Show 5: Tim's house

Date: 20/12/25

Hosts: Tim
Audience size: 25-ish
Show length: 60 minutes

By the time of show 5, I was on my third car of the year, having picked it up earlier that year as my old Honda was set to be an MOT failure. That should have messed up the punchline to the show, but the fact that I'd bought a quirky Japanese import that looks a bit 'different' enhanced it, if anything. It seems to be a theme that I get ill in the run up to performing this show, but that's the perils of teaching over a hundred snotty kids a week in a the middle of a flu pandemic. I had lost my voice earlier that week, but was still recovering and croaking away, so suggested to Tim on the morning of the show that we reschedule but he had a busy, excited audience coming down so I agreed to battle through it anyway. Tim is an old pal from many years back, and a great musician, but I hadn't seen him in about 5 years...which was when I last did a show in his living room. That show was much better; this time I was struggling a bit. The intro felt great but it then dipped horribly, my voice bordering on only being a whisper at times, a lot of it just not landing. I gained momentum by the end and the finale of it really worked, but I felt so underpowered. Tim packed the room with people, all of whom said very lovely things afterwards and were very enthusiastic, but I know it was far from me at my best. A fully fit Richards would have had a lovely time with that crowd.