Updates
P&O Ventura
I’ve just spent eight days cruising on P&O Ventura from Southampton to Tenerife on what is my last cruise of 2022. The audience on P&O are generally fantastic, and the Venturians were no exception to this. It was a privilege to do shows for them.
One of the things I love about performing on ships is that you get to meet and hang out with other acts. In the eight days I only performed on two nights, so there were plenty of hanging out opportunities. This contract was lucky to have the marvellous Jon Clegg and the ever talented Adele impressionist, Becky Porter.
Now that I am finished on the ships for this year, my land based Christmas season starts. For the next few weeks I will be part of a show based in Bristol in the Christmas Spiegel Tent. It’s going to be such a luxury to be able to sleep in my own bed each night! Travelling just 15 minutes to go and do a show. I simply cannot wait!
That’s all from me this week. Bye for now!
Variety Bungalow
First of all, you may or may not have noticed that you are currently goggling at a brand new website. My previous website was a haggard nine years of age, so it was about time I had an upgrade. This website is brought to you Squarespace but was designed by my good friend, drinking buddy, great designer and part time pessimist, Ben McCabe. He also designed my book. I highly recommend him for any design work. Despite his occasional pessimism (he tends to save that for the pub), he is a real pleasure to work with, and get’s the job done to a very high standard.
At the time of writing, I am on a cruise ship called P&O Ventura sailing from Southampton to Lisbon. We are on our first sea day so I reckon we are somewhere near France. Hang on, there is a channel on the TV that tells us exactly where we are. Wait there. I’ll be back in a mo……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Ok I’m back. We are here:
I am currently sat in my cabin with a freshly press Aeropress of coffee:
Today I am trying to get my head around Squarespace, and I’ve already messaged Ben a few times asking how to do things. Once you get the hang of it though, it really is idiot proof. And I should know, as a semi professional idiot. This is my first of hopefully many weekly blogs, but I am pretty sure I’ve said that before (and that). Let’s just see how it goes shall we? Stop pressuring me.
In other news, my very first cabaret Jon Udry’s Variety Bungalow was a huge success. Not only did the audience love it, but we also sold out the venue, and we’ve booked 4 more shows for 2023. Check out my new events page for dates.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas (doodley dee), and what better way to show your loved ones that you love them than buying a Jon Udry Mug or my new book? If you are a Jon Udry fan (a Udricorn?), and you don’t receive a book for mug for Christmas, then I’m sorry to say that nobody loves you. Maybe 2023 will be a better year for you?!
I only have 5 mugs left, and after that, I will probably not get anymore made. Limited edition!!! They are £10 plus whatever the postage will be to your area. If you would like to buy one get in touch or go to paypal.me/jonudry and pay me the £10. I’ll get back in touch with you for postal costs.
As for the book, I have an unlimited amount of these available. However, if you would like a signed copy with a personalised message, then get in touch soon, and I’ll do my upmost to get it to you before Christmas day.
Ok I think that’s all from me at the moment. I’ll meet you back here in a week (ish).
Things I’ve been into this week:
I’ve recently finished reading this and I throughly enjoyed it. It really is laugh out loud funny. Seth Rogen has such an exquisite talent for swearing and story telling. It really had me laughing to tears on a number of occasions.
Travels and Variety Bungalow
A few days ago I arrived home from spending two glorious weeks on the Norwegian Gem. I had a fantastic time on board as always, but no matter where I am in the world, I always look forward to coming home. I arrived home on Sunday night, Monday I spent with Molly and then did my laundry, Tuesday I repacked my bag and went for beers with my mates, and now it is Wednesday morning and I am off again on my next adventure.
These quick turn around days between travels I sometimes find quite daunting. When I only have a couple of days at home I want to fit in hanging with my fiancé, cooking nice meals, doing some house work (I genuinely miss this when I am away), getting out into nature, practicing, unpacking, repacking, laundry, seeing friends, blah blah blah. And when you only have 48 hours at home to do it, it can sometimes feel a bit hectic. This is how I have spent my last few days.
Now I am zipping to London on the train to go and spend a few days with Molly and her family (my inlaws to be? My inlaw to be’s? My inlaws to be’s?!) before I treck off to Rome to join Norwegian Escape for 12 days. It’s all go go go!
When I get back from this next contract it will be just 5 days until Variety Bungalow at The Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol. We have such a great line up consisting of Molly Whitehouse, Sylvia Hunt, Bubblina, Darryl J Carrington and Les Bubb. If you don’t have a ticket yet, get one. If this show goes down well, then I will hopefully do another one soon. Get your tickets from here.
Ok, that’s all from me this week. Have a good one! Bye for now.
