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Today In Hornestory

@todayinhornestory.bsky.social

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On this day in 2003, Alex Horne was up to something. Daily posts of newspaper clippings and wayback machine gleanings from the Horneverse.

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Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 6h

11 October 2004 - Five separate papers hocking Horne. Unfortunately Bluesky only allows four.

Monday 11 Brighton Pavilion Theatre Alex Horne The top comic interprets the audience's body language as part of the 2004 International Body Language Seminars. 7.50pm. Tickets £11.

Large listing of comedians performing as part of the Brighton Comedy Festival

His playful stories and brilliantly-inspired puns set him apart from the crowd and his first solo show, Making Fish Laugh, was a huge hit in 2003.

Four years ago, Horne gave up his place in the final of Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny to go and spend a month with some llamas in Peru.

Since then, he's barely looked back, completing a national tour with Robert Llewellyn, writing for Steve Coogan and performing at all the top clubs, including Jongleurs and The Comedy Store.

Laden with supreme one-liners, Alex's latest show offers the public the chance to join him in a series of interactive lectures that aim to understand exactly what the audience's body language is saying. We dread to think!

Starts 7.50pm, Tickets £11/£10

Given the interactive nature of his show, potential audiences will be glad to know that, if Howard Marks hadn't already trademarked the title, Horne would almost certainly be going down as the festival's Mr Nice.

He says he's removed the section about baldness from the show because, "I felt horrible, like I was highlighting people's insecurities" and feels guilty about having researched it "in bookshops like Borders without ever having bought the books". Hell, he's even invited a kids TV presenter along for the ride.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 1d

10 October 2007 - World In One City: Libya.

Still waiting on that full story...

Wednesday, 10 October 2007
No.169: Libya

Full story to follow...

Alex Horne - 10th October 2007

Sara Nashnush has one of my favourite surnames of the project so far. She told me it was a big family name back in Tripoli. She herself moved to London when she was just a year and two thirds old (well, her family brought her really) but she did live in Libya for a year in 1993. 'That made me feel a bit more connected to my family and friends', she told me. 'But being Libyan in London has never been an issue for me. I've got my own culture and religion alongside my London life but I don't ever really think about it. Maybe that's because of London. I don't have to think about it here because it's such a multicultural city.'

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 2d

9 October 2003 - Some incredibly charming reporting about up-and-coming Sussex comedy king and "thoroughly nice boy" Alex Horne.

www.theargus.co.uk/news/5103025...

The great comedy experiment

The Sussex stand-up's latest show, Making Fish Laugh, is a recreation of a bizarre 1976 experiment to identify exactly what tickles us.

The mild discomfort of others, repetition and indeed tickling are on the list of hypotheses which he puts to the test in front of his audience.

The unusual show won plaudits and a Perrier Award nomination at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. On Sunday, Brighton gets its own humour check-up.

But for Alex, 25, the road to stand-up stardom came about almost by accident. He had returned to his former school, Lancing College, to give a talk about the year he spent teaching English in China.

He said: "I was absolutely useless and awful. I didn't take the talk very seriously and afterwards one of the teachers said I should try comedy. That was it, really."

It took three years before he dared to go in front of another audience, this time at Cambridge University where he was studying.

He said: "I plucked up the courage to do the open mic night and once I'd done it I just had to do it again.

"I just did more and more and then started going to London doing pub nights, then got picked up by an agency and got bigger gigs."

Alex, from Midhurst, was a Perrier Award nominee this year and has written scripts for Craig Charles.

He has also appeared as a support act to another well-known Red Dwarf star Robert Llewellyn, aka Kryten the android, and his performance went down a storm.

He said: "That show was great because when I walked on stage everyone thought I was Robert, as loads of the crowd had only seen him in his mask. They soon found out I wasn't.

"I have had a few bad gigs, the worst is when people are just not interested. I try not to say anything too offensive or inflammatory."

