Penultimately David Ephgrave.


Today, I did the first run of my show since I performed it at Leicester Square Theatre last November, to start getting it back up to speed for my gig in London next Monday.

I intend this to be my penultimate outing with it, with the last one being at the Leicester Comedy Festival at the end of next month. It was interesting going back to it today after such a long hiatus. I took a little while to get in the swing of things and forgot a few bits here and there, but once I got going, I enjoyed it. There’s a definite point just before halfway in where the energy of the material picks up and it becomes more fun; while I don’t intend to do much tweaking of the show so late in the game, this is something I’ll try to keep in mind when I start piecing together the next one.

The next one; now, there’s an intriguing thought. It’s high time I got on with it. While there’s been a palpable sense of anxiety around it since the summer, this has started to morph into excitement over literally the past few days. The first thing I need to do is sift through my blog and my various notebooks to pull out the bits that I think will work in a live context, and try to piece together the outline of a longer set that has energy and drive, and is more consistent than what I did last time around; the hardest part will be choosing what to include, as nearly four years’ worth of the blog is a hell of a resource; oh for an editor to do it for me.

I hope to make the process fun. While last year’s show wasn’t perfect, I’m still proud of it. The trick will be to make the next one better, and to give it more attack. It’s likely the projector will be more heavily involved as that’s what I do best; watch this space.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...
Read more

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane ...
Read more