Tiswas theme night in Northamptonshire on Sunday night

[Peter Thomas]

I've been put in charge of this...



And I get to be a member of the Phantom Flan Flinger's family!

I should also note that this is basically a fun night, not exactly catering to the Tiswas anorak, more of an excuse to throw pies and gunge at each other in the name of comedy. Nothing sexualised though, it's not that kind of event!

Location: Horseshoe Inn, 36 Sheep Street, Wellingborough, Northants.
Time: Starts at 8pm, but the mess begins at 9pm.

[BillShipton]

Good luck with this, Peter, it sounds a great laugh.

Bill

[DungeonMasterOne]

Love the ad, really seems to capture the sprit of the original. Have fun!

[andy250]

Hope the event goes well. Have a blast, love the idea of the phantom roaming round the pub flanning people.

regards

Andy

[Peter Thomas]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I am being Flanderella (the Phantom's wife), which means dressing exactly the same as the Phantom, but having to wear a dress and a wig on top of the usual Phantom uniform! Blimey. I didn't choose that role, I was told to do it!

And to make things weirder, the Phantom is being played by my female friend Polly! This going to be one odd night.

Today we spent most of the afternoon rushing around trying to find the last of the props (over-sized glasses for the Trevor MacDoughnut news flashes) and costumes (why do no womens clothes shop sell green tights round here?).

We put up the Cage in the beer garden this afternoon, and the landlady picked up 100 cans of shaving foam from Tesco! We have 2 kilograms of Natrosol powder and plenty of powder paint to make gallons of gunge!

The Compost Corner bit is what everyone is looking forward to. People who never saw Tiswas, are talking about it, because a regular is going to end up dressed up as a flower in a tight green costume, then we get to douse him with brown gunge.

I'm wearing a suit for the opening speech, and getting flanned and gunged. Just to get people in the mood.

The rest of the night, I'm spending in a black leotard, tights, a mask, a dress and a dodgy blonde wig. I'll resemble Darth Vader in drag.

We're filming it. DVD should be available for Christmas.

[christh]

Despite the short notice I was able to attend this: it was well attended and all rather jolly. The main trouble is that on an August evening buckets of cold water (which I managed to avoid) are - well- cold! I realise an indoor venue could be hard to find; maybe I'm just a softie.

Many thanks to those who made this happen: I hope there will be more.

[Peter Thomas]

Despite the short notice I was able to attend this:

Were you the oldish chap right up close by the Cage, calmly sat down, in shorts? If so, you're on my video footage!

As you may know, I was the chap in the shirt and tie who got the first pieing from the Phantom in my opening speech, plus a bucket of thick green gunge over my head. (Now I feel like I belong on here! Didn't do anything for me in that way, but I enjoyed the fact it raised some laughs and got a previously reluctant crowd to join in the messiness - we had to turn people away from the Cage in the end!)

Then I had to play the role of Flanderella, which meant splatting pies on people whilst wearing a dress, a leotard, tights and a wig. Amazingly, my girlfriend still speaks to me!

it was well attended and all rather jolly. The main trouble is that on an August evening buckets of cold water (which I managed to avoid) are - well- cold!

They wanted them warmed up, but I didn't want them to be. They never did it on actual Tiswas, and it generates some beautiful screams! I'm playing back the video now, it's really funny!

I realise an indoor venue could be hard to find; maybe I'm just a softie.

They initially expected to get the Cage indoors, but I told them that'd be impossible. Then when they considered the amount of gunge and pies, that it'd be really silly to have that indoors!

Many thanks to those who made this happen: I hope there will be more.

It went down very very very well. The whole event was my idea, but I couldn't make it happen on my own.

The management are so impressed, that they are thinking of making it an annual event. It was their most funniest and most successful themed night ever. So, fingers crossed, it will return in Summer 2008. I aim to make it messier.

[christh]

In reply to Peter, I am delighted it went down well with the management and that there will be another next year: could we have more notice?

What to you mean, oldish? I'm ancient.

[Peter Thomas]

We don't really advertise to, er, this section of society (*prepares for more flaming*). I only posted here at the last minute 'cos I was worried it'd be low on numbers... how wrong was I!? It's still the talk of the pub!

So, as long as everyone recognises that we do these events for comedy/entertainment value, we'd be fine plugging it here (I think!).

