It's my final day in Edinburgh and it was a very early start to head down to the BBC in Edinburgh to do the paper review on Paddy O'Connell's Broadcasting House show. It finished at 10 and I got back to my digs at 10.10 to record this week's FOR THE MANY PODCAST with Jacqui Smith. Luckily, we managed to record it without any technological mishaps this week.
And then it was straight to whence I had come from to go and see Sarah Southern's TENTATIVELY TORY one woman stand-up show. I got a very nice surprise when top singer songwriter Alistair Griffin turned up with his wife in the bar. I'm a huge admirer of his work and have seen him in concert several times.
Last year, Sarah did a show about wanting to be a bride. This year it was all about her time working for the Conservative Party and whether she really still was a Tory at heart. She got a very good response from the audience indeed. It's quite difficult to do a show in Edinburgh with the word 'Tory' in the title, but she's had some excellent reviews and deservedly so.
At 4pm it was my last show at the Gilded Balloon Wine bar, with Alan Johnson as my guest. Another sellout show and no one left disappointed. We talked about his latest book IN MY LIFE and current political issues. He made clear he'd find it difficult to vote Labour if there is an election any time soon, and had several digs at my red suit, even suggesting it was something Michael Portillo might wear. I mean, I ask you.
At 6pm I played host to four comedians in the last of my 24 shows. I was joined on stage by Matt Forde, Konstantin Kisin, Grace Campbell and Andrew Doyle. I was a bit nervous about this one as I had never conducted a discussion on comedy before, but I needn't have worried as the four of them were hugely entertaining and gave us some real insights into the world of the stand up comic.
And then it was over. The end. Finito. I'm now suffering from the post show blues, I think. I'll write a final piece tomorrow about the whole experience and what I have learned from it.
I ended the day by having dinner with Simon Marks, LBC's US correspondent who is over here with his son Sam, and then ended the evening with my promoter, James Seabright, without whom none of this would have happened.
And to the 2,500 people who came to the shows, I hope you enjoyed what you saw.
I loved every minute.
