Is Blogging REALLY for me???

I've been thinking, this blog thing might not be working for me. I don't really have time to blog. I recently got an iPhone 4S which has a thing called Siri on it. It's like a personal assistant. You can dictate to it and it's pretty accurate when it brings it up. "Brilliant" I thought, I can now blog by simply talking into my phone. Who can be bothered with that though, it's not perfect, and you have to read through it to change the bits that Siri failed to pick up. So I was thinking today that I might call Simon who does my website and have the blog page taken off it. I mean it's been months since I blogged. People will look at my website and think, "lazy bastard, why hasn't he blogged in so long?" or "Jesus nothing's happened to this guys life in ages." The thing is, if I'm busy doing something that I should blog or tweet about, I'm generally too busy doing what I'm doing to talk about it on one of these sites.

What to do????

I mean, I enjoy just typing my thoughts as I think them, like now, I haven't thought about what I'm typing here, it's just flowed out of me. No pressure to be funny,  just talking....... Actually, I just read all that stuff in the last few sentences and it was a bit shit, maybe I should think it through more. No, FUCK THAT!!! I should be able to sit and just type, but I should also set time aside so that it's not so long between blogs I suppose.

So, since the last blog, what's happened???? Well, Movember for one, I grew a wicked tache last month. Lots of fun that was. I raised £120 just by growing a little hairy friend on my top lip. To see everything that went on with that, you should go to mobro.co/philbutler to see all the photos from the month. Don't know if you can still donate, but if you can.....you can.

Over the last month I've been working on a brand new routine with Siri on the iPhone4S. It's gone down better than I could possibly imagine. It's had 1000 hit's in the first 3 days and I'm so proud of it. The idea first came about when I was in Cyprus with Ian Stone. We talked about the idea behind it and giggled about the different possibilities. When I returned, I got in touch with Martin Beaumont and discussed it. Martin is a great writer who has written for Paul Zerdin and more recently Shane Richie. He's got a great imagination and a brilliant comedy brain. Between us we formed a really nice little sketch. You can view the clip here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgFroIE7UPk

So is blogging REALLY for me???

Well maybe I should give it just a little while longer, after all if you're visiting my site for the first time it might have been interesting to learn about Movember, and to hit a YouTube link to my latest routine. I'll try and get back to it again soon, but only if I've got something to say I guess. It's just that sometimes my life can be a bit repetitive and there's no point in writing, "Off to walk the dogs again". Don't get me wrong, my rock and roll lifestyle is kicking arse and I'm loving every minute, but do you live your life to the full or do you send half your time writing about it.

I'm still confused.

Catch you on here again soon........................ Maybe. XxxxXxxxX

Tucker, Lemar, and excitement for Sunday.

Wow! It's been a while since I last blogged. Just been too busy to sit down and write on here. So much has happened. More flights than I care to remember, i've been to Crete, Cyprus, Rhodes and Egypt since my last update. Egypt, I think is possibly the best place I've been to in a while, and if you take a look at the dates page on my website, you'll see that I'll be making that trip quite a few times this year, YAY! I'll mostly be over there with Miles Crawford but this time around I got to hang out with my old mate Tucker which was a real treat. Tucker is a really funny guy and we laughed and laughed out there. The next time we go together will be October and I can't wait. We really got to bond and I found out some very interesting personal facts about this 20 year veteran comic. Wish I could share, but like I say, personal stuff. You can follow Tucker on twitter, he goes by the name @funnytucker if you fancy it. We did a great little 5 minute audioboo which was a lot of fun and can be heard on the audioboo page of my website, http://www.philbutler.co.uk/Audioboo/.

Me and Tucker. Listen to our audioboo here: http://www.philbutler.co.uk/Audioboo/

I also recorded a boo with singer Lemar after we bumped into him at the airport on the way back. Now I love to meet celebrities, always have. It goes back to the days of going to the theatre with my Mum to see people like Jasper Carrott, watching the wrestling and meeting the likes of Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy or going down to the Radio one roadshows on the beach in Clacton-on-sea and getting autographs from people like Phillip Scofield, Steve Wright and John Peel. So when I saw Lemar I had to say hello. "Excuse me" I said, "i'm a friend of Sinead Quinns and I thought i'd say hi". Sinead was on Fame Academy with him. To my surprise he said "You must be Phil, I got a text from Sinead earlier saying that I might be see you". She had probably read one of my updates on facebook or twitter saying that i was out there. What a lovey fella Lemar is. We sat and chatted for around 10 or 15 minute before he agreed to do an audioboo as well. Suddenly I got really nervous but it came out pretty good.

