mostly david ephgrave

I’m currently feeling that inevitable lack of a sense of purpose that comes with finishing a big thing and not quite knowing what to next. I know I shouldn’t dwell on this for too long, as it’s probably tiredness that’s feeding it more than anything, and I’m entitled to a break, but I’m never very comfortable with stopping what I’m doing for long; I’ve been so busy for the last month particularly that it’s bound to feel weird to suddenly not be performing every day or focusing my attention so heavily on the mechanics of my show, but there’s still the slight feeling of anticlimax; it’s not like I was expecting anything big to come from Edinburgh, but I would still like things to step up a gear following it; I just need the right kind of person to represent me and steer me in a positive direction. Today wasn’t particularly work-heavy regardless, as it was mostly taken up with cat-sitting for my neighbour, though I was pleased to see my two Leicester Square Theatre dates go o...

I hadn’t realised how exhausted I feel post-Edinburgh until it hit me today. Thankfully I haven’t got much on for the rest of the week, but I’m still in a strange halfway house between deciding what to do next and needing a break. So much of the past year has been dictated by preparing for Edinburgh, and now I’m beyond it, it’s hard to know what’s the best move to take, though I think I’m entitled to a few days to recover as I currently look and feel like a poor imitation of myself. I haven’t completely rested on my laurels, and have already booked a couple of dates at Leicester Square Theatre in October to try to capitalise on my show while it’s still firmly in my head. I’m sure it will be the usual battle to get punters and industry in, but I intend to do my best, particularly as I’d like new representation that reflects me properly. Outside of confirming October’s London dates, I’ve been keeping a low profile today. I popped to my friend...

Today, I came hurtling back down soutb, arriving with just enough time to catch the first episode of the news series of The Great British Bake-Off. Firstly, we had to contend with the fact it was on a different channel, although we'e had plenty of advance warning of this in the meida; then there was the fact only £33% of the shows original presenters were even going to be present, which is a huge change to contend with.although I'm pleased to report there was no need to be concerned as it all worked perfectly - though I have to admit, were concerned I might fall asleep during it, what wite the epic day I've had. I also tweeted along to tonight's programme; here's what I said:   8:40PM: One good thing about #GBBO switching to Channel Four is the advert breaks will provide ample opportunity to go out and buy cake. 8:07PM: Running your fingers through Paul Hollywood's hair would cut them to shreds (speaks a man who knows) ...

It felt fitting to spend my final night in Edinburgh staying in to watch University Challenge, particularly when the programme featured heavily in what I might grandiosely call the finale of last year’s show. For those who didn’t see it, it ended with me holding the eighteen-second long top E Bill Withers sings at the end of his hit 'Lovely Day' over a clip from the programme where two teams sat in silence for the same time period, unable to identify an audio clip of the Manic Street Preachers' 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’; you had to be there for it to make sense. Tonight’s episode was a relatively sedate affair, save the fact it featured not one but two turtle-neck sweaters, which are always a treat. As ever, I tweeted along with proceedings; see below for what was said: Oxford Brookes Vs. Courtauld Institute of Art (28.08.17) 8:00PM: ...and cue the social outcasts. 8:01PM: General knowledge...

Well, that’s my final 2017 Edinburgh show over with; stick a fork in me: I’m done. I'd hoped the last gig would be a busy one, but ended up only having three people in, which was strange as eight had booked in advance, and one person in the audience (the splendid comic Daniel Cook) was a walk-in, so six punters were missing in action; perhaps they were enticed into a different show instead? Either way, I’ve got their money. Despite the low numbers, it ended up being one of the most fun shows of the run, and a suitable way to draw things to a close. It helped that Dan's a big laugher, but the other two were great too. I was particularly pleased they were all firmly on-board with the ‘comparing my career to Sam Palladio’s’ through-line, as the reaction had been a bit muted for this for the last few gigs; prior to this, Sam’s secret video cameo at the end of the show would usually get big laughs, which always pleased me, as he’s very funny in ...

Today’s show was a strange one in that it started well, but then halfway through I seemed to lose them. I’m not  sure what happened, but for the first thirty minutes or so the laughs were big and pretty constant, so much so, it took me by surprise. The moment the audience truly got on board was when I did the bit about the arrogant statue in my local Oxfam, which was going so well that one woman was laughing uncontrollably, but somewhere towards the middle of my set, these laughs began to drop off, and while there were still bits that got a good response through to the end, it was definitely more muted; I can only assume I blacked out for a few minutes and inadvertently said something racist. One thing’s for certain: I’m relieved to be nearly done. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed myself - it's been great - but it definitely reaches a point when you need to wind things up and head for home, as the stamina required to bring a show to the Frin...

Today’s show was a nice one with a friendly audience, which was just what the doctor ordered at this late stage in the game, although a guy walked out a few minutes in, and while the motive for his exit could be for a whole host of reasons, I find it a strange thing to do when the venue is small enough for everyone in the room to be aware of it. Thankfully, this has only happened to me one other time this year ( and the circumstances ended up being a gift ) and it’s something that tends to occur more often when you’re performing on the Free Fringe, when the lack of a financial transaction often goes hand in hand with less commitment, but I still think it’s a faux pas. The first thing to enter everyone’s head - be they the performer or the audience - is that the person isn’t enjoying it, and if it isn’t addressed by the act on stage (providing it’s not a play of course) it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and is disruptive for everyone. I’ve never walked out of a show in ...

