Skip to main content

Disappointed, of HItchin.


Today, in an unprecedented moment for Mostly Comedy, we sold 150 tickets (our total capacity) for Jack Dee’s appearance next month to our mailing list in just fourteen minutes; a remarkable way to mark our club’s ninth birthday, which was sullied by a slew of complaints we received almost instantly from a few of the punters who missed out.

Not all of the emails, tweets and Facebook posts were like this; plenty were balanced and understanding of the fact the gig sold out so fast purely to the huge influx of interest. But while some people quickly grasped the situation, others couldn’t get to grips with it and continued to hammer the point, even after we posted the following statement - all within an hour of the show going on sale - to explain why things fell the way they did.



The comment that sticks in my mind the most came in an email from someone who said, “I’m so disappointed in you guys”.

That hurt. So much work goes into what we do and even into just confirming that line-up - and the fact it was such a coup was illustrated by how quickly those tickets went. Fourteen minutes: that’s no time at all; up until now, the fastest we sold out was in just an hour, and that was in a smaller room. Yet despite trying to clarify the situation as much as we could, someone felt the need to tell us they felt we’d personally let them down; as Alan Partridge would put it, “This country”.

Thankfully, tonight’s ninth anniversary gig at our old haunt the Market Theatre went a long way to redress the balance, even though I felt I’d spent more time responding to people’s complaints today than in preparing for what we'd do onstage. It was a cracking sold out night to add to the long list of cracking sold out nights - and to top it all, we avoided being lynched. Personally, I’d pictured a 'Blues Brothers singing Rawhide behind chicken wire to a room full of Country & Western fans while they threw bottles at them' situation, which thankfully didn’t play out - though there’s still time, I guess.

The nicest moment for me was at the top of the gig when we showed a video of Sean Hughes performing in the space, as a tribute to the fact he sadly passed away last week. When I watched it while we setting up, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end; it’s such a sad loss. We’ll miss him.

Tonight's line-up (left to right): me, Frank Sanazi, Katy Brand, Glyn and Paul Sweeney.

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...

Comedy That's Worth a Letch.

Today, I nipped to Letchworth to meet with illustrator (and one-time - two-time - comedy poet) Mushybees, to discuss an event Mostly Comedy will act as surrogate parents to as part of Letchworth’s Arts Takeover in a couple of weeks. Months ago he got into contact to see if we’d be up for co-organising a comedy stage as part of Letchworth’s weekend of arts-based attractions in July; something I’d provisionally said yes to, before things got hectic in the lead-up to Edinburgh and we didn’t take it any further. Despite not getting down to the nitty-gritty straight away, we managed to pull a line-up together in a back-and-forth of emails yesterday, leading to me getting Glyn’s blessing and us deciding we’d officially go ahead with it (whatever ‘officially’ means in this context). In reality, it’s not complicated: from 12pm until 6pm-ish on the 22 nd July, Glyn, Mushybees and I will host four Edinburgh previews from four acts (including me), before Nor...

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...