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It’s a lazy Saturday morning: drinking tea, lounging around in TARDIS pyjama bottoms (courtesy Randi) and trying to empathise with Todd’s baseball doldrums. So it’s a good time to go through my blogging backlog – which will sorta be like finding last month’s copy of Time Out down the back of the sofa with the pages all stuck together, or ‘a list of things which it’s too late to go and see’.  Internet gold.

• The last ever performance of long-form comedy improv team 3033 at the iO, with Ellen and Kannan. We actually turned up for the penultimate show, but enjoyed it so much that we stayed for the later one too.

• Another famous iO show, TJ and Dave, with Karol. This is actually something you could still go and see! It’s also a pleasantly subtle and understated take on improv comedy, with carefully-observed characters rather than going surreal and wacky.

• But you can’t go and see Cholesterock: Dark Side of the Spoon, because we were at their closing night too. A shame, because this musical history of rock ‘n’ roll and fast food was perfect for a fun Friday night. Special thanks to Chrissy for our comp tickets, and for making us feel cool when picking up comp tickets.

• We also saw The Martian with Nolan and Siri, in the third of a trilogy of high-quality sci-fi movies which Nolan has enticed me to go see. This one has a simple feel-good premise, but it’s well done and enjoyable to watch.

Great socks

In addition, I’ve ticked off a few more Chicago landmarks:  the smells and tastes from Garrett Popcorn during a day out with Randi’s young cousins, a brief trip to the Art Institute during mentoring, and finally making it down to the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. This last adventure was – weirdly enough – prompted by Alastair Campbell’s book tour, and we spent an evening at the Institute of Politics watching him in conversation with David Axelrod. Both men, it must be admitted, come fresh from Ed Miliband’s complete and unabridged defeat – and the subsequent Corbyn explosion – so it felt an odd moment to talk about Winners. Still, it was good to see him again, and be among the niche type of crowd who can appreciate a good Peter Mandelson impression.

We found a bridge

One sitcom which is never getting picked up

As much as I’d like to deny I’m in my mid-twenties – I was perfectly comfortable with 17, and see no compelling reason why that needed to change – one sure sign that I’m wrong is the up-tick in wedding invitations. And it softens the blow, since weddings are fun: especially when it’s two people as great as Shelby and Benno. (Shelbenno? Shelbo? There’s no settled consensus.) Special thanks to Todd and Carolyn for driving us to Grand Rapids and back last weekend! And also to Studio 6.23, whose photo I have nicked above 🙂

Randi’s parents have been visiting Chicago this week, which gave us another opportunity to see Improv Shakespeare. This time, approximately seventeen million below-the-legal-drinking-age University of Chicago freshers also turned up, which probably explains the introspective title It’s Lit. Still great, though. This weekend we also took the architecture boat tour, which was surprisingly good (considering how many other tours I’ve had by this point) and benefited from a great and enthusiastic tour guide.

On the river

Disclaimer: the following paragraph will contain mild allusions to Doctor Who spoilers.

Entirely uncoincidently, her parents’ night to themselves at Second City coincided with the start of the new series of Doctor Who. I love this show. All the hard work converting Randi into a fan has now paid off, and we were both totally captured from that moment in the pre-credits sequence (which I had no idea was coming). And Capaldi has warmed up a little, too… I expect he’ll really hit his stride this year, and it is going to be so awesome.

After two wonderful weeks in the UK, I’m back in Chicago and ready to shower this blog in photos and happy memories. For the first half of the trip, I worked from the London office while Randi gallivanted around the city during the day and took a trip to Paris with Tash. But we still crammed in a lot, starting almost immediately with the Heath…

Hampstead Heath

Yes, within hours of passing through Heathrow’s pleasingly-efficient biometric passport gates, I was stomping around Hampstead Heath to sate months of longing for a swim in the mixed pond. It was quite a hunt, but the moment we splashed into the water was totally worth it. Joined by the wonderful Abbi, we dried off in the sole summery day of the week with a pitcher of Pimm’s and the first of many pub meals. Bangers and mash: job done.

Public service green screen

The next morning, we kicked off our tour of Dominic-approved British institutions by visiting BBC Broadcasting House. Having fallen in love with W1A earlier in the year, Randi (this blog’s Director of Better) was also excited to stalk any room with the slightest connection to Just A Minute. I highly approve. As you can see, we also had a go at reading the news, during which I spoke the vast majority of words on the autocue in the correct order.

‘Fact’ times ‘Importance’ equals NEWS

On Thursday night, Randi’s friend Maisie joined us and Matt, Laura and the (now engaged!) Caroline and Charles for a traditional night of wine, politics and unflattering photos. (At least of me.) Happily, the brashly well-connected and snappily-dressed members of the group had arrived first and marched right into a private room… I certainly wasn’t complaining.

I don’t think I can caption this group ‘Themes & Sources’ anymore

The following night, a large group of us descended on NewsRevue – well I was hardly going to miss this, was I? – which was its usual excellent self. And also about 90% dedicated to the Labour leadership race, which I’d like to think of as Randi’s pay-off for taking in so much useless trivia about British politics. (Fear not, they also included Donald Trump’s rendition of America Fuck Yeah. It was great.)

Simon offers to show me his Jeremy Corbyn tattoo

Joshua! Simon! More drinks than seems necessary!

