Mark Olver - Bristol comedian

I am currently sitting in The Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh, waiting to compere the Chortle Fast Fringe. I am aware that my website has forgotten how to do proper spacing to bear (or bare) with me. Weirdly Edinburgh is sunny today, sunny and warm, lots of people start their first shows today, I start mine tomorrow. The tech rehearsals have gone well, the set looks amazing, and I think I am ready. I am eating a lot, and sleeping more, and am looking forward to getting started. The flat is great, my roomies, Josh Widdicombe, Henry Paker, and Mat Ewins are magnificent, and a lot of Pro evo has already been played.

Last night was one of my last previews of Olver: Portrait of a Serial Killer, at the lovely Bike Shed theatre in Exeter.The space is wonderful, a glorious little venue, run by a fantastic staff, with a brilliant bar. And no audience. Well, some audience. There were 8 real punters, all blokes, the sketch group, all blokes, and the front of house staff (a girl).The show has quite a lot of technical stuff in it, which broke minutes before the gig started, but having an audience that small, and having to focus on the script of the show, has helped me make it better. I think. I have got four more previews left. I am nervous. But...We did do some very exciting filming for the finale yesterday, and I have a meeting with a fight director soon. Yup, a fight director. To help me direct the fight. Actual, physical fighting.

Two weeks tomorrow I will be leaving Bristol to go up to Edinburgh for the festival. At the moment I am in a pub just outside of Liverpool killing time before my gig tonight, time I should be using to put extra jokes and things into the show, rather than messing around with a website I have not updated for a while. Procrastination is king at the moment. The show, Olver: Portrait of a Serial Killer, is different from anything I have ever done, and it is equal parts exciting/nerve racking.It is sort of a play, sort of stand-up, sort of scary, sort of stupid.The previews have been mixed, but after every single one the show improves. I won an award for the very first performance (Leicester Comedy Festival Best New Show 2011) and so since then the pressure has been to make it as good as people think it might be. I also have pressure to make the show as good as my poster, which is incredible. An amazing graphic designer called Dickie Dwyer did it, and I think it might be a work of art, and when I figure out how, I will make sure that it appears heavily on this here website. Right, my bread brie has arrived. I promise not to be a stranger on my own website. Over the next few weeks I will chart the finishing touches to the show (including a session with a professional fight director and special effects expert).