28 Acts in 28 Minutes

Fame at last!

I finally recorded my radio comedy debut - all sixty seconds of it - on Monday night, at the Bloomsbury Theatre.

Backstage was a surreal experience - I knew everyone, but no-one knew me. All 28 acts were crammed into a low-slung concrete bunker (about the size of my kitchen) that served as the dressing room: Marcus Brigstocke, Phil Kay, Ed Byrne, Roger McGough, Phil Nichol, Scott Capurro, Rob Rouse, Kevin Day, Rob Deering, Adam Buxton, Punt & Dennis and Nicholas Parsons. Plus loads of others for the recording of the second show at 21h00: Barry Cryer, Adam Bloom, The Constultants, John Hegley, Steve Delaney (aka Count Arthur Strong - listen to his series on Radio 4 at the moment - it's brilliant)and Richard Herring.

(Ooh dear, I appear to have dropped a few names. I'll have my people pick them up in the morning.)

I was so relieved to see someone who recognised me (Waen Shepherd, aka Gary LeStrange) that I surprised him with a large gangly hug.

Of course, by the end of the evening, I was officially best mates with everyone. That is to say, I had a chat with Roger McGough, who was very personable and down to earth. I really like his poetry (who doesn't?), and suddenly found myself wishing I'd swotted up on it beforehand. I told him my brother was a massive fan, and then realised that might have sounded like a back-handed compliment, so busied myself with some crisps. I also discussed the logistics of fitting material into 60 seconds with Adam Bloom, (who was very nice about my song), chewed the cud about property prices with Marcus Brigstocke (who now thinks I'm one of those bores who talk about property prices all the time), and touched the hand of Nicholas Parsons (whose crowning glory that evening was a joke about raping a suffragette - listen out for that in the the 18h30 slot on Radio 4!)

Dan Antopolski gave a splendid set (playing the piano rather brilliantly the bastard), The Hollow Men performed a specially written sketch which they appeared to have knocked up the night before, and rehearsed five minutes beforehand (but it was, naturally, effortlessy slick and funny as always - look out for their forthcoming radio series by the way - and get tickets to the recordings if you can), Ben Willbond put in an appearance as a Polish version of Nicholas Parsons, Justin Edwards rattled off a brilliant song summing up the whole school curriculum in 60 seconds, and DJ Danny Crossed Slim Shady with Lady in Red, to get Slim Shady in Red - genius.

I, as predicted, did a one minute cut-down of my text song, which hit the spot, but apparently lasted 61 seconds (not good). Still, we'll see if it makes it into the show.

Transmission dates are Weds: 21st, 28th June and 5th July, Radio 4, 18h30. If you'd like me to remind you nearer the time, drop me an email: pete@petegold.com