Sadly I never visited the place as it was pulled down around about 1975 to make way for.......... a bus station. Ah the planners with their big ideas and brave new worlds where people could have loads of lesiure and enjoy food in pill form and all the other cliches. Think of the hours of enjoyment in that place people would have had, reduced to rubble by a bunch of metropolitan pricks from Tyne and Wear Cooooncil. Gateshead always hated Blaydon my Mam said because it was jealous of the fact that it was more famous than it. Not my words but food for thought I'd say.

I was certainly the least famous person on the bill last night at The Stand. I supported the mighty Alexei Sayle on the Newcastle leg of his tour. The audience, who were his crowd not mine got into me straight away and rocked and rolled with all the material. Good on you Alexei fans. The place was mobbed and I mentioned that my Sunday night shows at The Stand get these sorts of attendences. Har har they murmured as they sort of knew I was telling them a whopper.

Anyway on came Alexei in the second half and completely blew them away. A fine comedian, one of my favourites of all time. The distinctive original style, the likeability, the searing wit with a bit of moronic-ness thrown in. You realise when you see him, well I know but it hammers it home how irrelevant modern comics are by comparison. Having nothing to say is an art form these days, in fact having something to say is almost seen as a weakness, that you're hiding behind your material I reckon. Here was a bloke on stage with 50 minutes, yes only 50 minutes, but it was an unmissable 50 minutes. I was pissed off that I missed about 20 seconds of it when I was asking a bloke if I could sit on the spare chair next to him. I'm supporting him in Glasgow and Edinburgh at the end of the month, I can't wait to be honest. If by some reason it doesn't happen then at least I can say I did support him in Newcastle. No one can take away the good things from the past, take that buddhism.

I have a busy one this week. I'm in Hartlepool tomorrow and then that London at the weekend playing Balham Banana. Get yourselves down South London folk, you know it makes sense. Also Assembly on Sunday, there's ham and pease pudding sandwiches now and a bingo to kick the night off. See you all there.

TODAY'S BLOG IS SPONSORED BY THE BIT IN HELLO JOHN GOT A NEW MOTOR WHERE HE SAYS DENIS WATERMAN'S A CUNT. 

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