But not everyone thought Alex, who crafts a neat line in puns one moment and confused, surreal babbling the next, would ever become a comedian.

Adrian Arnold, his former tutor at Lancing College, said: "The surprising thing is he never did any acting until his last term, when I persuaded him to act in a half-hour comedy. I think he enjoyed it but he said he didn't think he would do any more acting.

"He always had a very dry, droll sense of humour but he was also quite shy. He was very academic and I always thought he would end up being a solicitor, barrister or an accountant. Certainly not a stand-up comedian.

"But he was a thoroughly nice boy and we are surprised but delighted by what he is doing now."

Alex appears at the Pavilion Theatre in New Road, Brighton, on Sunday.

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Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 2d

Awww I’d never really thought of it as an honorific but it absolutely is 👏

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Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 3d

8 October 2011 - The Horne Section begins their clearly difficult to describe run at The Criterion.

"Shambolic" wins the award for 2008-2014's-most-frequently-used-descriptor-of-thing-with-Tim-Key-in.

The Horne Section - Versatile clown Alex Horne brings his playful take on the variety show format back into the West End. Every Saturday special guests will do their act and interact with Horne's band. Tonight's line-up includes Twitter king Peter Serafinowicz and offbeat poet Tim Key.

The Horne Section. Alex Horne's bold fusion of comedy acts and a jazzy big-band - who riff together, or not, as the mood suits - can be shambolic; it can also be utterly uproarious. Peter Serafinowicz and Tim Key are among those joining in the first of eight late-night Saturday sessions.

The Invisible Dot listing for The Horne Section at The Criterion Theatre. The comedy-jazz juggernaut of The Horne Section returns to the West End for a run of eight late-night Saturday shows. It's live and loud - part improvised, part honed, part performance, part party. Alex Horne and his magnificent band will be jamming with the biggest best and most bizarre acts around; October;

8th; Peter Serafinowicz, Tim Key & Oompah Brass

15th; Al Murray, Nina Conti & Ali McGregor

22nd; Tim Minchin, Josie Long & Bruce Airhead

29th; Peter Serafinowicz, Charlie Baker & Marcel Lucont

“There’s a lot of musical comedy going around, but no other act even comes close to the hilarity and talent of The Horne Section” ✭✭✭✭✭ - HERALD SUN (Aus)

“An absolute blast” - ✭✭✭✭ METRO
08 - 29/10/2011.
Doors 10.00, Show 10.30.
Criterion Theatre, SW1. £15 - 20.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 4d

7 October 2005 - Double digits on the ticket price - we're in the bigtime!

Covent Garden Comedy Club, The Arches. Covent Garden Comedy. With Hal Cruttenden, Rob Deering, Alex Horne and MC Matt Kirschen. Tonight 9pm, £10

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 5d

6 October 2010 - Visions of the future. A few of the inventions and commentary highlighted in the full article at longlivealex.typepad.com/longlivealex... :

- 1913: Crossword (and then sudokus came along in 1979 and ruined everything)
- 1913: Stainless steel (before, just dirty dirty steel)

Monday October 04 2010 - the future. Image watermarked by CG4TV.com of a futuristic city, replete with oddly shaped buildings and monorail. Text: Put your hand up if you're still in the running to become the Oldest Man In The World?

About half of you. That makes sense.

Well, so am I! And I'm more confident than ever having consumed: 3 berocca, some spinach, 4 smoothies, 4 small fish and a dozen Sea Dog Pills (see the entry on Hong Kong) in the last week.

Full of both life and self-belief, I've decided to look ahead to how life will be different when I eventually claim the title. But, because I can't actually look ahead because it hasn't happened, I'm going to do that by looking backwards. I'm going to have a look at how life was different 100 years ago to give us some idea of what it might be like 100 years hence.

