It was a dark and stormy night… oops sorry, couldn’t resist..
It was, though, in Norwich, the night before this Six trotted off to London to see Justin in action the ‘Friday Night Project’, being recorded on the Thursday for Friday’s airing. This did not however clear the muggy weather at all, and the day looked to be a hot, sticky, sore one. I’ve got a blister the size of a £2 coin on the sole of my foot! Flipping hurts..
Dull train journey over, darklings collected. First stop the pub, natch. The Water Rats, which was indeed swimming in water last time we were there. Went to check out the venue, saw a few people sitting out in the blazing sun. Decided the pub was a better option (see the theme developing?) and stayed there. Our delectable Bex had been invited to ask Justin a question, which meant priority seating for her and her gang.. Longer in the pub as well! We trotted past the long queue and got nicely settled in. Took AGES to get everyone in.. needed the loo then, but decided I didn’t want to miss anything so didn’t go.. mistake! Spent an hour or so gossiping, saying hello to a couple of people, getting excited. Got our instructions from the warm up man Andy.. bet he says those things every week.. there was a lot of watching people run about, general boring stuff.. still.. Justin would be there soon..
We get started with JLC and Mr Carr arriving and do lots of clapping etc. then the moment we’ve all been sitting in sweat for.. Mr Hawkins! Looking very fit, lost a little weight, very sexy in his black suit and beautiful curly hair. Cute in his glasses, too. He does his weekly round up intro bit.. wtf writes this stuff? Not him, certainly. Not enough wit. Comfortably sat behind his desk, he becomes his fluent, sarky, funny self, with profanities strung together in a gracefully effortless way. Some of the banter was top quality.. always on the Hawkins side.. I think some of his wit may have been lost, but the darklings present had a good giggle. We often did laugh, but at things no one else would get.. you kind of get a double layer of insight, sometimes.
I’m not going to go through the whole thing, cos it’s on telly and will be taped by nice people. Just when we thought Jus was being sensible, though, we see him on a doughnut again.. aagahhhh!!! Watch out for his impression of Cherie Blair, and the wind up they did.. we met that guy at the tube station on the way home! Bless him, he was so nice. Quizzes, silly bits, the cash coat… all good fun.. banter with Kasabian, who were on the rosé. How amused were we to see a quiz category called ‘The Damp-ness’ ? hee oh happy memories.. Justin did fab for Charlie, winning her a holiday in America with his darts playing. Oh, there wasn’t a known thing about Jus that wasn’t exploited for our entertainment! Bex did not get to ask her question, which she mentioned firmly to him at the end. I did get him to admit to eating all the Monster Munch, and apologise. Bad boy..
Right, to sum up.. Jus was clever, witty, polished, smooth and charming. Looked bloody good, healthy and happy. He was so much more at his ease than on proper ‘chat shows’ and was thoroughly enjoying himself. He has a knack for this, but needs either just to open his mouth and let it flow, or have better written material. Yeah, I know, this show is not supposed to be comedy genius, but Justin has that, so it should be used. Give him the freedom to spout forth, and someone to spark off, and we’re there. Well done, Justin. More, as usual, please.
We milled about for a time, but really couldn’t be arsed to wait when the pubs of Camden were calling. Managed to get to a loo after about 4 hours.. Damn you Hawkins, no one said bladder control was a Darkling requirement.. and once I started, that was it, had to go every 5 minutes… Drinks, buses, bed. No sleep. Am dead on my feet typing this. All worth it though!
Many thanks to.. Chris with the red and black stripy T, Fee, Bex, Amy and Fi, Hollie and Co, Ian and Chris. Hi to Linda and Howie. Kazza.. where were you… so sorry we didn’t see you, girl.
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