Me and Lemar at the airport in Egypt. Listen to our Audioboo here: http://www.philbutler.co.uk/Audioboo/

As soon as I got back I set my sights on getting ready for the next show at The Giggle Inn. As I'd been away for over 3 weeks, I hadn't been around to put up the posters or to give out leaflets, so with only 3 days until the show, I got on the road. I reckon we have got an amazing line-up this Sunday night in Watford. 3 comic legends on 1 bill, Simon Bligh, Adam Bloom and Terry Alderton, but that's not all, we also have 2 open spots who will also be appearing, Lenny Peters and Tom Appleton. I am literally peeing my pants with excitement.

thegiggleinn.com

I'm also looking forward to recording episode 5 of The Green Room at The Giggle Inn, maybe I'll be able to get Adam Bloom to do another magic trick for me on the show, or get Terry to talk us through his experience of losing time in Southend, right at the time I was having my close encounter with my UFO in Clacton-on-sea, true story. Tune in and have a listen next week, all episodes can be found at thegreenroompodcast.com so check it out. Getting on for 2:45am now so I'm gonna turn in, but hit my website to check out all my bits and bobs at philbutler.co.uk

Talk again soon. X

Who's a busy boy then?

Hello all,

Time for another update, or should I say, I'm long overdue for another update. The last time I wrote something on here I was sitting in an airport about to fly to Aqaba in Jordon, and that was 3 weeks ago. Lots has happened since then and I've been incredibly busy, hence no update. As I write, I'm sitting in my hotel room in Crete. I'll be out here every couple of weeks for the next few months doing shows for Thompson's at a hotel called Sensatori. They fly out 2 comics per week to perform a comedy club style show. They say that it's for over 18's but they let in people who are 16 and over. It's a bit weird doing my swearing toys in front of them, but they warn the audience of the content before hand so we're covered. This time around I'm working with Nick Page, a great comic with a great style. In his own words his act comprises of him fucking up bits of his life and reporting back on it. We did the show last night to a fantastic reaction, Nick opened up with his stories, for half an hour, and then introduced me to complete the hour long show. It's been a good trip apart from being attacked by Mosquito's for the first time in my life and hearing about the brilliant weather back home when we have British temperatures here.

So, let me share a couple of moments from the last few weeks, starting with my trip to Aqaba in Jordon for CSE forces entertainment. I went out there with a band called 'Lucas' made up of 3 guys, Johnny, Chris and Martin, the CSE dancers, who this time were Claudia, Charlotte and Sophie, and comedian Junior Simpson. The show was for the crew of HMS Cornwall who were coming to the end of their deployment, in fact they should be coming home around now. As with a lot of these shows, part of the day is taken up with what we call the 'Grip and Grin' where the cast go and meet the guys who will be at the gig that night, and maybe get a little dirt on them so we can take the piss.

The cast of the Aqaba show along with Ian and Sakina on the deck of the HMS CORNWALL.

Charlotte, Sophie, me and Claudia.

Lucas doing their thang

I arrived home the next day at about 5pm and that's when thing went a bit crazy. After a cup of tea and a quick freshen up I got on the road again for 2 gigs back to back in Reading. One was hosting at Highlight comedy club and then on to headline at a gig 20 miles down the road for the Comedy Company. The next day saw me doing Highlight in Watford and the day after that, after getting no sleep, I jumped on a plane to come to Crete, this time with Miles Crawford. I would see Miles a few more times after our return as he runs a chain of clubs around the UK called JOKE KLUB and he'd booked for a few, the first of which came 2 days after getting back but at least I got a day off.

