I suppose I should write something now shouldn't I.

I've had writers block for a good few weeks now.... if I was pressed to make a guess, I'd say at least 9. Could be a couple of reasons for that.... I've just been promoted in work, and that is taking up a lot of my time in work, and I find myself thinking about work at home more now as well. I think that's because I'm enjoying it and want to do well, so I can't really complain.

I've also been going out far more than usual lately, I've seen a lot of comedians, some amazing, some disappointing, but none that I've thought 'I've got to write about this'.

Even when my oldest friend called me and asked me to be the Godfather to his only son, despite being more honoured than I ever had been in my life, I didn't blog about it. I must try harder.

So to end this, I'll ask a question. What does a Godfather buy for a Godson for his Christening? I've got till August to work this out, but I'm no closer to an answer now than I was when I first hung up the phone. Any suggestions?

From the mind and fingers of Laura Smith

Anybody reading this will undoubtedly be aware that ultimately, Russell and I met due to a mutual interest in comedy. Although I can't claim to be as knowledgeable, (obsessed), as our resident expert, I have been fascinated with the art form for a number of years. In my mind, it is one of the most creative, intelligent, honest and inclusive sectors. For me, it is more than a way of cheering up one's self after a hard day; it's an insight into the thought processes, opinions and the imagination of others. From the man at the pub telling an amusing tail to today's Mighty Boosh style idiosyncratic insanity, comedy is fundamentally a captavating way of story telling. I love stories, which I suppose is why I love comedy.
I have several people to thank for getting me hooked. Most recently our own Mr. Hughes has been feeding my interest, providing me with stacks of CD's and recommending DVD’s. During my teens it was my brother who introduced me to what he referred to as, "real comedy". However it was much earlier that my interest was established thanks to a pair of TV Legends. Perhaps it would be a little dramatic of me to call them pioneers of British comedy, or even comedians at all; however the Chuckle Brothers have provided me with a lot of laughs, a lot of stories and will always have a place in my heart as two of my all time heroes.
I distinctly remember being introduced to the Chuckles and the instantaneous admiration I had for there ability to make my three year old self gurgle and giggle like an overly excited drain. The revelation took place on the carpet of Church High Nursery School, where I sat entranced forgetting to drink my lukewarm milk (not that I'd have drunk that stuff anyway, bloody awful!) Anyway, my first glimpse of the hilarious pairing made such an impression that I took to reenacting episodes for my poor family. As an attempt to silence these often noisy and long winded performances, my Granddad bought me the entire series of Chuckle Vision on video. After two weeks I was word perfect. This may sound impressive however as I recall, there were only two jokes, two catch phrases and a theme tune that centered around the repetition of the programme's two word title. So not a great achievement by all accounts.
If I were to draw a timeline of significant events regarding my relationship with the Chuckles, the next entry would doubtless be 1992. I was four years old and on my way to a hospital appointment in London. It was my first visit to the capital and it started out as a miserable experience. I was tired having been woken at four, I hated the noise, smoke, crowds and to cap it all off I was bound for a hospital visit.
I remember being steered threw King's Cross Station, crying in that "I'm four, I'm pissed off so don't mind me if I cry at the top of my tiny lungs," way. Dad had the tube map, mum had my hand. Progress was pretty slow as my parents had to navigate themselves, our luggage and a screaming idiot threw the crowds. It wasn't long before we came to a standstill. I assumed that this was due to another map check, however dad had spotted non other than Barry and Paul Chuckle standing to board a near by train.
What happened after this is a bit of a blank to this day. However, I've been reliably informed that I refused to talk to my heroes as, as I put it, "they live in the telly and not in the world!"
