Mostly Watson and Hill.


Tonight’s Mostly Comedy was one of those effortless gigs where everything fell into place.

A selection of shots of tonight's line-up, featuring us, Mark Watson, Bec Hill and a bonus pic of Glen Davies.

After the show, there was a definite sense between Glyn, our tech Paul that it was a night we should be proud of. Mostly’s one of those things that can comes gently in and out of favour in your mind, what with all the organization and the fact our identities get lost in the midst of an event people forget we’re the originators of. You also start to take for granted the level of line-ups we have as a matter of course, which are really quite extraordinary.

This week is a case in point. Tonight was the first in a three-day-straight of Mostly Comedy shows, with Mark Watson and Bec Hill tonight in Hitchin, Richard Herring and Hattie Hayridge tomorrow in Hitchin too and an extra bill of five previews in Letchworth tomorrow topped by Norman Lovett. Any of these dates on their own would be of note, yet this week, we managed to cram in three of them - and the two dates at The Sun have sold out; the first time two gigs in a row have done that. This Thursday and Friday will see over 300 people crammed into the Sun Hotel Ballroom, which is a number we would never have dreamed of when the club started nearly nine years ago. It’s a hell of an achievement at a time when money is so tight.

Mark Watson on stage with wine in hand.

It helped that tonight’s bill was excellent. We’ve been after Mark Watson for years (which isn’t a threat) so it was a delight to finally have him. He was so nice and was on top form. The first half of his set consisted of him trying to find the owner of a pint one of the bar-staff gave him as he came upstairs, with the proviso that it was “for someone in the room”. This didn’t round things down, and though it took a long time to finally be claimed (and when it was, it was clearl by someone who didn’t order it) the resulting chaos put us all at ease.

Bec Hill, previewing her new show Out of Order.

One of favourite acts - and one of the nicest - Bec Hill previewed her new show in the first half which was lovely with a great premise, with the audience choosing the order of play by selecting Post-It notes off an easel with prompts written on them. It was a great way to kick off the gig, with set full of invention.

I also did a little bit from my show in the second half which was well-received and Glyn and I did a short set at the front of the gig which went well too. Here’s hoping tomorrow’s show is just as fun, even though we’re bound to be markedly more tired for it.

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