David Carnt Be Trusted.


I committed a musical crime at last night’s Mostly Comedy.



It was as I was clearing Mark Morriss' guitar, pedal and leads from the stage in the interval after his excellent acoustic set that I was struck with the idea to do it. On posting the video to Twitter (and tagging him in it) I instantly regretted it; the last thing I wanted was him to think I thought that song was the sum-total of what he’s about, particularly when we’d booked him as a solo artist, but he’s a good humoured chap, so I thought, “Sod it”.

Doggett, Morriss, Monkman and Ephgrave at Mostly Comedy (22.06.17)

Outside of stealing Bluetones’ members' instruments, it was a splendid night. I was pleased that the atmosphere was nicer than at Mark’s last appearance, which was very early into us running the club at the venue, when a late start-time, a boiling-hot room and an hour-long show in front of his set made things feel a little tense. This was our fault as we hadn’t programmed it right; Mark was a gentleman and still played brilliantly, but Glyn and I both felt frustrated with how things turned out.

Mark Morriss at last night's gig, before I tarnished his guitar with my very presence.

Last night’s crowd were far more savvy and clearly relished the opportunity to see him in an intimate space. Our sound guy Paul mixed things perfectly so it sounded great - and, as before, Mark was witty, on good form and happy to chat with his fans and with us. Yet again, it reminded us of how we’d like to reintroduce more music acts to the night like we used to, as it makes things interesting and really works.

Quincy, last night.

Mark wasn’t the only act to grace the Sun's rickety rostra last night; we also had sets from two Mostly Comedy favourites, Quincy and Paul Harry Allen, with the former doing a customarily warm stand-up spot and the later presenting the first performance of his two-hander farcical comedy The Blade of Barrington with the equally charismatic Katie Pritchard. In a way, Katie and Paul had the rougher end of the deal, as doing a full show after Mark was a hard ask when things had pushed late (and when some of the audience perhaps hadn’t taken on board they'd be seeing anything other than Mark that night) but they still did a great job. Their show was bursting with different characters and good gags; I'll look forward to seeing it properly in a theatre space.

Paul Harry Allen and Katie Pritchard in 'The Blade of Barrington'.

Glyn and I pulled out our Top Ten ‘Take a Break’ Headlines for the first time in ages (e.g. “My Baby Had No Eyes, But I Thought He Was Sleeping”) and I did some new material that got some laughs, which was good, as it suggests it’s something else I can slip into my new show. So all in all, it was a success, acoustic-pinching endeavours notwithstanding.

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