I ended up not doing a show today, which in a perverse way felt like a bit of a treat. I was talking to my technician Michael moments before we opened the house about how the intensity of a run on the Fringe would be easier to withstand with a day off a week. While it’s fair to say I’ve started every day tired for at least a week now, my energy tends to kick into gear once I get to the venue, but today was the first time I needed a fifteen-minute power-nap before leaving my digs, as the results of a month of early starts had finally caught me up. I don’t think anyone is built to withstand so many shows without a break; it doesn’t really happen like this in many other instances outside of Edinburgh - and yet so many of us return year after year, trying to achieve the nearly impossible act of doing a twenty-five-ish day straight, and wonder why we come out the other side shattered and prone to low mood; even the Lord Almighty created the Earth with a...

Today’s show was one of the most fun of the run, despite only having three people in the audience, which serves to reiterate you can never predict how a gig on the Fringe will be. Yesterday, I had about ten people in (and a reviewer) but got the impression they felt intimidated by what they perceived to be a small turnout, yet today, the three punters present were laughing enthusiastically throughout and often joining in. It was a breeze to do as their response gave me an extra energy kick that probably wouldn’t have surfaced if they hadn’t been so keen, which was the opposite of what I’d expected before the show began. This morning, I’d checked sales to discover I had no-one booked (the only time this has happened since my two cancelled previews at the beginning of the run) so I left for the venue unsure if I’d even be doing a show. Then, a few minutes before kick-off, two women arrived and sat together on one side of the room, which left me antic...

I like my packs of electrical tape to include a heart-warming family scene. What’s more likely to bring mother, father and child together than the task of insulating electric cables? It’s a skill that’s been passed from generation to generation, stretching back to when we first harnessed the colossal power of…well...”power.” Maybe the picture is intended as a metaphor for the physical bond the tape can bring, which like a strong family unit, will never be wrenched apart. Or perhaps I'm over-thinking it; I certainly have previous form in this department. Today’s been a long day, which is probably why I’ve spent the first few paragraphs of this post talking about LX tape. The show was a little frustrating, in that I couldn’t seem to get the room to relax to the point that they felt able to laugh out loud. It wasn’t that they weren’t enjoying it, but it felt like they were either a little self-conscious due to the relatively low numbers, or perhaps it all fel...

After a couple of weeks of gentle, less attention-grabbing characters, it was nice to see a few choice classics crop up on tonight’s University Challenge. Firstly, we had the most likely contender for a mass murderer of the series thus far. Then there was the inevitable man-child, whose face has yet to be graced with such a thing as a five o’clock shadow. We also had the smug, yet maladjusted loner who might possibly get in league with the aforementioned murderer if not kept apart by another stock character: the Victorian gent; what makes it worse is, the four people I’ve mentioned were all in the same team (see if you can work out which). See below for tonight’s UC tweets from me: York Vs. Warwick (21.08.17) 8:02PM: de Sousa hasn't been born yet. 8:04PM: Bindler: MURDERER. 8:05PM: Salter is the lovechild of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and James May. 8:07PM: Bindler wouldn't let you search his lock-u...

Much as I’m loath to admit it, the time may have come to retire the envelope I keep my Edinburgh setlist in. The problem is I’m a strange balance between being slightly obsessive-compulsive and gently superstitious, and once I’ve started doing things a certain way, I hate to change them. It’s not so bad that I can’t leave the house without flicking my bedroom lightswitch off and on twenty-seven times while singing Mad Dogs and Englishman in a Glaswegian accent - I managed to knock that on the head - but altering things at this stage still makes me a little uneasy. I didn’t have any problems with last year’s envelope as it was made by Tyvek (which is probably the dullest sentence I’ve ever written on my blog in its four-year history). Tyvek envelopes are far more sturdy than conventional envelopes as they’re technically not made of paper (which is my second dullest sentence); they consist of high-density polythene fibres that have been flash-spun, or at least that...

I got back to my digs feeling a little despondent today, to find a lovely message sent to me via the blog, which was perfectly timed, coming at the end of a long day. It was really nice of them to take the trouble to seek out a way to contact me to tell me they enjoyed it. One of the hardest parts of doing the Fringe alone is remaining positive and energised in the face of such a relentless workload, when the only encouragement you get is from those closest to you (who ironically are geographically far away for the month) and from the audience in the room during the gig itself - and if the houses are occasionally on the small side, those audiences can often be intimidated into silence. Today’s show was a case in point in that there weren’t many in, but I could at least tell they were enjoying it; two women in particular in fact, who were giggling all the way through, albeit quietly, due to the size of the audience. While I was pleased it went w...

My day’s been floored after reading Sir Bruce Forsyth has passed away. The man was a legend; a word that’s bandied about too often and too easily in many instances, but not in this case. He came from a stock that has long since departed: the all-rounder who could act, sing, dance, play piano, do comedy, host shows, do anything. He even managed to mock contestants on his game shows in a way that didn’t make you like him any less, which was a talent in itself; I would have paid good money to be on the receiving end of a put-down from Bruce. When I interviewed Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee with Glyn for our More Than Mostly Comedy podcast, we mentioned Paul’s stint on Strictly and our mutual love of Sir Bruce; unsurprisingly they were both in complete agreement. They spoke with awe of the extensive audience warm-ups he’d do before each show and Paul called him "The Master"; high praise from a man who was pretty exceptional himself. I ...