October 2013

This Friday 25th October, 2013 at 10pm, Tim will be on QI on BBC Two (except Wales) and even BBC Two HD, if you wish to examine his intellect in exquisite detail. Stephen Fry hosts divinely, as always, and the other panellists are Isy Suttie, Bill Bailey and (of course) Alan Davies.

This is Series K and the episode subject is ‘Keys‘.

It will be up on the BBC iPlayer here shortly after it airs.

The 45 minute QI XL episode will be broadcast Sunday 27th October: 10:30pm BBC Two – England, HD only; 11:00pm BBC Two – Scotland only; 11:30pm BBC Two – Wales only and Monday 28th October 2013, 00:25am BBC Two – Northern Ireland only. Probably worth checking your local TV schedule.

If you really can’t wait a few days for a looksie, here’s the episode preview:

I have some very disappointing / uncool / annoying news.

Due to a highly unlikely and incredibly frustrating sequence of shitty events, the visa I require to play in the US this weekend has not arrived. The rules in the US (and most countries, I guess) about performing without the right work visa are very strict, so I’m not allowed to appear at Festival Supreme on Saturday night.

I’m hugely disappointed, because it was going to be great fun: the line-up is spectacular, the vibe is going to be brilliant and I adore Jack Black and want very much to please him.

But most of all, I feel sick about letting down the people for whom seeing my set was a big reason for buying tickets. I know some of you are travelling a long way, I know some of you had to save up to afford the ticket price, I know you’re going to be pissed off at me. It’s a right pain in the arse.

Please believe me when I say we have done everything we can to solve this. My manager has actually been on the phone to senators trying to find a way to get around this problem. But the fact is, every now and then, it’s just going to happen. As you may know, I confirmed my inclusion on the festival bill only a few weeks ago, and although we had no reason to suspect getting a visa would be a problem, we had only a little room for error. Then a couple of things happened (understandable but rather maddening bureaucratic glitches) which we didn’t / couldn’t predict, and perhaps the Government shut-down slowed things up (I don’t actually know)… and here we are. Majorly bummed out. I’m sorry.

I know you’re going to have an amazing time anyway. There are so many fantastic acts on, and I’m gutted I’m not going to be there to see them. Even if, for some crazy reason, I was your main reason for going, you’ll have a brilliant time without me. You have to try to catch Beardyman, and Reggie, and Sarah Silverman, and Zach, and Tig, and Patton, and Garfunkel & Oates… well everyone you can. These are some of my favourite acts in the world and some of my dear friends. If you like my stuff, you will love so many acts there.

Also, I really want to do something to try to make this up to y’all. I can’t promise anything, because it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare, but could you do something for me? Try to keep hold of your ticket stub from Festival Supreme. OK? Or if you don’t think you can keep hold of it, take a selfie with your sad, sad face next to the ticket before you lose it. That way, we have some chance of putting on some sort of free compensatory gig next year. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I’m really sorry. I’ve unwittingly really fucked a lot of people around. And I was looking forward to this gig so much. Mortified.

Tim
x

You’re probably already familiar with the speech Tim gave to his old Uni, The University of Western Australia, last month, when he received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters for his contribution to the arts.

Today it featured on ABC’s Life Matters. You can listen to it or better still download it as an audio file here, if you wish.

If you did miss Tim’s Occasional Address (where have you been?!) you’ll find a full transcript here and the video which has now gone viral, at over a million views, can be found on YouTube here.

The second Jesus Christ Superstar UK Arena Tour kicked off last night in Glasgow! Tim’s reprising his award-winning performance as Judas Iscariot, for one last tour, while Melanie C and Ben Forster will also be returning in their roles as Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Chris Moyles is back to play King Herod and Alexander Hanson takes on the role of Pontius Pilate again.

The spectacular show will now go on to visit: Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Cardiff, Nottingham, Manchester, London and Liverpool.

If you want to take your final chance to see Tim brooding, rocking and [spoiler alert] dying in dreadlocks and tatts in the Jesus Christ Superstar Arena Tour then you can see the full list of tour dates and ticket availability at www.jesuschristsuperstar.com.