Skip to main content

Mostly Boiling.


I’m pleased to report last night’s Mostly Comedy was a resounding success - yes: resounding - with my Mac repaired in time for me to get back to Hitchin and play co-host with all technical bells and whistles in fully working order.

Angelos Epithemiou and Barry From Watford at Hitchin Mostly Comedy (24.05.17)

I arrived at The Sun at 4pm to find Glyn and Paul in the midst of setting up the ballroom, which was nearly as warm as its Yellow Dwarf namesake. Entering was like stepping from one sauna to another, with the second one marginally more sauna-like than the first; not the ideal end to a frantic dash across London in stupid heat.

Thankfully there were no problems tech-wise, so we were ready in time for Alex (Barry From Watford) and Dan’s (Angelos Epithemiou) arrival. Dan turned up first, who we’d never met, though we'd watched him at the recording of an episode of House of Fools a few years back. I’ve been a fan of his work for a while and had tried to book him for Mostly in the past, so was delighted when we managed to confirm him and Alex as a job-lot. He was very nice from the off and was genuinely interested about the club’s history. It’s always a relief when someone you like is easy to talk to.

Alex arrived soon after and together we worked out how to fit their fairly prop-laden show into the relatively small performance space. There then followed a quick soundcheck, before we struck everything ready for our other act, Katie Pritchard, to do a line-check too.

I first met Katie when we did Dreamboats and Petticoats together in 2010. She coincidentally started doing comedy soon afterwards, leading to us gigging together off and on ever since. She also depped on a few Glad All Over gigs, which was when she first met Glyn; it’s always nice to see a friendly face. She arrived with mutual friend (and Mostly Comedy regular) Paul Harry Allen, who she’s currently working with in a comedy play written by him, that came about partly thanks to my recommendation; not that I want to take credit, though I hope my commission cheque’s in the post.

Me, last night.

The show itself was great. The venue was packed - it's our fourth sell-out out of 2017's five shows to date - with a crowd that were up-for-it despite the oppressive heat. Most of them had been lured in by the promise of seeing Angelos & Barry (a quick straw poll at the top of the second half revealed the majority had never been to club before), yet they were still on-board for everyone else. It was a good gig, even if I lost a stone in weight in the process; in a hot venue, who needs SlimFast.  
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Read more

'...I'm Gonna Look at You 'til My Eyes Go Blind."

Over the past week or two, I’ve been on a bit of a Sheryl Crow kick, largely thanks to rediscovering her cover of one of my most-liked Bob Dylan songs. She has one of my favourite female voices, yet despite this, I only own one CD and that’s just a single (her '97 release ‘Hard to Make a Stand’); on that basis, you can only imagine how much of her back catalogue I’d own if I hated her (it would fall into minus-figures). Dylan, conversely, takes up more of my collection than anyone else, save The Beatles and Paul McCartney’s solo work. He’s one of those artists who, when you get him, you really get him - and once I’d tuned into his style as a student, I'd time and again be blown away by his lyrics; he’ll have more jaw-dropping imagery in one track than other people fit in a whole career. These days, I mostly listen to music in the morning when getting ready, and more often than not, this will consist of a suggested YouTube playlist when I’m in the bath, r...
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