Why the nostalgia of anticipatory holidays past ruins the present

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Recorded Guy was necessarily deaf to the goings-on in the room and kept voicing his disappointment at not hearing the laughs – Live Guy was able to assure him that he wasn’t missing much, or that he was – as the case might be on a given night. Eventually Recorded Guy ran out of tape and “died” and a distraught Live Guy respectfully closed his eyes to prepare him for his Stygian journey, but then they realised that Recorded Guy couldn’t die without killing Live Guy so the cassette must be a C-90 not a C-60; everybody cheered then there was a song. Recorded Guy said his lines with perky commitment night after night while Live Guy was wisened by the fluctuating ease and struggle of the performances and jaded physically by the extra gigging and the late drinking and all the sweet anxiety and the feigned nonchalance at good reviews and the passionate indignation at bad ones. Ironically, while Recorded Guy was always sincerely envious of Live Guy’s contact with the audience, the envy became mutual: Recorded Guy’s hope for the future could never be dented and his sunny attitude made him likeable to audiences – eventually more likeable than knackered Live Guy, who became genuinely jealous when his former self got more laughs – though he learned to amplify his jadedness for heightened contrast, which final bit of business locked the show into a sustainable shape.