There aren’t many people who can make me blush, however my friend the Australian comedian Pam Ann successfully achieved just that last week.
Pam aka Caroline Reid does a hilariously entertaining stand-up trolley dolly act and returned to Leeds City Varieties to humiliate and titillate a packed audience with her new show ‘ Terror at 41000 Feet’.
We became friends during one of her previous visits to Leeds when I entertained her in my bars and clubs. It was such a fun night and we hit it off so well that we’ve remained in touch ever since.
Of course I couldn’t miss her new show and when her Manager called on the day to check I would be there that night, I put the champagne on ice in the hope she would be keen to party after the show.
As I took my seat in the stalls, I recognized so many familiar faces in the audience who had come along, including my close friends Paul and Stephen who are both cabin stewards with British Airways and like many of their colleagues can’t resist joining in the fun that Pam pokes at their profession.
Pam Ann thrives on humiliating the audience during her shows so I really should have known better than to think I was never going to be subjected to this myself.
As the spotlight scanned the stalls, she picked me out instantly and almost shrieked with excitement , I was an easy target as she knew so much about me.
“Terry George, Secret Millionaire”, she shouted to me from the stage. “What on earth are you doing back there in economy? You should definitely be upgraded to First Class!”
With that she promptly pointed to a guy on the front row, made him stand up and forcibly ejected him from his seat and made me swap with him. Poor guy, he had probably booked early to get the best first class fare and there he was being downgraded to economy.
Fortunately he found it as funny as me, and I was now lucky enough to enjoy her antics from close range. I couldn’t help thinking all those in the audience who knew me would be saying , “typical Terry”. I daren’t turn round to see their faces.
When I went backstage afterwards Caroline was pretty tired after such a great show however she couldn’t resist accompanying me back to Fibre and Mission for a glass of bubbly or two. As owner, I was happy to return the favour she had shown me and upgraded her to the Directors Lounge in both venues!
A Devil of a Show in Blackpool
I am a huge fan of the fabulous shows that Cirque du Soleil produce and have been lucky enough to enjoy them quite a few times on my travels to Las Vegas and Florida.
So when an invitation landed on my desk from Gill Mathison at Blackpool Pleasure Beach to their VIP opening night of a new show, Forbidden, I have to admit my first thoughts were it would be tacky in comparison to Cirque duSoleil, and the accommodation they had kindly provided would be a chintzy B&B.
But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Firstly I checked into the 4 star Big Blue Hotel at the Pleasure Beach which was very chic for Blackpool, then attended a drinks reception with other vip’s including Corrie’s Tupele Dorgu who plays knicker stitcher Kelly Crabtree and Dave The Hairy Biker.
We were an odd trio of celebrities but I guess all the other invited stars must have held the same preconceptions I had about Blackpool and decided to wash their hair that night.
They really missed out on a great evening however, as we were then taken on an open top bus to the Globe theatre to watch the show. It was truly amazing and I loved it. So professional and with a bevy of stunning dancers with sheer talent I would recommend it to everyone.
After the show we were treated to a formal dinner at the White Tower Restaurant, however not wanting to stick with formality I sneaked off into the room where all the performers, who are mostly eastern European, were enjoying their own well deserved disco to celebrate a brilliant opening night.
Forbidden runs until the 2nd of November and if you buy a wristband for the Pleasure Beach you receive a ticket for the matinee show included. Superb value if you ask me. So much so that I’m going again next weekend with some friends to experience the thrill of the rides and the show.
Do you really want to……. buy my t-shirt?.
Wow, those Boy George t-shirts must have sold well.
I read a couple of weeks ago that my old friend Boy George, the former Pop star and DJ who has sold millions of records had fallen on hard times and been reduced to selling t-shirts on a London market stall to scrape a living.
I was surprised to hear this news but thought it seemed like a good idea to prove that he could go back to grass roots and muck in, hopefully working his way up again and getting his life back on track.
Well it hasn’t taken him long, and his huge following must have bought his t-shirts by the lorry load as he’s just announced a summer tour of the USA and Canada.
Maybe I could persuade my partner Michael that it would make good business sense for us to get a market stall too. I don’t think selling t-shirts with pictures of us on them would prove quite so lucrative though!