By the time I'd reached five and it had sunk in that TV people were actual people in their spare time, I was devastated I'd missed my chance to meet my idols and I became determined to do so.
In a bid to achieve my ambition, the next few years saw me, accompanied by various protesting family members, sat in the audience of every local Chuckle Brother's show. This in itself was true dedication, as, to be frank, see one you've seen them all! During the first show I saw, the brothers worked in a shop which turned out to be haunted. The following year they were employed at a hotel, only to discover its spooky goings on. After years of attempting to disguise the lack of fresh plot, my ticket finally bore the title, "The Chuckle Brothers and the haunted house." Genius.
As well as varied and innovative story lines, I was also introduced to two more brothers. These were Barry and Paul's older siblings who didn't feature so often in the Chuckle’s TV projects. Firstly there was Mr. No Slacking who on occasions did feature in the television series. He always played Barry and Paul’s' boss who would warn the two that there was to be "no slacking!" For the purposes of comedy, there was a lot of slacking.
The fourth and my absolute favourite brother was Mr. Get Out Of It. As he was evidently nearing eighty at least, it seemed that he wasn't capable of any great responsibility. Subsequently it was his job to walk across the stage at strategic points in the performance to announce to the audience in his quivery old man voice, "get out of it" before shuffling off into the wings. I think he may be the definition of the word, legend!
Finally, in 1999 my dedicated Chuckle Show attending was rewarded. After a performance of "The Chuckle Brothers in the haunted circus," or something of the like, the fellas revealed that they'd be signing autographs. I think my dad was as excited as I. He was only too aware of my resolution to meet the guys so he hurried us round to the bar to join the queue.
I'd like to say we queued for hours and hours; however it would be more realistic to state that we waited for approximately three minutes. The show's audience had mainly been comprised of four year olds who'd been whisked off home to bed. The autograph queue was therefore a somewhat subdued collection of a funny smelling old lady who kept singing to herself, a couple of drunken students, me and my dad. it didn't make the moment of meeting my heroes any less special though.
I explained to them how I'd nearly met them seven years prior and of my resolution to make that meeting happen. They thanked me for my loyalty. Then, on asking my name Barry Chuckle treated me to a rendition of "tell Laura I love her". As the middle aged kid’s entertainer began to sing in his tuneless voice with a strong Lancashire accent I thought "I'm too old for this... It was then I realised that my Chuckling days were over. So I thought.
Years passed, my taste in comedy matured. Instead of tuning in to the latest episode of Chuckle vision I'd been found watching the Office or Extras. My desire to hang out with Barry Chuckle was replace by one to meet with Russell Brand. Instead of attending Chuckle Brother's performances I'd go to see stand up gigs with more than one joke and no ghostly appearances. As well as live comedy I began listening to radio shows too, admiring the talent of a young six music presenter, Jon Richardson.
Flick forward on the timeline to 2008.
I was sat chatting to my new mate Russ, telling him of a dream I'd had the night before. The dream centered on 6music's Jon Richardson competing in a comedy competition with my old childhood hero, Barry Chuckle. Russell loved the dream and suddenly said, "email Jon's show and tell him about it, he'll love it!" I did just that, thinking nothing would come of it.
The following Sunday I tuned into Jon as usual and was delighted when he read out my mail, commenting on the bizarre dream and saying hi to Russell and I. Hearing Jon, who I admired so much saying my name was a great moment, it reminded me of when my eleven year old self met her long time heroes. In fact it was down to them that this new hero of mine now knows my name.
I started this ramble by saying comedy is all about telling stories. The Chuckle Brothers gave me many memories and many stories. This tail hasn't just been about comedy though, it's been about exciting moments, idols but ultimately it's been about loyalty. Be loyal to your childhood heroes and they might be loyal to you.

This seems as good a way as any to kick of Livejournal.... so lets crack on!

