Arms, Simon?
All 4 episodes of "Angstrom" are now listenable-to, in some form or other, on the web – the first episode as a Comedy Of The Week podcast here, the other three still available on iplayer here. Playing the narrator finally allowed me to put all those Anglo-Saxon classes to use (TANGENT: that is where I first learnt that English poetry originally followed lines of four stresses, rather than the five beats of classical verse, which are an affectation towards Italian. This is why Peter Hall was talking bols when he said iambic pentameter just followed our natural speech patterns: ask most people to quote Shakespeare and they'll say "To BE or NOT to be, THAT is the QUES-tion", not "To BE or NOT to BE, that IS the QUES-tion". They'll say "A HORSE, a HORSE, my KING-dom for a HORSE", not "A HORSE, a HORSE, my KING-dom FOR a HORSE". They'll say "SHALL I com-PARE thee to a SUM-mer's DAY?" not "Shall I com-PARE thee TO a SUM-mer's DAY?" I mean, I COULD GO ON, PETER.) Anyway, I don't know how much of this Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley were down with, but they're both excellent musicians (and always banging on about how comedy is music*) and I adore how the finished show sounds – on top of just how much it makes me laugh – and am very proud to have been part of that rhythm section. As for my accent, I don't know... Leslie Caron? And Bols Aashol's voice has, I now realise, more than a bit of Jim Carter in "Detectives on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" about him, which I've no regrets about at all. Joel and Jason don't seem to have any regrets either, and working for them always provides a great opportunity to receive their unconditional love. Thanks to them, and producer Lyndsay Fenner. for such a leap of faith. Angstrom was, and is, happy.
Oh, NOW you fold them!
... As of course is John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, whose Series 7 finale aired last week. Fans of the show will probably already know that producer Ed Morrish posts his own accounts of each episode on tumblr. I would add here only that John and I went through a number of voices for the Better Memory Entrepreneurs, before settling on what you hear; that they sound so much like our goldfish voices is a genuine coincidence which I only wish we'd realised at the time, and committed to even more. And how do you top last year's Musical? Well – as Juliet Brando put it on twitter – with a "Finnception", by which I mean, if you haven't already listened to the episode, there's absolutely nothing unusual or spoilerable about Episode 6 at all, it's all just normal great Finnemore goodness.
Pictured: Liam Gallagher's coffee maker, which we found taking up half the studio on day 1.
Even a lip-gnawing, own-tail-chasing, louche twat like me can appreciate being in two such special things in a month. As much as performers bring lines to life, lines bring performers to life; John is Geppetto, Jason and Joel are Sid from Toy Story; both are master toy makers, and being brought to life by both was magic fun.
Oh, and did you know WE'RE GOING ON TOUR?!
Not with these guys though. Well not yet, at least. Here's that cracking Angstrom theme.
* Let's elaborate: Of course, they're right, but "is" is a big, old two-letter word. I'd say, comedy requires what music requires, but more than it, and less of it (although you can't have too much) and the "it" is the wheels of comedy, not the motor, which is an idea (however if I knew more about music, maybe I'd realise ideas are the motors of music too.)