Blog: Doctor Doom in Brixton
When country bumpkins and yokels from tiny villages (e.g. Peterborough, Derby, Sheffield etc) come down to London they are always taken aback by how BUSY the metropolis is, with people and traffic and shops and noise and action everywhere you go. As a long-term resident of our capital city I, of course, am dead sophisticated and used to it, except of course when I go to BRIXTON which makes the rest of London look like A GENTLE HAMLET on a Sunday afternoon. FLIPPING HECK but there is always a lot going on there!
I mention this because I was IN bustling South London on Saturday afternoon to perform Data And Doctor Doom at Club Silly for The Lambeth Fringe. The Footsteps On My Pavement and I rolled up at the venue after a slightly frazzling journey to discover Mr C Flowers waiting for us, and the three of us went in to find a venue staffed by LOVELY people who were EXTREMELY helpeful getting us all set up.
I was a little alarmed at first because there WAS a projector but WASN'T a screen, but the venue people, under the guidance of the aforesaid Pixels On My Monitor, managed to sort this out by projecting onto the CORRUGATED CEILING. This was a bit weird for me as from where I was standing it all looked super wobbly, and when I looked at the audience I saw a lot of NECKS as everyone was looking UP, but apparently it looked fine for everyone else so that was all right then.
After months of TOURING I have got the show down to approx 48 minutes, which meant we were able to postpone the start slightly so that my BROTHER, Mr P Hibbett, on holiday here from NEW ZEALAND, had time to get there - this was GRATE for two reasons as a) we had time to sell some ZINES (memo to self: ALWAYS do this bit before the show starts) and b) when he DID get there everyone CHEERED as I had told them what was going on!
The show itself was really good fun, with Homer Simpson as the Example Character, and when it was done we said our farewells to the lovely staff (NB I have found that pretty much ALL venue staff have been LOVELY doing these Fringe shows) and pals like Charlie and Mr P Baran who had other engagements, then headed round the corner to a BAR with Paul, his sister-in-law Annie and co, and my old pal Mr T Chesser for a BRILLIANT hour or so of LARFS and CHAT. It was GRATE, but also weird how EASY it all was - I hadn't seen Charlie for several years, Thom for several more, and Paul for ELEVEN years (apart from the other week when he first LANDED back) but it was like we'd all bumped into each other in the pub a couple of weeks ago and the GOOD TIMES rolled as if that was very much the case. Also, Thom did a MAGIC TRICK which was BRILLO! It was, all told, a FAB way to spend a Saturday afternoon!
posted 14/10/2025 by MJ Hibbett