J x
Things I’ve been into this week:
Ed Stafford:
I have been fan boying over Ed Stafford for a few weeks now. He is a survivalist and adventurer. His first program is called "Walking the Amazon" where he documents his journey of walking the entire length of the Amazon River, unaided, in 2.5 years. That led my to his next program called "Naked and Marooned". In this one he spends 60 days on an uninhabited desert island with no clothes, no tools, not even a knife, NOTHING. He learns to survive and even thrive. After this I’ve been watching his other programs "Marooned" and left and "Left To Dead" where he is dropped in a place for 10 days and has to show survive and thrive to his maximum within 10 days. Both of these last two programs are basically the same, I don’t know why they are called different things. Anyways, if you like this kind of stuff, check it out.
Alan Partridge: From the Oasthouse
If you love Alan Partridge, (and if you don’t, I genuinely don’t know why) then you’ll love his podcast From The Oaasthouse, available on Audible. It is laugh out loud funny. I had to stop listening to it in the gym, because I was giggling to myself and people were giving me odd looks.
I Must Say by Martin Short
I’ve just finished reading Martin Short’s autobiography, and I cannot recommend it enough. He is such a great story teller, and incredibly funny too. He has had a tough life, but his joyous outlook on the world is admirable.
Norwegian Gem
I've got to be honest, today's blog is a bit of an odd one. I wrote it yesterday whilst in Kotor, Montenegro but I couldn't upload it because the internet was being a buffoon. I am currently in Corfu, but imagine I am in Kotor.
"I am currently sat in the library (what a nerd) on a cruise called the Norwegian Gem. We left Trieste, Italy yesterday and as we I type we are pulling into Kotor, Montenegro.
It’s been a crazy week. I was only home for a week, but boy oh boy did I cram a lot in. I do find the work life balance thing a little tricky sometimes. When I am away so much I get so excited to be home, that I end up stuffing my days with so many socialising events, practice sessions, coffee shop visits, and house hold chores, that I don’t get a moment to relax! My relaxation time is when I go to work. That is probably not healthy. There must be a vitamin or something I can do to remedy that. I’ll look into it.
As I am now a fully fledged fiancé, the wedding planning is a go go. This week, we went to a wedding fair, and it was the first, and the last wedding fair that I’ll ever attend. What a load of nonsense it was. For anyone getting married, I recommend you go to one. Because it will confirm to you all of the things that you don’t want to have at your wedding. As well as the expected classics of posh cakes, and expensive signage, there were also a load of weird useless things! Like dog outfits, plant hire and a magician. I can’t be dealing with that. That being said, the attending of said event has given us the kick up the arrnuzi, and we’ve sorted out a date and venue. I won’t be saying the info here, because let’s face it, it’s not the platform for it and it is quite frankly none of your business.
In other news, I saw a moth today. It was on the ship. I would love to know it’s experience of the last 48 hours. Maybe it is an Italian moth that was attracted to the ships bright lights. Now it finds itself in Montenegro, away from its family, surrounded by strangers and unable to speak the language. What can I do? I don’t speak moth well at the best of times, let alone in Italian.
Right that’s enough of the ol’ wedding and moth chat. It’s my show tonight on board so I’ve got to go and get myself sorted.
Cheerio!
J x
The blog is back (for now)
Hey, it’s been a long time. Did you miss me? C’mon, not even a little? I missed you! Not loads. Just a bit. To be honest, I went off blogging because I was doing so much reading and writing towards the final stages of my book (more on that in a min), that any excess writing of a blog or such, felt like a chore. But now that the book is out (really, I’ve made a note, I’ll talk about that in a min!), I have no purpose to write and I honestly miss it. So I’ll start this weekly thing up for a bit and see how I get on. This blog may be a bit ropey as, to be honest, I’m struggling to get back into the ol’ writing, so I feel like I need to just bash out a couple of crap blogs in order to get back into the swing of things.
Let’s go straight in with the big news. Molly and I got engaged. We are no longer BF and GF. We’ve evolved in to a right pair of F's (fiancé/fiancée). We holidayed in Aruba a few weeks ago, and had the most sensational time, and I did the ol’ knee drop out there on the beach. It was perfect. I don’t want to fill this blog with too much personal life stuff, but I’ll give you a snap shot, and that’s all you’re getting!
I am currently sat in Madrid airport after taking a flight from Gran Canaria. I have one more flight to London, and then a short drive back to Bristol to be home. Man I love home. I’ve just spent the last week on P&O Ventura sailing from Southampton to Gran Canaria via Tenerife, La Palma and Funchal. As always, it was a fantastic time on board.
Ok fine! Stop yelling! The book. My book is out! It is available to buy from Amazon and the publisher Modern Vaudeville Press. Please buy it, and write a nice review.
In other news, I am attempting to run a regular cabaret in Bristol called Jon Udry’s Variety Bungalow. The first one is on the 6th Nov and we have some cracking acts! Get your tickets from here.
Ok, that’s all for now. It’s not loads, and it’s a bit choppy, but we’ll see what next week brings.
Bye for now!
J x