Or #Laughlaughlaughlaughlaugh

Not entirely dissimilar to Dickon in The Secret Garden, much of my summer seemed to have been taken up by coughing and spluttering like a sickly Victorian child.

It was this sickness that stopped me from seeing Fern Brady back in July and I remember apologising to my friend because I thought we’d never see her in a small venue ever again.

I should have gone to the show back then but these days coughing in public (it’s not Covid) is frowned upon.

Luckily she was part of the lineup for October’s Gigless Live which meant my friends from the sexy South London (and northish Kent) were happy to come to a venue in Islington, which was very near to my old temporary flat (that’s just a fact for me and not of interest to anyone else).

I’d say she was just as good as she has always been but that’s a lie.

This definitely isn’t Guardian level critique but every time I see her she is great and the next time I see her she’s better than the time before.

If you haven’t seen her before (and even if you have) then go to her website and treat yourself to a ticket for her Autistic Bikini Queen tour.

Gigless Live markets itself as a new material night but thanks to the comedians last Sunday (October 17th) this was actually code for hilarious material night.

It started with Andrew White being allowed to compere for – I believe – the first time, in a splendid (well, he looked good in it) cardigan while dodging barbed heckles from Catherine Bohart and Helen Bauer, then continued with my current favourite comedian.

I’m not going to repeat any of Catherine Bohart’s jokes here because there isn’t much worse in comedy-land than people who review shows by writing out the wisecracks and stories with no context.

But, similarly, to Fern Brady, every time I see Catherine she is even better than the previous time so I’m hoping to get to at least one more Gigless Live before Father Christmas comes down my chimney.

If anyone from Gigless Live is reading this I’m asking especially nicely if you can message me to let me know the jokes she simply couldn’t say then I’d be super grateful. I know curiosity killed the cat but I’d really love to know.

I don’t recall where I’ve seen Stephen Bailey before nor Helen Bauer (apart from seeing her on the new year’s eve Gigless) but I know that I have.

I also know that similarly to the sets by Fern and Catherine, all their new material is great. If the Edinburgh Festival was on tomorrow they would all be lucky winners.

While Gigless became a thing during the pandemic, my other trip out in comedy land this week had been hampered by the pandemic many times.

It was probably postponed more times than the rules for travelling overseas have changed in recent months. It was definitely postponed more times than Nigel Farage has been offended by people not thinking petrol shortages and empty shelves are a good thing.

And, thankfully, it was definitely better than the weak attempts at political comedy in the two sentences above.

It was Jonathan Pie at Bloomsbury Theatre – a comedic political journalist who often used to pop up on TV offering his angry take on the news.

Titled Fake News (Corona Remix) the character is so well put together that at some points I forgot I was watching a made up man giving his take on real events.

I was once in the political journalist bubble and so wanted it to be true. I could see where the Pie character had come from and wish the news was really like that.

It was very good indeed and definitely worth the wait.

(Unlike the pizza beforehand at The Resting Hare which eventually never came because out of nowhere an order for 120 pizzas popped up on a system – apparently.)

Stay safe for another week!