What follows is a list of 32 things that have been invented in the last 100 years (up until my birthday, 10th September 1978). This might be less of a blog and more a load of information copied and pasted from Wikipedia but it should hopefully make you think, 'wow, if the equivalent of all that stuff gets invented in the next century, won't it be amazing!' That's one reason why I want to be alive at the age of 132. I want to see what we come up with. I mean, look at this lot:

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 6d

5 October 2013 - AHPTHS re-run on Radio4Extra

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 6d

The olives. The olived all over those innocent grapes. Because they’re criminal!

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 7d

4 October 2000 - 🍐

The Fitzroy Pear Shaped Comedy Club With Jeff Mirza, Amanda Baker, Alex Horne, Simon Gent, Anthony Miller, Chris Riley, Kojo, Dave Hill, Christa Murdoch, plus sketches from Oram and Meeten and MC Paul Foot. 8pm. £4, concs £3.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 7d

“Mumwife” is absolutely criminal 💀(as are olives imho)

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Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 7d

Still, cake will help!

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 8d

3 October 2006 - TKDay.com domain is registered by hopeful neologist, Horne.

Is your #TKDay still ahead of you? Don't forget the cake!

Wayback machine access here: web.archive.org/web/20070116...

Screenshot of a webpage clearly from 2006 with the title "It's Your TKDay!" and tagline "special occasions are made to be special." The TKDay concept is explained as a persons 10000th day on earth with suggested celebration options like cards and cakes.

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Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 9d

2 October 2012 - Horne pretends to have done the homework on Radio4's A Good Read.

Listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

A Good Read - Harriet Gilbert is joined by the Scottish crime writer Val McDermid and the comedian Alex Horne to discuss Andre Agassi's revealing auto-biography and Jeanette Winterson's memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

A Good Read - Harriet Gilbert is joined by the crime writer Val McDermid and the comedian Alex Horne to discuss Jeanette Winterson's memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

A Good Read (Radio 4FM 4.30pm) also begins a new series today with Harriett Gilbert quizzing the Scottish crime writer Val McDermid and the comedian Alex Horne about some of their favorite paperbacks. Titles up for discussion include Andre Agassi's adrenaline-fueled autobiography, Open, and Jeannette Winterson's acclaimed memoir of here childhood, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?.

A Good Read Radio 4FM, 4.30pm The clash of tastes and polite oppositions of opinion this series are one of the reasons Harriett Gilbert's books series retains its enduring appeal. Here crime novelist Val McDermid and comedian Alex Horne share favourite reads. Concorde is general as the discussion moves from McDermid's choice, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeannette Winterson, on to Gilbert's, Remembering Babylon by David Malouf. Then comes a rumbling from McDermid's corner when the talk turns to Horne's choice, Andre Agassi's autobiography, Open.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 10d

1 October 2010 - 'Writers In Black & White' coffee-table book's publication date. Somehow, Horne is in it and being vaguely serious.

Book cover: Writers in Black & White Contemporary authors discuss the writing life. Horne is seen twice in mosaic style tile images on the cover along with other authors.

Comedian Alex Horne devotes some of his spare time to pursuing obscure quests. His current
Long Live Alex Campaign, for instance, supports his self-described
'death-defying' attempt to be the oldest man in the world. Horne also spent a year trying to out-birdwatch his father; the experience formed the basis of his Edinburgh Festival show, Bird Watch-ing, and his first book, Birdwatchingwatching: One Year, Two Men, Three Rules, Ten Thousand Birds. His second book, Wordwatch-ing, charts his hilarious quest to get an invented word into the dic-tionary.
Although he had thought for a while about writing a book, Alex Horne never got round to putting a synopsis together until a publisher's agent approached him at the Edinburgh Fringe. 'The Edinburgh Festival is really important for comedians,' he says, 'but I did not realise until afterwards how lucky I was to have been offered, on the spot, a deal for two books - though it felt a little bit like cheating because I had already written the show and the first book was going to be an extension of that.'
Being a prolific writer, the award-winning comedian set to the task with great enthusiasm. For his first draft of Birdwatching-watching, he wrote five times the allocated word content. 'My first book was linked to my dad. I had written some passages specifically for him and when they were - quite rightly - left out during editing, I gathered all the cuts together and sent them to him.' Having written books, stand-up comedy, and TV and radio ma-terial, Alex Horne is well-versed in the requirements of writing for various formats. For books, he says, authors should write first and edit later. 'I was once told, "As you are writing, don't worry about the word count" - if you feel the material should be there, write it.
Then cut, cut, cut.'
continued on next image

