Blog: Re-writes and Re-sings

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A week and a bit ago I had a session with Mr D Munro where I performed Data and Doctor Doom and then he done DRAMATURGY on it i.e. told me what he thought, offered suggestions, and worked through some bits of it with me. It was UTTERLY GRATE and since then I have been hard at work doing a massive and extensive RE-WRITE of the whole thing.

Thankfully it did not need a huge lot of RESTRUCTURING, which is HARD, but rather just re-writing, which is FUN. A lot of this was to do with streamlining and TIGHTENING what I say between songs - I did have a SCRIPT but this was more a guide as to what I'd say and when, but it became clear that I needed to work on this so as to cut out some of the waffle. Obviously it is ME doing this here show and so waffle is part of the general package, but a lot of it was coming from my own NERVOUSNESS about what I was saying and where to go next. Over the past week I have very much come round to the idea that if I write it down and (mostly) LEARN it then that will make things SMOOTHER, also easier for the audience to understand, also also less TERRIFYING for me!

The other thing he drew my attention to was the possibility for MORE JOKES. "That sounds like it could be a JOKE", he remarked at various points, and since then I have gone through and identified lots of other places where, rather than e.g. glaring at the audience and saying "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT BIT!" I can do a JOKE what gets the point across much more clearly. I have thus been sitting at my laptop GIGGLING to myself as I think up GAGS, and having a lovely time doing so.

Another thing I've been toiling away at has been a couple of song re-writes, which is something I LOVE to do as it means I can pretend I am working on a BROADWAY SHOW the day after previews and the Producer has come in and said "Hibbett! The end of Act Two ain't getting them off their feet, we needs a re-write, ka-peesh?" (CHARACTER DIALOGUE). The really big deal for this has been re-doing the BIG FINALE of the whole show, which has made me VERY HAPPY INDEED as it now brings in MORE themes (including a couple of new RUNNING GAGS what Dec suggested) and builds to a MUCH bigger ending than before.

It has all been rather delightful so far, although now that I have officially reached the end of the current draft and printed it off, there are two (2) slightly LESS delightful prospects for me. The first is that I've got to actually LEARN it, and the second is that I don't get another chance to show it off to Dec or the various pals who came to the work in progress version. The next time I do it will be to ACTUAL HUMANS who I DO NOT KNOW! YIKES!!

And if you'd like that to be YOU (SLICK MARKETING SEGUE!) you can find details of all the forthcoming shows on the Data and Doctor Doom GIGS page!

posted 23/6/2025 by MJ Hibbett

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