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.