Writing for TV is different from writing for publication. 'At the be-ginning,' he explains, 'you have no idea what you are doing, so you just do what you are told. It is very prescriptive.' He continues, 'that's how I did it, but it was wrong. If you show a bit of originality and drop the brief, TV people will be happy to take what you have produced. And if they don't, you have to tell yourself that it's not the end of the world. So my advice would be: write what you like.' In contrast to print and TV, says the comedian, radio has the advantage of being non-visual. 'You are not limited by what people can see,' he explains. 'There is more focus on the words, but people can imagine things more on the radio. There is more potential for creativity.'
Despite his involvement with various projects, Horne still finds time to perform regularly in top comedy clubs - and, unlike some comedians, writes his own jokes. 'People don't realise it, but comedy is heavily scripted.' In fact, at the start of his career, he wrote for others; 'I was not very good at it,' he says with a smile. How-ever, success came once he began writing his own material.

Although some of his material comes from real-life observations, much of it involves studious research and complicated psychological theories about what makes people (and sometimes fish) laugh. 'I enjoy research' he explains, 'for comedy, you are reading and learning a lot, but mainly you are watching out for very small things that are funny or details that have not been covered yet. It's like panning for gold; you are looking for little nuggets that will be interesting.'
Continued on final image

At this stage in his career, Alex has developed an instinct for what sort of material works or doesn't work, even if it takes time to arrive at that decision. For instance, after playing golf with his father-in-law for six months, he knew that the subject matter was not universal enough for his show or his writing. However, the experience led him to research old board games and sports, which in turn became a BBC Four documentary, something that he hopes to do more of in the future.
Though he is now an acclaimed performer, there were hard times along the way. His advice is, 'write for things that you are interested in and have confidence in what you write. Be prepared, it takes years!' What's next for Alex Horne in terms of books? ' have two or three ideas for fiction. I am aware that it is not going to be as easy to find a publisher for a novel as it was for non-fiction.' Although he doesn't have a synopsis ready yet, he seems optimistic about his upcoming work.
I might just write the
whole manuscript and send it to publishers. In a way, I am quite looking forward to the rejections.' • http://www.alexhorne.com/

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 11d

30 September 2005 - When in Rome reviewed. Horne is a Latin lover 🌹 🕺

Bruce's take on Horne really evolves (as Horne does). The photo is just as incongruous in the full spread.

Latin lover woos us with laughter

NERDISH Alex Horne’s inventive Edinburgh shows hardly lack ambition. He has explored the science of laughter and body language and this year’s affable. Powerpoint presentation, When In Rome, tackled “The final taboo of stand-up”, Latin. It transferes. briefly to Londinium and is surely the best show ever to boast a computerised Frank Lampard. Don’t panic if you’ve never studiedd the classics. Horne, assisted by Tim Key, who frequently out-geeks him, is on a mission to revive this

dead language. To this end, the performance evolves into an interactive educational joust between men and women in the audience. Good tactics win prizes, misbehaviour earns detentions. If the format is unwieldy and frequently hard to grasp, a plethora of quickfire puns keeps things moving. Behind Horne’s grey-suited boffin-meets-buffoon persona, a laser-guided mind is working overtime. It takes military precision to appear this haphazard. Soho’s flat studio is not the ideal space. Clearer views of the visual gags would help, but the wordplay alone is worth the ticket price. Even if you think “sic transit” means “vomiting in a van” there is still much here to make one smirk like veritable Nero.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 12d

29 September 2005 - When in Rome

tiddlywinks/counter-productive mention #382 (estimated)

Alex Horne Technologically advanced and verbally sophisticated. hour of comedy that challenges the audience, by means of a daft interactive game, to embrace the study of Latin. Soho Theatre, London

SOHO THEATRE Alex Horne: When in Rome. Thee quirky comic's semi-educational show about learning Latin. Tonight 8pm.

