'Seann Walsh: Is Dead, Happy Now?' special released on YouTube
Seann Walsh has released the recording of his award-nominated 2022 stand-up show on YouTube.
The comedian describes Seann Walsh: Is Dead, Happy Now?, which focuses on the fallout from his time on Strictly Come Dancing, as "like a chapter in an autobiography performed as a stand-up show".
The comic writes under the video: "I just wanted to say really incase you're wondering 'Why's he still banging on about this?', I'm not. This show is from 2022. I filmed it towards the end of that year. My original plan was to drop it when I was on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here but I got cold feet as I was scared enough about going on the show as it was without wondering what the reaction to my special would be whilst I was in there. I didn't want to release this after Back From The Bed [a special he'll be releasing later this year] so I thought I'd drop it now so you've all got something of mine to watch in the meantime."
Here is the special, which Walsh explains: "This has very dark themes and is not for anyone under the age of 18".
Speaking further about the special, he says: "This show was nominated (let's ignore it didn't win) for the main award at the Edinburgh [Fringe]. I know it's a bit gross to mention that but it was one of the best moments of my career, if not the best. I had no idea that would happen going up there and it was like a mark for me, something to show how far I'd come since 2018.
"Thank you to everyone that came to see it. It was a very very special time in my life. I don't plan on ever doing something like this again but I'm glad I did. It's a follow up to Kiss. This is probably a lot darker than Kiss but one thing I thought when editing Kiss was that, even though at the time of editing it, I felt like I was in a much happier positive place in my life, the end of the show felt melancholic. So it didn't feel to me like it was the right ending. I wanted to put that right. So bar the recap at the start, which it needs just incase someone doesn't know the story or hasn't seen Kiss (plus a bit of me wanted to double down on how absurd the whole thing was), it's really about me rebuilding my life after going through that and ending on what I hope you find to be a happy ending.
"Kiss gets darker as it goes along. I wanted to do the exact opposite with Dead. From its inception, I imagined someone slowly turning the brightness and colour up on the TV until the end where it's finally in full Technicolor.
"This is shot in the same venue as Kiss at The Bill Murray Comedy Club who have always been supportive of me. I appreciate it very much. It's been a wonderful venue to have as a home to these two shows.
"I'd recorded Bed three days prior to this and in hindsight that was probably a bad idea. I was wrecked when I got to this show and I didn't perform it with a kind of bounce as much as I would have liked, that I think I did when it was at it's best in Edinburgh. It means it maybe comes across with a bit angrier than is intended. Maybe it doesn't. Either way I'm still very happy with it. I watched it the night before posting it and it's a strange feeling watching yourself tell people about your upbringing and what not. But hey, as I say in the show, that's my normal.
"Thanks to Horatio Gould who did another great job directing the special. We spent a long long time getting the edit right. I think we got it. And thanks to my friend Steve Dunne who helped with the show. And thank you to Grace for being by my side and supporting me the whole way. So I think that's everything. As ever, if you enjoy it, please share it, like it, tell everyone. Watch it until the very end. There's a post credit scene because this is very much part of the marvel universe."