The Saturday night of that week saw my comedy club, THE GIGGLE INN go to another venue for the first time. We call it The GIGGLE INN ROADSHOW. I hosted the show and introduced two of my favourites MIKE GUNN and BOB MILLS. 

The gig is basically run by my cousin Andrea and her husband Phil and boy did they do us proud. I walked into the place and it was completely transformed from a local football clubhouse to a plush comedy venue. Every seat was taken with some standers at the back which made for an amazing atmosphere and of course Mike and Bob couldn't fail to give them one hell of a show.

Mike Gunn at The Giggle Inn Roadshow

Bob Mills closing the show.

Over the next seven days I did gigs for Bideford Bay holiday park, Showcase Cinema and more Joke Klubs. On one of my nights off I hit the road with an old friend, juggler Pete Matthews. I've known Pete for around 20 years and he is one of the first friends I made in the business. He was working in Lowestoft at the Pontin's holiday park but he can usually be found on the best cruise ships in the world. We had a great time catching up. He told me that he has been in contact with the Guinness Book of Records with a view to setting the record for the highest diabolo throw and catch. Apparently, at juggling conventions, they have an informal competition where they all line up in a row and throw their diabolo's at the same time. Pete's would win every time. So when we got back to my place I filmed a throw. Here is the incredible footage.

Well there you go, you're all up to date with what's happening with me but before I go I'll leave you with a link to my Audioboo page on my website. An audioboo is a mini interview of 5 minutes or less with the folks I meet on my journeys. Over this time period I have done six including chats with Junior Simpson, Lucas and Miles Crawford, one of my favourites being the interview with Pete Matthews.

Click here to go to my AUDIOBOO page. 

Okay, I'm outta here, catch you next time. x

The Giggle Inn review

I'm writing this update on my iPhone, sitting in Heathrow airport. I arrived 2 hours too early. God knows how that happened. I suspect Carmen just wanted to get rid of me. Nothing I can do about it now, but at least that gives me time to say hello on here. Didn't get a great deal of sleep last night as I was up until stupid o'clock editing my podcast. It's a real labour of love. I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to my podcast, it has to be just right before it goes out and I'm still not a brilliant editor. If you don't know what the show is about, where have you been? The Green Room Podcast is a half an hour internet radio show which comes from our comedy club, The Giggle Inn. You get to hear backstage chat and clips of the performances plus a few other bits and bobs. It turned out to be a fantastic night at the club last Sunday. Tim Clark was the host this month and was as brilliant as ever and reinforced his reputation as one of the best performers out there. He introduced Benjamin Crellin who mixed things up and made the audience think, sometimes about stuff they probably wouldn't want to think about. We record the backstage stuff in the interval and then hit the stage again for the second half. After a quick competition for a meal for 2, signed poster, 2 free tickets for the next show and the all important Giggle Inn fridge magnet, Tim introduced the open spot Damian Kingsley. He was amazingly funny. A great delivery which reminded me of Geoff Norcott's. The material was awesome as well and his like-ability factor made for a storming set. Damian was followed by a comic genius. Curtis Walker never fails to have the crowd in the palm of his hand from word one. He is a naturally funny man and never afraid to go off topic to find a gem of an ad-lib created by some interaction with the punters or a tangent he's taken. It was an awesome night to another packed house. To hear exactly how good a night it was check out the podcast at www.thegreenroompodcast.com or www.thegiggleinn.com Time then to look for my fellow comic buddy, Junior Simpson and my mates from the band Lucus aka 80 Quid to get our flight, catch you later.

The Butler Diet and other news. 29.03.11

Yesterday was the first day of my new diet. I say new diet because I've been on diets before. I'm not saying the diets haven't worked, quite the opposite, I've had some success in the past, only I eventually got resentful of the fact that I couldn't eat what I wanted to and would always rebel. I announced the beginning of the diet on Twitter and Facebook because I reckon the more people who know about it, the more chance I have of sticking to it. I feel like if I tell loads of people, and they start to support me and follow my progress, I wouldn't want to quit for fear of looking like a loser, it's why people put themselves forward for those TV shows like The Biggest Loser. I'm 41 this year and I've led a very unhealthy lifestyle which if I were to keep up, would be the end of me I'm sure. So, I bit the bullet and got on the scales.