Besties

With so much politics, it was only right that we toured Parliament – that absurd Victorian Gothic palace which still gives me thrills of excitement to walk through. You can peer over the balconies of as many staid state and federal legislatures as you want, and they are impressive in their own way, but nothing comes close to the combat fields of the green benches in the House of Commons.

Definitely London

But there are other British traditions which are equally important, and one of them is the cheerful determination to continue a back garden barbecue through the drizzle of a Bank Holiday weekend. So a million thanks to Cat and Matt for sharing this experience, and letting us crash at their new flat after celebrating Cat’s birthday with many fine people (Groupon and non-Groupon alike) at a nearby Leytonstone pub. Not pictured below are Biff and Christa, but rest assured they also made it!

Sheltering with Marielle and Emily

So perfectly English

The morning after, with Cat and Matt

So far this all sounds like a hurried clip-show from the last few years of my life in London, but I also got to try a totally new experience for me: Time Run, an escape-the-room style adventure. Katie, Randi and I were pitted against a team of Regans in an immersive time-travelling game which was SO MUCH FUN. And probably the closest I will ever come to becoming a Doctor Who companion, especially as we kinda failed the prospective companion test by not succeeding in our ultimate quest. But we did solve a whole bunch of puzzles along the way in three exquisitely designed sets, and I recommend booking yourself a Time Run unreservedly.

Katie’s eager to get started on our time-travelling quest

Team Adipose

The other side to the week, of course, was just spending time with my family again. It never feels like enough time, but my mum was generous enough to throw an afternoon tea for the whole extended family in one go, so at least I got to see (almost) everyone. And for all of the running around, one of my favourite memories from this trip will just be sitting alone with my dad, in a darkened room, drinking Old Speckled Hen and listening to Doctor Who soundtracks and other pieces of music we share. It was good to be home.

Set the clocks to BST, crack open a packet of digestive biscuits and start putting the letter U back into words where it belongs: I’m visiting home again!

Randi and I are flying to London tomorrow evening, which is inordinately exciting, because even the simplest things will make me happy. Like a toffee yoghurt. I haven’t had a toffee yoghurt in over a year, and that’s not cool. Before we leave, though, a few Chicago things:

• It was Katie’s last week at work – a seriously sad development, tempered by envy/admiration/longing for her move to New York. (New York! Almost as good as London!) Her farewell party was at Parrots, which I hope I can call a ‘dive bar’ while conveying great affection. Was great to see a bunch of people – Katie has always been great at bringing well-matched friends together – including Aaron from Groupon days gone by. We’ll miss you, Katie 😎

• Our second Common Room play this month: Loving Repeating, a musical based on the life of Gertrude Stein and her relationship with Alice B. Toklas. I had zero idea who Gertrude Stein was, but brushed up in advance (American, lived in Paris, collected art, wrote, didn’t like commas) and enjoyed the production. I mean, it wasn’t my normal arena of interest, but they did a good job incorporating what was distinctive about Stein’s written style into the fabric of the music itself.  Also, someone at Common Room tipped us all off that cows = orgasms, and it’s damned helpful to have metaphors pointed out in advance. (I mean that entirely sincerely.)

• We failed to go mini golfing with Todd and Carolyn. In fairness, it was approximately eight thousand degrees outside. So we stayed in and ate pizza and played Fibbage instead. Fair?

• We did manage to go drinking with Ellen and Kannan, swapping our favourite podcasts and evangelising Kindles. We are cool beyond measure.

• We also managed to go bowling in the 1940s at The Fireside Bowl:

Randi, me, Robert, Marti, Luis and an anti-Soviet missile launching terminal

Rachel takes the stage at Common Room

After a summer hiatus, Common Room is back! If you’re in Chicago, cancel everything else and come along to the next one. If you’re lucky, you’ll even get pulled on stage for the traditional ‘interview with an audience member’ segment, as Randi’s friend Rachel discovered last week.

We also introduced her to the perpetual comedy motion machine which is Improv Shakespeare at the iO.  Night of the Living Bed – the fourth production I’ve seen – was as rip-roaringly brilliant as ever and contained a commendable sequence of single-payer healthcare system puns. (Which is more than can be said of the first Republican primary debate… although if you listened closely, you could just about hear Donald Trump praising Scotland’s NHS, which was somewhat surreal.)

Lauri, Randi and me

Sadly, after his final show on Thursday, Jon Stewart is no longer around to make all that nonsense feel better. A logical alternative is to turn to drink, which we greatly enjoyed with Lauri on Friday night. And on Saturday, AJ (of the ‘British, newly arrived in Chicago’ variety) joined us for Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine. Having decided to buy tickets after seeing a few scenes at Common Room, it grew increasingly familiar until I finally searched my own brain blog and confirmed that, yes, I actually first saw this play at the Tricycle back in 2006 on a school trip. With great consideration I had avoided spoiling the plot for my future self, a courtesy I will now repeat in case this happens once again, but for the record it’s certainly a very funny and enjoyable play.

Finally, two more authentic experiences I can now check off:

• Being turned away from urgent care because of the ‘wrong’ insurance (not for me – and yes, everyone’s OK)
• Having a debit card cloned and used for fraudulent purchases at McDonald’s (and yes, I got all the money back and everything’s OK)