03 FOBBED OFF

CSE Live Entertainment took the unprecedented step last year of sending some of its top comedians on Hostile Environment courses in the woods of deepest Hampshire. Their ambitious aim was to get the most undisciplined element of the showbiz world equipped to take comedy shows out to the Forward Operating Bases (FOBs).
Amazingly, the “talent” took the course seriously and passed with flying colours.
Comedian Barry Castagnola was among the first to be sent on a mission to entertain out at the FOBs. “After a tense helicopter ride I was at FOB Price, performing high up on the back of a flatbed truck, when I heard a burst of fire,” said Castagnola. “Given my recent training, I hit the deck, all too aware that I was rather exposed, especially under spotlights.
“So there I lay with my legs crossed and my hands over my head as I’d been taught. And then I wondered why the audience were laughing at me hysterically. As the gunfire subsided, I raised my head and one of them kindly informed me that there was a shooting range next door and it was not enemy fire. It’s quite hard to regain some dignity in a situation like that!”