The Bernician Chronicles is the fifty year journal of the life and times of Michael O’Bernicia, which is being serialized on this blog for subscribers only, taking in his years spent on the London stand-up comedy circuit, fringe theatre circles and the hip indie movie scene, as well as the largely successful career he had under a different name, as a critically acclaimed comedian, playwright and filmmaker.
In addition, the Chronicles document The Bernician’s brief dalliance with mainstream fame, his blacklisting as a potential subversive and his rise from the ashes of his former life, as the nemesis of the rigged system which tried and failed to destroy him.
Nevertheless, it must be stressed that the Chronicles can only be properly understood if all of the chapters are read from the beginning. Otherwise, the extraordinary events they describe will simply not make sense.
In other words, start here and read on in sequence.
15 Minutes of Fame, Daredevil Dating & the 1st 9/11 Whistleblower Chapter Seventeen of The Bernician Chronicles On the last Sunday in August 2001, I sat down with my new flatmate, Brad, to watch the BBC infomercial I made the previous February. It played to an estimated audience of 18 million people, just before the […]
Heartbreak, Homelessness & Geordie Boys | Chapter Sixteen of The Bernician Chronicles The first year of the new millennium, which seemed to promise so much during one of the most exciting six months of my life, ended with a very sad parting of the ways. Despite the undeniable success of our short film, ‘Roadkill’, our […]
Unexpected Visitor, Vic & Bob and the First Shutout During the warm summer of the first year of the new millennium, my life was transformed in ways I never imagined possible by an unexpected visitor. On a Saturday afternoon in July 2000, as I sat in the living room reading The Guardian, there was an […]
Amsterdam Beckons, Cannes Return and Christopher Walken Probably the best birthday present I have ever received was the trip to Amsterdam for CR and I, which was very generously bought and paid for by her lovely mother, M. The trip was a thirtieth birthday gift, which we took in the sunny spring of 1999. Chillin’ […]
Making Roadkill, Pitching Nefarious and Mr ICM Production in the Breacon Beacons We shot ‘Roadkill’ in the Breacon Beacons over five production days, during the first week of November 1998. For most of that time we were working in gale force winds and horizontal rain, which made recording clean sound very problematic. Notwithstanding the extreme […]
Manic Depression, High Times and Roadkill Despite the giddy highs I felt after graduating from the Dov Simens 2 Day Film School in November 1997, by the turn of the year I had sunk into what I considered to be a form of manic depression. This occurred primarily because I forced myself to accept that […]
Vic Naylor’s, Hazy Daze and Dov Simens Having literally visited thousands of bars during the course of my life, I have no hesitation is saying that Vic Naylor’s Bar and Grill on St. John’s Street, Farringdon, was without doubt my favourite. However, it wasn’t the incredible assortment of drinks from all around the world, the […]
Kino-Eye, Little England and Cannes ’96 When Ray Brady and Chris Read from Kino-Eye Films asked me to develop ‘The Truth Game’ into a screenplay, I honestly thought my film career was about to take off. Ray and Chris, along with their friend and business partner, Jim Crosbie, had caused quite a stir in the […]
Blind Faith, Fringe Hits and The Workshop ‘Blind Faith’ was a parody of my experiences on the stand-up circuit, which I wrote as a stage play, during the summer of 1993. Essentially, it was a play about a terrible comedian, who finally finds his comic persona in the pit of his own despair, after years […]
London Calling Following the completions of my degree, I headed north to my parents’ house in Morpeth, knowing that London was calling me south, one way or another. Nevertheless, just a week after leaving Leicester in July 1991, I booked a fifteen minute try-out spot, at the lovely Dave Johns’ Cheeky Chappies Comedy Cafe, on […]
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