Wednesday

Tonight, for the second time in as many weeks, we are off to see Richard Herring do stand-up. This one is slightly different; while a couple of weeks ago we saw him MCing a show that was ostensibly Stewart Lee's gig, this is one of the final previews of his revived Christ on a Bike show before the Edinburgh festival - which seemed like a cool opportunity to see a full Edinburgh comedy show for a cut-down price.

After work I head to Highbury & Islington station, enduring the appalling heat of the Victoria Line for a thankfully very short ride, and walk down Upper Street to meet K at Angel Station. I'm a little early, so hang around with the large group of fellow waiters that always seem present outside this presumably quite handy station. After around 20 minutes of hanging around I get a call from K saying that due to various tube rubbishnesses she's stuck at King's Cross, so I make my way towards the pub where the gig's being held and plan to meet up with her along the way.

We get to The Compass just as the doors of the small function room are opening and take a seat on high stools at the back of the room. The place is absolutely boiling and, predictably, the window next to me is the one that doesn't open. MC Tiernan Douieb informs of this horrible fact just as the show starts - pointing out that it's not actually as hot as the previous night. Not terribly comforting, it must be said.

Before Herring comes on there is an Edinburgh set from Canadian comedian Pete Johansson, whom I hadn't heard of before, but who turns out to be very funny. His material ranges from the quite silly to the really rather dark, and amusingly at the end of the show he asks the audience if he went too far - perhaps hoping to protect his proper Edinburgh audiences. The folks at this show are fairly unanimous that the material was fine.

Herring finally appears at around 9.30. I had brought my copy of his book along, hoping to get it signed (not something I had ever done before but it seemed a good opportunity), but never really found the moment as he wandered around the venue, seemingly busy. The show, which focuses on Jesus and the myths and truths of the 'historical Jesus' is very funny, and has clearly progressed even since the small snippet we saw him do in Shepherd's Bush and the little bits he tried out during his As It Occurs to Me podcast.

It all comes to an end at around 10.30, and after donating a couple of quid to Scope (a tradition at Richard Herring gigs), we head out into Islington in search of food and maybe another pint or two. Unfortunately it's a little late for food, and both being a little hungry and grumpy from the extreme heat in The Compass, we get into a bit of a row and ride home on the Victoria Line in a bit of a strop - mostly revolving around the fact that the gig had taken up too much of our night to fit in dinner and drinking too. We're mostly OK by the time we get home - but don't really eat anything and go to bed less than 100%. I promise to take K for dinner on Friday night instead!