I'm 14.12.06 stone at the moment or 197.68 Lb and I found out that my target weight is 12 stone or 168 Lb so it looks like I need to shed almost 3 stone, that's like a 5th of my weight. I joked on Twitter that I should just chop off an arm or something. It would certainly be easier to do that than give up my chocolate, my Coka Cola and all the other goodies and treats which I love to have at any given moment of the day. I recently found a bag of chocolates they sell in Poundland which are Cadbury's seconds, this means that they could have a filling in em, but more often than not, they'd be solid chocolate, I love those gorgeous little rejects. I was becoming an addict so it was time to go "cold turkey" again, literally. 

So here's the plan, no chocolate, no Coka Cola, no eating after six o'clock, no booze, sensible eating and even exercise. I did it before. I can't say I enjoyed it much though, except for Sunday's. Sunday was my cheat day, a day where I would trick my body that I wasn't on a diet by eating and drinking what the hell I liked. This way I would go back to the diet on Monday through to the Saturday and, as a result of pigging out, I would loose more weight. Who know's if this theory is true, but it was something to look forward to each week. I will be Tweeting my progress from time to time and will tag the messages. Just put #TheButlerDiet into your twitter search box. 

IN OTHER NEWS

My brand new website is now up and running and I'm really proud of what Simon of Propulsion and myself have done. It's a great looking site with loads to see and do. You may even be there already, reading this blog directly from the site. There is so much more to check out though including The Green Room Podcast, Live Dates, and even a free TomTom voice download so you can have me telling you to get lost when you're in your car. One of my favourite things on the site is the Audioboo page which we added to the site only today.

What is an Audioboo? From time to time I make little recordings, no more than five minutes long, saying hello to people I bump into whilst I'm touring around. These could be anything from chatting to old friends, interviewing comedians or generally talking about whatever is happening right there and then.

I only started to make these recordings a little over a week ago and I'm really enjoying them, they are nice little behind the scenes moments. In the first week I've spoken with Ian Stone, Milton Jones, Adam Bloom, Geoff Boyz, Dain Cordean, Mike Milligan, Phil Walker, Dave Twentyman and Yianni Agisilaou. Hope you get a chance to take a listen.

Well that's it for now, catch you next time.

My best mate is coming to town.

Very excited today as my mate of over 20 years, Dain Cordean is coming over. I haven't seen him in such a long time that I'm like a kid on Christmas eve night. We always have such a laugh together but due to our busy lives and the different commitments we both have it's difficult to get things going sometimes. Dain is a brilliant magician so I took the image below, from the google homepage as a good omen for tonight.

Google's homepage image today.

The story behind why Houdini is on the homepage today is the news that Harry's last surviving stage assistant has sadly died. Her name was Dorothy Young and she lived to the ripe old age of 103. The statement came earlier this morning, on the day that would have been Houdini's 137th birthday. 

She was known as the Radio Girl and would emerge from a large mock-up of a radio and perform a dance routine. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369471/Harry-Houdinis-assistant-Dorothy-Young-dies-103.html#ixzz1HWZdpJ8w

Dorothy Young as 'Radio Girl' emerging from a radio prop with Harry Houdini

From one great magician to another. I was looking for some photo's to show you of Dain and I found a brilliant one. I had never seen this shot of a very young Dain before. The caption that went along with it was "Dain's first stage appearance" I will definitely ask him about this when he gets here later. It's funny, because in order to get my first bit of stage time, as a childrens magician at Magic City in Clacton-on-sea, I had to sell ice creams outside he gig before I did the show.

It was around the time that I worked at the children's fun emporium Magic City that I met Dain. Back then we were both magicians and I had just joined the Ipswich Magical Society. It was one of the first nights I was there and Dain was performing. He produced cards from nowhere and made a cane dance around. He was awesome that night as he still is. Play the clip below and you'll see what I mean. The bit with the linking rings at 2 minutes and 45 seconds is just incredible.

