The Verb - Ian says come on down!

The Verb is live again this Friday! Normally I have a little routine for a typical Verb week. I write my sparkling script on Monday and email it to my producer Laura on Monday evening. She emails me on Tuesday morning to tell me it's not sparkling enough and I rewrite it. We meet up on Wednesday morning in the office and we go through the script and sparkle it up some more and work on the questions we'll be asking the guests before we tumble into the studio at 1301 just after You and Yours have vacated it.

The week of a Live Verb is different, though; it's got a different rhythm. I still write the script on Monday but there's days and days of sparkling time. I get down to London for about 15.30 and Laura and I go through the script. We nip down to the Radio Theatre to check on preparations; on this week's show we've got the singer/songwriter Ana Silvera and she'll be there at this time setting up and making sure everything sounds right. My other guests, the novelist A L Kennedy, the poet Tim Key and the critic Christopher Ricks will arrive a bit later and we'll sit them in the Green Room (it's green!) and we'll go through the format of the show.

I like to stand up for Live Verbs; I can see everybody and it makes it more of an event for the audience. The clock zooms round to 20.15 when the audience comes in; I like to meet and greet them, especially the regulars who rush to the front like I rush to the front when Barnsley score a late goal at Oakwell. I do a few jokes (let's face it, the same few jokes) to warm the audience up: sometimes audiences get a bit nervous at live events because they think they have to be preternaturally quiet, but I encourage people to whoop and holler! Suddenly it's 21.15 and the show starts. I'm standing there and the artists are performing and Laura's talking to me down the headphones and I'm having a fantastic time. And the audience are too...

Come and join us if you like: there are still a few tickets left! Click this link to book.

I'll see you there. Or you'll hear me there!