Okay, so I’ve now re-named the blog. Don’t read this… just seemed appropriate.

I’m often asked about how the the ‘don’t do this…’ catchphrase  (for want of a better word) came about. I suppose it was inspired by comedian Richard Herring (is that just a nice way of saying I ripped it off? But hey, at least I’m giving him credit!) I went to see him in York and he was doing a comedy routine which involved an imaginary conversation with a woman who was imploring him not to turn their conversation into a comedy routine (still with me?) As he painted this incredibly complicated scenario the woman kept saying ‘Don’t do this as a routine… but if you do do this as a routine, don’t do this bit, where I’m telling you not to do this as a routine.’ (That’s it, I must have lost you all by now!)

I think I was literally crying with laughter as this imagined and largely improvised conversation got longer and more complex. When I saw people around me getting uncomfortable that he’d taken it too far, I just found it even more funny. It was something of a revelation.

A couple of weeks later I was doing a routine which involved a plastic tube and I told the kids ‘Use a toilet roll tube for this if you want, but unravel it all first’. I realised what I’d said and added, ‘Don’t do it in one go!’
Then I added ‘but if you do…’

Since then that little phrase has crept into the show in lots of different places. Funny how these things come about!

Don’t do this…