1. I spent Easter 2000 in Lourdes working with disabled kids
2. I am a legally ordained (Internet) Minister
3. Despite 1 & 2, I'm an Atheist
4. 2008 has been great so far
5. I'm planning on learning to drive this year
6. I'm an Everton fan
7. But I had no feelings either way about Liverpool FC until I worked in Liverpool
8. Now I want them to go the way of Leeds
9. I'm a massive fan of Stand Up Comedy
10. The worst I've seen is Billy Connolly
11. The best I've seen is Russell Howard
12. My favourite sitcom is The Office
13. If it wasn't for Stephen Merchant, I would never have met Laura
14. Laura and I have agreed to go and see him live if he sticks with Stand Up and tours beyond London
15. I'm not convinced I like my job
16. It's still the best job I've ever had
17. I'm always seeking out new music
18. My diet is awful
19. I never drink hot drinks
20. I rarely drink alcohol
21. But I'm trying to get healthier
22. Wii Sports counts as a work out, right?
23. I think friends are friends, even if you did meet them on the Internet
24. I wish I was as good a writer as whitehousemom
25. Maybe one day....
26. It took me an hour to write the first 25
27. I'm still friends with people I met from school, and every job I've had
28. I have a slightly obsessive personality
29. I can watch/listen to the same thing over and over
30. When buying food, I normally buy 2 of everything, in case one isn't enough
31. I was signed off work for 5 months with a suspected brain tumour
32. They never did really find out what was wrong.
33. I've only been to two funerals in my life
34. That is too many
35. I can lose hours 'researching' on Wikipedia
36. I like a bet
37. My biggest win was £2500
38. I love Christmas
39. I start getting exciting around August
40. I like things that remind me of my childhood.
41. I saw a well preserved can of Top Deck that had been dug up in someones garden (old ring pull and everything) and it made my day
42. He-man and Thundercats do not stand up to repeated viewing 20 years later
43. Transformers does, it's still amazing
44. I think myspace is evil
45. I consider deleting my Facebook at least once a week.
46. I probably never will
47. I hate Peter Kay
48. I regret not learning a musical instrument
49. I wish I could speak another language
50. I've known whitehousemom about a year, but only found out from her list that her son's name is Jacob
51. I think Ralphie suits him better
52. I love McDonalds
53. I'm not a fan of Burger King
54. I've not been to KFC in about 4 years
55. I love my food
56. I wanted a laptop for years
57. I finally was able to get one this year
58. I wouldn't have been able to do it if it wasn't for the job I might hate
59. I can't swim
60. I can't ride a bike
61. I couldn't live without my ipod
62. I listen to music when I'm walking and speech on the train
63. I have a huge DVD collection
64. Far too many of them have gone unwatched.
65. I play the lottery every week, and plan how I will spend the money.
66. This probably depresses me more than not winning ever could
67. I get annoyed if I can't get online
68. But only seem to look at the same handful of websites
69. All suggestions are welcomed.
70. I surpised myself that I didn't make a weak joke about the previous number
71. I love my friends kids
72. But having one of my own is still scary as hell
73. When I was 20 I went to Amsterdam with my friends
74. I look back on it fondly now, but I hated it at the time
75. And I wouldn't go back if you paid me
76. People never cease to amaze me.
77. Unfortunately, this isn't always a good thing.
78. I miss some my friends
79. I know I could do more to see them
80. I'm hungry
81. I'm always hungry
82. I'd rather have 2 starters than a pudding.
83. This tends to surprise people
84. I can't sleep without my ipod playing
85. I hate all newspapers
86. Even reading the free paper on the train can get me angry
87. I find the adverts during daytime tv depressing
88. I think the service provided by Virgin Media has got much worse since they were Telewest/NTL
89. They are still better than Sky, so I'm stuck with them
90. The older I get, the less I believe what I'm told
91. I don't mind if I never go on holiday again
92. For the first time I can remember, I'm really looking forward to my future
93. I'm having sausage sandwiches for dinner
94. I don't own a Video Player or a CD Player
95. I still have lots of videos and CDs
96. I need to start writing more
97. I've said that before.
98. I need Laura to bully me to do it!
99. Because I actually listen to her!!
100. This took nearly 2 and a half hours.... a wasted Saturday? Nah!

It seems that Livejournal is where all the cool kids blog... so I thought I better follow like that sheep I am....

Baa!