Dain and I hung out at the magical society and would enter competitions together such as the Hickson Cup, which he would always win. I was never as good a magician as him which he loves to remind me of, although I still do the old sleight of hand, so maybe I'll be able to show him something new, maybe not. We both did magic shows for kids at Magic City and lived in each others pockets during that time, we were never seen apart. Check out this shot on the left, weren't we slim and handsome back then. Eventually our lives went in different directions, but we kept in touch.

So there's only two hours now until the big arrival and I have to get things ready. Huh, get things ready!!! Perhaps I should have just said "I have to go and get some booze from the offey." Anyway, watch out later today for tweets and audioboo's of my night catching up with my best mate.

Stand up for Comic Relief review. Lorna's a great Comic, what a Relief.

I haven't had any time at all over the last couple of days to put pen to paper, or should I say finger to key on this blog. So let me tell you now about the Stand Up for Comic Relief's comedy night I went to the other night. As you may know 3 Counties Radio asked me, about a month ago, if I would mentor one of their presenters, Lorna Milton, to perform 10 minutes of stand up for comic relief. I've been involved with comic relief before so I jumped at the chance. After meeting with Lorna a few times where we rehearsed, wrote and re-wrote the script we finally got to her big day. I arrived at the Apex centre in Bury St Edmunds at 6pm and quickly found Lorna for a last run through. 6 other local radio presenters were also going through their routines and could see that the nerves were starting to get to them. After drawing lotts for their position in the show, the auditorium was cleared and the audience was brought in. By this time the backstage area was buzzing with anticipation and the 4 judges had arrived.


I knew that Rick Wakeman and Emma Freud were going to be judging but I wasn't expecting to see Neil Innes there, the final judge was a guy I've never encountered before Dan McKee.


                                                                                                                                    
All the comedic wannabees had a quick photo shoot backstage and before you knew it David Whitley from Look East was introducing the show. David did a great job of bringing out the judges and setting thing up for a packed out crowd, then it was time to bring on the first Opening the proceedings was Pete Cooper from BBC Northampton who did a wonderful job, I really wasn't expecting standard to be anywhere near that good. It was the same story for the next act David Webster from BBC Norfolk, which made me think, "My God, these guys are great, looks like we've got a real competition on our hands". Third up was Lorna. She did a brilliant job and the punters were with her all the way. She got some great comments from the judges as well. I think being described as a one woman Morecambe and Wise is pretty good for a first timer. An old mate of mine Steve Cherelle opened the second half, he is a singer/songwriter by trade, does a show on BBC radio Essex, and as it turns out, a very competent comedian. Although Steve's told old style jokes which you may have heard before, he knocked it out of the park. As we were in Bury St Edmunds, BBC radio Suffolk presenter Simon Talbot had a lot of support in the venue. He didn't let them down performing an awesome set which he had written every word, very impressive and I told him so when I spoke to him at the bar when he was ordering a well deserved post show drink. Paul Stainton from BBC Cambridge was a little bit hit and miss but started well with some audience participation. It was then time for the final act, Jenny Kirk from BBC Look East. Jenny set was full of anecdotes from her career on Look East, and she also told stories from her time in Jersey where I think I might have met her when I was there. It was a great way to finish a thoroughly entertaining show. 3 of the judges disappeared to deliberate the decision leaving Dan McKee to keep everyone laughing before the results were announced in an X Factor style run down. Lorna was placed at number 5, but we were told later that she was only 1 point off being 4th and if only we had done it as a double act with me on stage with her, she would have been 3rd. Also in the bottom 4 were Paul Stainton and 2 of the acts which I thought would be in the top 3, Pete Cooper and Simon Talbot. I was pleased though to see Steve Cherelle still in the running.

The final result saw Jenny Kirk and David Webster sharing the number one position with Steve Cherelle just behind them. So congratulations to everyone who took part and helped raise some cash by doing something funny for money for Comic Relief. I'd also like to say a special well done and a big thank you to Lorna Milton. She did such a great job and we had such a great laugh, Nice one Lorna, you were brilliant. Don't forget to tune in on 18th March for all the fun of Comic Relief night, go to www.rednoseday.com for more information and donate some of your cash as well text "FIVER" to 70005 and every penny will go to help people who need it at home and abroad.