Soho Theatre Alex Horne: When In Rome The comic's semi-educational show about learning Latin. 8pm ends 1 Oct.

Alex Horne Soho Theatre, W1 A brilliantly inventive interactive show that includes a comedic lesson in Latin and some great one-liners: "Working at the tiddlywinks factory was counter-productive."

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 13d

28 September 2023 - We learn "that the meaning of words can change. Who knew a big, square sperm could mean cheeky? ‘Mischief’, on the other hand, has only one clear definition - Mischief: a grown woman excitedly shouting the word ‘portcullis’.

#Taskmaster S16E2 airs

Sam Campbell peeks out of a cracked bathroom door holding a small roll of toilet paper, grinning.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 13d

27 September 2010 - An update.

Full article: longlivealex.typepad.com/longlivealex...

Long Life News Update

I’m still alive and, as far as I know, fatal-disease-and-accident-free. Good news. If I keep going this way, only old age will get me. But I want to get it too. So that’s fine.

Considering the length of this venture it may seem ambitious to write a weekly blog about my efforts but I’m confident this will remaining a thrilling spectator sport for the next century. Look at the London marathon. I do, every year, for at least four hours, and every year I’m engrossed. I don’t care who wins, I don’t support a particular runner and I’m not trying to spot someone I know. I just like the event. So it shall be with my longevity race, I hope. And if it does get dull I’m sure I can find someone dressed as a lobster to talk to.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 15d

26 September 2008 - Other People's Flats is uploaded to Alex's youtube in which Tim posits he can 'fit all that lot in [his] trousers' and is (spoilers) proved correct.

Young beardy Alex Horne and Tim Key lounging on (presumably) someone else's couch with their shoes on the coffee table. Alex looks pleased. Tim. looks thoughtful.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 16d

25 September 2000 - Early days at The Crown & Two Chairmen

Amused Moose Central Amanda Baker, Simon Happily, David F Taylor, Nick Hagan, Alex Horne, Peter Wilson, MC John Ryan. The Crown and Two Chairmen, W1

The Crown And Two Chairmen Amused Moose Central With Amanda Baker, Simon Happily, David F Taylor, Nick Hagan, Alex Horne, Peter Wilson, MC John Ryan. 8.30pm. $2.50

Amused Moose Central at The Crown and Two Chairmen. Amanda Baker, Simon Happily, David F Taylor, Nick Hagan, Alex Horne, Peter Wilson, MC John Ryan. 8.30pm, $2.50, mems $2.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 17d

24 September 2007 - World In One City live at Soho Theatre

Soho
Alex Horne and Owen Powell - The World in One City (September 24); Moonwalking in Chinatown; Rhona Cameron (to September 22); Venus as a Boy (to September 22)

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 18d

23 September 2015 - Hometown Hero Horne

Alex Horne: Monsieur Butterfly Four Stars Connaught Theatre, Union Place, Worthing, Wednesday, September 23
It was a homecoming show in Worthing for former Midhurst Primary School pupil Alex Horne.

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 18d

So cool to see from the other side! 🤩Thank you!!

Today In Hornestory @todayinhornestory.bsky.social · 19d

22 September 2020 - The Horne Section gigs for a socially-distant Clapham Grand audience.

Facebook post from The Horne Section September 22 2020. "And inside is EVEN BETTER!!!" with a view of the interior of the Clapham Grand theatre. Audience chairs are in groups of two, 6 feet apart throughout the theater. This is where Taskmaster was originally filmed - all red and gold but oddly empty.

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