mostly david ephgrave

My cat's on my lap so often at the moment you'd be forgiven for confusing me with Donald Pleasance's Blofeld if she weren't grey instead of white. The fact she's so desperate for attention right now has coincided perfectly with a time when I really crave the company myself. It's nice to have a cat cuddle when you're not feeling your best as it reminds you of what's important. It's like a psychological and proverbial reset button that roots you back in the moment, which is pure mindfulness in action; there's something very simple and real about it, which can be really very comforting, even if she's just sitting on me to steal my warmth. She's also been inadvertently helping me with my writing, by offering uncluttered moral support. In many ways she's my best critic; she certainly seems to like me whatever I do. Either way, I'm grateful for the distraction at a stressful time; aren't we all?

Tonight’s performance of Phill Jupitus’ tour show at Hitchin Mostly Comedy was a very easy night to contend with, thanks largely to just how nice and easygoing Phill is. Waking up on the day of the event felt strange, what with it being the first and only time in ten years that we weren’t performing in some form of other; normally I’d be looking over set notes or finalising our slideshow for the night, but today, I was at a bit of a loose end. It made absolute sense for us not to host in the usual way, what with it being a freestanding two-act show, and in a way it made for a pleasant change, but it’s not something I’d want to make a habit of loosely speaking, as it’s just not what the club is; having us top and tail each half is what gives the night its identity. That said, today it worked nicely, plus it freed us up to do everything necessary to cue the show for Phill. I’ve said it before, but I can’t understate how lovely he is. The very fact he arrived at the venue alone with...

I managed to do a little gentle writing today, which was good, though the piece I was working on still needs finishing. What I really miss, which I’ve said here before, is someone to collaborate with. I haven’t had this for so long, I almost can’t remember what it’s like, other than knowing how much easier it is to see an idea through to completion. Even a solo performer requires someone to bounce off of, or at the very least a director, but I never have this either; put simply, no-one would be interested in doing it, which is very dispiriting. I’m finding this lack of a sounding board particularly hard at the moment, as I approach writing my fourth solo show in three years. My three previous shows really were very different to each other; perhaps more so than necessary. Of the lot, the last one - ‘Now Who’s a Comedian?’ - felt the most like I was pulling out all the stops, and while it wasn't perfect (there definitely were parts particularly i...

I’m in the midst of what I’d best describe as a writer’s block when it comes to stand-up at the moment. Try as I might, I just don’t seem to be getting anything done. I have lots of blogs I’m considering developing into material, but what’s stopping me, I think, is that I’m just not feeling funny, or at least, I haven’t got the spark of energy that usually comes from being inspired to see an idea through because you’re genuinely amused with it. A lot of this is to do with a few imminent deadlines, which are making me try double-hard to finish things, but more for the sake of being able to move on than it being naturally complete; it’s all forced with one eye on the clock, which is the worst way to do anything creative; I really wouldn’t recommend it. I’m not sure what to do really, other than give myself a break for a few days, so I can return to it with fresh ears. The problem is, I don’t really have the luxury of that time at the moment. ...

Today I went on the hunt for two local postcards, as they’re part of Phill Jupitus’ requirements for Friday’s show. I knew they’d definitely sell some in the Hitchin Initiative office, yet I still made it my last port of call, mostly because I like to keep a low profile and felt buying them would raise too many questions; ‘why would a guy who’s lived in Hitchin for years suddenly feel the need to buy souvenir postcards of the town?’ for one. In the end, I needn’t have worried, as I generally managed to avoid their scrutiny. Apparently my actions weren’t as conspicuous as they felt. I then went back to our office to do a bit of writing and admin (as ever). It just so happened I received word from Phill’s production company saying they didn’t require eight of the ten company comps we’d held for them, so we put those eight tickets back on sale this evening to watch them get snapped up in just a matter of minutes to our mailing list. This was great as ...

Today, I met with Glyn and our techie Paul to discuss Friday’s performance of Phill Jupitus’ tour show at Mostly Comedy, to make sure all their technical requirements and rider are as in hand as possible before the event. It will be a strange one as far as the club is concerned, as it’s the first time we’ve received an outside production as a freestanding theatre show, without us - or anyone else - MCing it. This makes perfect sense in this particular context, but it’s not something we’ll make a habit of, as it’s not really the club’s ethos; it’s an nice one-off, and it’s lovely to be on such a high profile tour’s itinerary, but we wouldn’t want to become a receiving house as a general rule. That said, there’s no harm in trying it once. For one night only, Glyn and I swap hosting for acting as crew. And of all the people to do it for, it makes sense to do it for Phill. It helps that he’s played the club before - albeit at the Market Theatre - when ...

