Panning for Acts.


I’ve spent most of the morning sending out texts and emails, trying to book some interesting acts for Mostly Comedy in the New Year.

By being lucky enough to have such excellent line-ups in 2014, we’ve created a rod for our own back. In recent months we’ve had – and will have - Phill Jupitus, Stewart Lee, Kevin Eldon, Richard Herring, John Thomson and Sean Hughes, all of which sold out; some, weeks in advance. We now have to maintain the same level to keep the night selling, and to meet our audience's expectations.

It’s not an awful position to be in. It still excites me to have these people on the bill. I would never have anticipated it when we started it. I see it as a challenge to see who we can get next. It’s fun to aim big. There’s no harm in asking somebody high profile, as they can only say no at worst.

(Unless they own a gun.)

The downside is you spend too much time concerned with admin. It takes ages, juggling names, budgets and availabilities about, trying to pull together line-ups that work. It would be nice to make some money from it; any profit we make from Hitchin at the moment goes straight into funding our London dates, which generally work at a loss.  I’d also like to spend a little time trying to write something funny.

Thankfully, November and December’s Hitchin dates have already sold out. This gives us a little grace to start thinking about the New Year. Here’s hoping we get some good people. Personally, I've got my fingers crossed for a Russ Abbot / Bella Emberg double bill.

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