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Published: February 27th 2006
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Roseanne
Before the half naked tap routine... Matt:
When Ed and I were planning our European adventure, there were a number of events that we knew we would have to see. From the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona to Oktoberfest and the Cannes Film Festival, this continent really has heaps to offer the culture buff. And so it was that last weekend, Ed I decided to visit that other cultural beacon of Europe: the Leicester Comedy Festival…!
For some reason, Leicester has a bit of a bad reputation in the UK. It’s known for… well, in truth, it’s not really known at all. Despite being the home of the Weetabix factory and the British National Space Museum (which apparently celebrates the rich history of Britain in space - all four and a half hours of it), when tourists make their lists of things to see in England, Leicester typically is nowhere to be found.
Faced with this dilemma, the city fathers got together and decided to put the city on the map by holding an annual comedy festival and inviting the best and brightest comedians to help sell their city. This year, one responded - Roseanne Barr (nee Arnold).
Ed had actually organised
Leicester Clock Tower
Kinda like Big Ben, but only 10 feet high... More like Baby Ben! for us to watch Roseanne in Sydney a few years ago, but faced with poor ticket sales (I don’t think our two were enough), the tour was cancelled. As a result, when Ed found out that she was touring here, he jumped at the chance and went about organising our weekend.
Normally, the organisation part of our trips falls to me. I tend to make the reservations, books the taxis, work out what time we need to leave, print the maps etc etc. Unfortunately, this weekend, your hero decided to let Ed have a hand at doing the planning…
And so it was that after making a miscalculation about the time it would take for us to get to Kings Cross station, we found ourselves running off the tube, hailing a cab and sprinting through the station so as to make our train. In typical fashion, we boarded our train just as the doors closed behind us…
Then after we arrived at Leicester and calmly alighted from the train and began walking towards the exit, Ed realised that he left his jacket (along with his wallet, mobile, iPod, keys etc.) on board and had to beg the
Leicester Mall
Faced with the choice of shopping or touring the Weetabix factory, guess what we picked? conductor to delay the train so that he get them back…
Then when we got into a cab and gave the driver the address of our hotel, we realised that instead of taking down the details of the hotel in Leicester, Ed had written down the address of the hotel’s booking office - in Luton!
Suffice to say that Ed was pretty quickly sacked as organiser, and I resumed control.
After doing a few expensive laps of Leicester in our cab, we checked into our hotel before heading back into town to see what it had to offer…
We soon realised that Leicester’s reputation for not having a reputation was completely and utterly deserved. We ended up spending the afternoon shopping and checked out the local cuisine (ie. Chinese Takeway).
That night we went off to see Roseanne. Now let’s be honest people, Roseanne’s star (which rose rapidly with the popularity of her TV show) has begun to fade… The refreshing thing about her though is that she is under no illusions as to her current status - she is (in her own words) ‘washed up’. Thankfully though, she has not lost her sense of
Me in the rain
After the performance outside De Monfort Hall... humour.
Her act culminated in her giving a really positive message about never letting fear of what people think get in the way of doing what you want. To demonstrate the point, she ended up stripping down to her lingerie and doing a tap routine across the stage - a little surreal, but completely hilarious!
After Roseanne, we headed out in search of a bar. Armed with a carefully tuned gaydar, we ended up finding a gay bar called Quebec and settled in for the night. After a while, we were joined by two locals, one dressed in a puffy pirate shirt and the other as a commando… They didn’t really talk much, but provided much amusement for Ed and I.
After Long John Silver and Private Ryan had left, we were joined by a couple of other (and oddly normal) locals, Kieran, Sujata and Pam. The remainder of the night is (for me) a bit of a blur. Judging from the photos though, we had a good time!
The following morning after a lightning fast breakfast at the hotel (seriously, we were sat, ate and out within about five and a half minutes), we were
Me and Suj
Getting drunk at this stage back in a cab, headed for the station for the return trip to London.
All things considered, I liked Leicester. The people were friendly, the Chinese Takeaway tasty and the entertainment great! In keeping with the town’s new found status as Culture Central, Kieran told me that ‘Jerry Springer: the Opera’ will be touring the town over the next few months. As a result, I think we will definitely be headed back soon!
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Chris
non-member comment
Oh dear.....
Matthew..... that jewellery photo........what were you drinking!?!?!!? Greer looks different..... when did she go blonde?