Marcus Brigstocke explained. It was his free choice, he loves the resort lifestyle and surroundings. And the fact that he was being trained by Olympic Medal Winners made it a once in a lifetime opportunity. And as I have been lucky enough to interview Marcus and taking into account the fact that he is a top bloke. That all seems like perfectly decent logic to me. That said I do hope the knee ligament injury he received on the show, heels quickly. Strictly Come Dancing is still the only reality TV show, that I think I would ever consider doing. It’s the safest and the most enjoyable.

Have fun and we will catch up again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had an enjoyable couple of weeks. Already this year seems to be going pretty quickly to me. Which I guess is a sign that I am keeping myself nice and busy. Which is just how I like it. I had a great time at my Uncle’s fiftieth birthday party the other Saturday. Nice as ever to catch up with the family. And just to confirm I did drink lemonade all night. Therefore easily achieving my plan of not having any alcohol through January. I have to say I feel great for it. I also did plenty of exercise and ate healthily. Which I try to do on a daily basis anyway to be fair. I have been sleeping really soundly. And have had so much energy. It has been a total triumph, as far as I am concerned. It has been a good way to kick start things and set me up nicely for the year ahead.

I do like watching a good award ceremony. So I made sure I was able to see this year’s National Television Awards. For which a majority of the categories are voted for by the public. So by and large they go to the big shows. The ones that the most people will have been watching and enjoying. It was nice to see a lot of my favourite programmes winning including I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Strictly Come Dancing, This Morning and Mrs Brown’s Boys.

Even though they win it every year I still think personally that the most deserved award again went to Ant & Dec. When they were crowned the best entertainment presenters. They are the best in the business at what they do by an absolute mile. They had a great year last year with Britain’s Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here again being must watch television down to the way they host these shows. And the comeback of Saturday Night Takeaway was probably the strongest series in it’s history. With so many great moments of variety style entertainment. It was basically the perfect Saturday night entertainment show in my opinion.

Then just when I thought the National Television Awards could not get any better they totally surprised the Geordie duo by awarding them the special landmark award to mark their twenty-five years in show business. I liked this for two reasons. Firstly we got to see lots of old and funny classic clips of the boys in action. And secondly the way they came up and received the accolade. They were naturally funny, charming, very humble and low key about the honour in a very appreciative way. Not only are they hugely talented but they are also two of the nicest people you could wish to meet. A well deserved award for my favourite TV presenters. Who make it all look so effortless. And clearly love what they are doing. Which I think makes the audience love it even more. Well done gentlemen!

The other week I had a really nice catch up with a mate of mine. Who I met when I was living and working in Somerset. He is a hugely talented guitarist and singer called Tom Toomey. I met him when I was working at a radio station in Yeovil. He came in to talk about a charity live music event. That he was organising in the grounds of a National Trust property in the area. From that initial meeting he ended up coming into the studio quite a few times. And me and a colleague had the great honour of hosting and being involved with these, what became annual concert’s. They were always brilliant evenings. With great acts all personally selected by Tom himself performing. In totally exquisite surroundings with Montacute House beautifully lit behind the stage. So by the end of the show it all had quite a magical feel to it. In fact during the final number from the final band one night I found myself on stage playing a tambourine and clapping along. Which is the closest I have ever got to being a rock star. I loved it. It felt great.

For the last four years Tom Toomey has been in The Zombies as their lead guitarist. Which has seen him perform all over the world with the band. Including at an open air concert in Central Park in New York. Which sounded amazing the way he was describing it to me. I met up with Tom when The Zombies headlined at The Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury as part of the Ultimate Rhythm and Blues 50th Anniversary Tour. Which see’s them heading up and down the United Kingdom until the end of March. After which they then head back to America via the Bahamas. Nice work if you can get it. It was really good to see him and reminisce about the gigs in Somerset and get an insight into what life is like out on tour with a band of this stature. I do always feel very comfortable just hanging out in theatre dressing rooms talking to people.

My friend Andy Holmes self published his first novel called “Always The DJ” as an e-book a couple of years ago. He has now just made it available in paperback. So if you are like me and a bit old school, when it comes to reading. You can now get it in traditional book form. To help promote this fact he has made a very short cartoon. And I am delighted to say that I have lent my voice to this animation. Which did involve a fun and interesting recording session in his home studio. Now I will let you into a little bit of a secret about the cartoon. For a bit of a laugh at my expense Andy has actually put a cartoon version of me in the background of a couple of the scenes. So why not see if you can spot me or at least his interpretation of me in the promotional cartoon for the book below.

There are plans in place to make a short film version of the book. In which it looks like I will be also making a small cameo appearance. Currently this is being scheduled in for filming at the start of the Summer. With a preliminary release date of this September. I always like to do a little acting from time to time. So I am looking forward to this project.

I am excited about the fact that Neil Sands is bringing back a show of his that I love. I have to confess I do have a huge and varied taste in music and I do like a bit of classic Country and Western. Neil produces and stars in a show called “Nashville Nights and Dixie Days.” Which celebrates country music with an exceptional cast. He has rested it for a bit to focus on other productions, that he is involved in. But it is back on tour this February and March. I first met Neil several years ago when he came in for an interview on a radio show I was presenting. He is a top man. And I remember we got chatting about a Sunday afternoon party event I used to go to in London called “The Church”. It turned out that he was the promoter and the person behind it. I spent many a fun afternoon there and proves once again, what a small world it is. I am planning on seeing the show at the end of March and I am really looking forward to hopefully catching up with Neil Sands to. He also used to be a professional wrestler. So needless to say he has lots of great stories to tell.

I am looking forward to going to watch a new TV Sitcom Pilot being filmed on the 13th February at the Elstree Studios. It is called Party and up until now it has been a radio comedy. Of which there have been three series of it on BBC Radio 4. So they are making the pilot to see if it can transfer to television. This is not that unusual with both Little Britain and That Mitchell and Webb Look starting out as radio comedies before they moved across to television. The cast includes Tim Key, Johnny Sweet, Anna Crilly and Katy Wix. I have never seen a sitcom filmed. So I am interested to see how it is all done. I will let you know what I think about the show and if I think it will be given the chance to grace our television screens in the future or not.

Tonight then I am off to the James Bond themed Birthday Party of Lee Bryant, who runs The Laughing Badger Comedy Club in Hemel Hempstead. He has used his contacts to put on a couple of great comedians to start the night off with a bang. And a mini show including Lee Nelson. I will let you know if he remembers me from the time we met before. When I was on set with him filming the pilot for his television show. I have my outfit all looked out and ready. And a hotel booked that is round about a four hundred metre walk from the party venue. As it is the first of February obviously my self imposed alcohol ban is now over. So if I chose to I can have a couple of drinks tonight. Only if I want to of course. So find out next time what I decided to do. Although some of the information above may help you to make a well informed and educated guess as to what my decision will probably be. Either way I have a good feeling it will be a fun night. I mean lets face it. Any night where you get to pretend you are James Bond is always a good night right.

I have got a couple interesting meeting’s in London lined up over the next couple of week’s. And there are several other exciting projects I am currently working on that are at various different stages. As previously mentioned I only watched the first episode of celebrity big brother to see who was actually going into the house. Just for the record there is no way I would of predicted that Jim Davidson would win that show. I am constantly surprised that it’s mostly the older people who seem to win since it moved to Channel 5. When I thought their viewers would be on the whole a bit younger. So the young reality TV or pop stars would stand a better chance of winning the competition. I wonder if Channel 5 will now bring back Big Break or even better Jim’s sitcom called Home James. Which I really used to like.

Have fun and we will catch up again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.