Mainly Mostly June-ly Morriss-y (Not Morrissey)

No sooner does one Mostly Comedy pass than another rears its head.

See below for the press release for next month's show in Hitchin. It's a majestic feat of copy-and-pasting from old mailouts and near-defunct websites by a person who's tired of editing them. While I may be negative about writing press copy, I'm very positive about next month's line-up, which includes a member of one of Britpop's biggest bands, for Christ's sake; the blasphemy wasn't necessary, but my point still stands.

Press Release – 27.05.17

mostly comedy

a monthly comedy and music club at the sun hotel in hitchin

With seven of the last eight months’ shows selling out in advance, Doggett & Ephgrave’s Hitchin club Mostly Comedy is gaining a reputation for being a hot ticket; all the more reason to book quickly for June’s show featuring, amongst others, an acoustic set from The Bluetones’ front man MARK MORRISS.

Can it really be over twenty years since Mark first shimmied into our lives as lead singer of The Bluetones? Apparently so. But after thirteen hit singles (including the Britpop anthem ‘Slight Return’), three Top Ten albums (including the chart-topping ‘Expecting to Fly’, which knocked Oasis’ ‘What’s the Story? Morning Glory’ off the number one spot), multiple tours of the UK, Europe and Japan - plus recent collaborations with Matt Berry and David Walliams - his ability to sieve poetry from the colander of everyday life still remains unique.

“I always try to add little things that most songs wouldn’t use,” he says of his lyrics.

“If I can squeeze a mention of Bergerac into a song then I’m happy.”

Not content with recently completing his fourth solo album ‘Look Up’, Mark regularly busies himself with many side-projects, from playing rhythm guitar for ‘Toast of London’, ‘House of Fools’ and ‘IT Crowd’-star Matt Berry’s band The Maypoles, to writing the music for the audio versions of David Walliams' successful series of children's books. In April 2016, The Bluetones hit the road with a tour celebrating their twentieth anniversary, culminating with a show at Camden’s iconic Roundhouse.

PAUL HARRY ALLEN joins Morriss on the bill to preview his new show ‘The Blade of Barrington’ (which also features comic actress Katie Pritchard). Paul’s been performing on the stand-up scene since 2003 and appeared at the first ever Mostly Comedy in October 2008. He’s no stranger to Doggett & Ephgrave, having been a co-member of the writers’ group The Comedy Project who performed two of his sitcom pilots at London’s Soho Theatre. Described as ‘charming’ by The Independent and deemed ‘very funny’ by Time Out, Paul’s eclectic career has seen him share a bill with Bob Dylan, Ray Davies and Van Morrison at the Hop Farm Festival, become a Hackney New Act finalist and appear at the West End’s Bloomsbury Theatre. Most recently, he could be heard on Radio 4’s Two Episodes of Mash.

Comedian QUINCY completes the line-up. He has a stage presence second to none and is regarded as one of the best of the current crop of UK’s stand-ups. Winner of the Black Entertainment Comedy Award and with appearances on the BBC and Comedy Central, Quincy brings audiences comedy with a difference, touching on observations of his life as a single father. While he hasn’t appeared at Mostly Comedy for five years, he played the club’s first two venues, The George and The Croft.

The gig takes place on Thursday 22^nd June at The Sun Hotel; doors open at 7:30pm with the first act on at 8:00pm. The show is emceed by “polished, natural comedians” (Camden Fringe Voyeur) DOGGETT & EPHGRAVE. Tickets are £11 and are available in advance at www.mostlycomedy.co.uk. Other acts set to play Mostly in the coming months include Mark Watson, Richard Herring and Red Dwarf’s Hattie Hayridge.

Date: Thursday 22^nd June 2017

Venue: The Sun Hotel

Sun Street

Hitchin

Hertfordshire

SG5 1AF

Time: Bar open all day. Doors at 7:30pm. First act on at 8:00pm

Admission: £11.00. www.mostlycomedy.co.uk

Shakerpuppetmaker.

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...

Comedy That's Worth a Letch.

Today, I nipped to Letchworth to meet with illustrator (and one-time - two-time - comedy poet) Mushybees, to discuss an event Mostly Comedy will act as surrogate parents to as part of Letchworth’s Arts Takeover in a couple of weeks. Months ago he got into contact to see if we’d be up for co-organising a comedy stage as part of Letchworth’s weekend of arts-based attractions in July; something I’d provisionally said yes to, before things got hectic in the lead-up to Edinburgh and we didn’t take it any further. Despite not getting down to the nitty-gritty straight away, we managed to pull a line-up together in a back-and-forth of emails yesterday, leading to me getting Glyn’s blessing and us deciding we’d officially go ahead with it (whatever ‘officially’ means in this context). In reality, it’s not complicated: from 12pm until 6pm-ish on the 22 nd July, Glyn, Mushybees and I will host four Edinburgh previews from four acts (including me), before Nor...

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...

mostly david ephgrave

Search This Blog