Here is a clip of myself getting attacked with pies and gunge by the Phantom Flan Flinger...
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l6eKvDVcSxg

I'm impressed with timing of my female friend (who played the Phantom), I think we nailed the slapstick pretty much dead on.

[BillShipton]

We don't really advertise to, er, this section of society.....
.....I'm impressed with timing of my female friend (who played the Phantom), I think we nailed the slapstick pretty much dead on.

We are capable of behaving in the outside world, you know. Some of us even go to the pub without our carers.

I look forward to admiring your slapstick genius

[christh]

I can see why you might have been nervous at advertising on this forum, but, as Bill suggests, lots of us do this for a good laugh and wouldn't dream of causing offence. The phrase "nothing sexualised though" was noted: there were children present (I suppose you could take that wrongly if you were twisted).

On that theme, your female friend filled her role most excellently.

Best of luck for future ventures: I hope I get to hear of them!

[andy250]

[quote="Peter Thomas"]We don't really advertise to, er, this section of society (*prepares for more flaming*). I only posted here at the last minute 'cos I was worried it'd be low on numbers... how wrong was I!? It's still the talk of the pub!![quote]

You dont half know how to set yourself up Peter.........

Having done live events I can almost gaurntee nobody would have got in the way of your event, they would have been really happy to sit in the crowd and watch the action. No one has ever got in the way, at any of the events I have ever done.

Love the the gag though before the flanning started their was some good timing with that, you can hear it from the reaction of the crowd.

regards

Andy

[Peter Thomas]

We are capable of behaving in the outside world, you know. Some of us even go to the pub without our carers.

Heh, apologies for being patronising! My mouth does get me into trouble sometimes.

I look forward to admiring your slapstick genius

'Twas really hit and miss. People laughed at the jokes' punchlines, usually because there was a pieing involved. Our Phantom Flan Flinger Challenge went on for ages!

[Peter Thomas]

I can see why you might have been nervous at advertising on this forum, but, as Bill suggests, lots of us do this for a good laugh and wouldn't dream of causing offence.

I know - the majority are good, especially on this forum, where there is so much knowledge about the history of slapstick, and appreciation of the effort that's needed for it.

I have had contact from various WAM sites where I was left scratching my head. But the majority are fine. Decadent Doll is a fantastic ambassador.

The phrase "nothing sexualised though" was noted: there were children present (I suppose you could take that wrongly if you were twisted).

We weren't expecting children to be present, but it happens. The boy was the son of the guy who helped drive the Cage over to Wellingborough - and he did brilliantly as the clean stooge in the Phantom Flan Flinger Challenge. After that finished, he said in all seriousness to his dad "I don't know how I won that competition!".

Myself and the landlady/entertainments manager agreed that Tiswas was mainly an adults programme, and we wanted to reflect that by going a bit risque.

On that theme, your female friend filled her role most excellently.

Hmm... the confusing bit is, do you mean me, as I played a female later on in the night, or my actual female friend playing a male role? I think you mean the latter! She went beyond the call of duty. Her ceiling collapsed in the morning, with water going everywhere, so she warned she may not be able to make it. I told her not to worry, we'd look for someone else, but she insisted she'd turn up whenever she could, she did not want to miss this for anything.

Eventually she got the workmen in (not bad for a Sunday) and came down. She then asked what time it finished. I said it'd be going on for three hours - "aargh, I can only spend an hour here, because of the kids!" - but then persuaded her kids to stay the whole night there. She was partying until 1 in the morning! She walked home in that leotard!

Best of luck for future ventures: I hope I get to hear of them!

Well, stay tuned to TiswasOnline's forums around summertime next year. I was in the position to plug the whole night on our website pages, but felt that it might not have lived up to expectations, so I kept it low-key, and just hoped not many people at the night got bored...

...well, if only I could turn back time! My pessimism was very unfounded, people were well up for it!

[Peter Thomas]

Having done live events I can almost gaurntee nobody would have got in the way of your event, they would have been really happy to sit in the crowd and watch the action. No one has ever got in the way, at any of the events I have ever done.

Love the the gag though before the flanning started their was some good timing with that, you can hear it from the reaction of the crowd.

She was bloody good at that. All she learnt were the trigger words, having arrived half an hour before it kicked off. I'm immensely pleased with that. I've always wanted to perform comedy in front of a crowd, and we winged it! She really camped it up too, made it look really pantomime (the idea of her sneaking away as I turned around was entirely ad-libbed, so I played along with it).