The day your medication strides toward you à la the broomsticks in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the day you should change your prescription.   I’m all for convenience, but I draw the line at tablets that march into my mouth. Call me old-fashioned, but I like my pills inanimate. Perhaps it’s because I’m vegetarian and don't like swallowing anything that once had a personality; admittedly, I eat fish but they don’t count. On that basis, I could technically also devour the mid-Nineties pop duo Lighthouse Family without guilt.  Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, and they’ve just given the tablets little hands and feet to illustrate their delivery service. If that’s how they get to you though, I’d sooner pick them up myself; it’s twenty minutes walk from the chemist to my flat and that's with the gait of a normal sized adult. God knows how long it would take something as small as a tablet to reach me on foot, not to mention the obvious hygie...

Frustratingly, I’ve had to pull out of tonight’s Hitchin Mostly Comedy as I’ve contracted some sort of Death Plague over the past two days, which has really knocked me for six (to use a cliché). The timing’s annoyed me as I had some new material earmarked for tonight that I really wanted to scratch off the list and get out in the open, but ultimately, it wasn’t worth putting myself through it when my concentration is shot. If it were just the gig it wouldn’t be so bad, but Mostly Comedy days are always long; too long to keep on top of yourself when you’re head’s pounding and your skin feels like someone’s running a scouring pad over you. What’s striking tonight is Glyn’s and my longtime friend and director Glen Davies will be hosting tonight in our place, which is marked, as for years, I’ve tried to call his bluff and make him do a spot at the club. It just so happens he has comedy on his mind this year as he’s taking his first stand-up show to the...

Another day, another press release - and this one's promoting the second of our forthcoming St Albans Mostly Comedys; come down, if you're that way inclined: Press Release – 18.03.18 mostly comedy a monthly comedy club at maltings arts theatre in st albans The duo behind Hitchin’s successful ten-year-old monthly club Mostly Comedy ( DOGGETT & EPHGRAVE) present the second St Albans instalment at the Maltings Arts Theatre on Thursday 31 st May with SIMON MUNNERY and ALISON THEA-SKOT. SIMON MUNNERY is a Chortle Award winner, Barry Award winner, Sony Radio Award winner, British Comedy Award nominee and Perrier Award nominee, who has most recently been seen / heard on Stewart Lee’s Alternative Comedy Experience on Comedy Central, BBC2's Culture Show and Radio 4's News Quiz. Simon's 31-year stand-up career has seen him regularly perform all over the world and star in several major television and radio projects. ...

The downside to live-tweeting University Challenge week-in week-out is you inevitably start recycling the same jokes. The tweets become variations on a theme that’s been tinkered with, sometimes across a whole series. The only problem is that, ultimately, the results are useless, unless they're read whilst watching the programme, so thank God you’re not exerting much mental effort as you do it; it’s not like you’re writing your masterpiece: you’re just passing the time. See below for today’s version of the same old rubbish; tune in next week for a different edit. Fitzwilliam - Cambridge Vs. Emmanuel - Cambridge (19.03.18) 8:32PM: Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge, Cambridge. It's always Cambridge (or Oxford). 8:33PM: Tindall: my favourite dating app. 8:34PM: Mistlin looks like a Press Pack-winner who got to host Newsround. 8:35PM: Derby travelled to the studio via a hedge. 8:38PM: Mistlin came to...

Today was a day of pragmatically working through a list of admin that needed to be done to essentially clear the decks for me to get on with some writing. I’ll often check things off a list when I have a few deadlines as it helps concentrate my mind on what needs doing, as well as giving me the sense that things are moving forward. Today I was particularly insistent and stuck to the list without deviation, even if it felt like, as ever, I was drowning in a sea of everything but the creative side of what I need to do; I knew that ultimately I’d thank myself for keeping at it, and I genuinely feel doing so will stand me in good stead for the next few weeks. Much of what I did today makes for dull reading, but it was still worth it. I pulled together a blurb for the back of our St Albans Mostly Comedy flyer, wrote a press release for the middle of our three dates there, finished the artwork for my Bath Comedy Festival dates - as well as ordering it - ...

This picture sums up the attitude of the general public in a nutshell for me. Tit. I spotted this classic example of looking-out-for-number-one parking at Hitchin Station a few months ago and it really got under my skin. While I can’t be certain the Mercedes’ owner was the one at fault - they may have been hamstrung by vehicles either side of them that are now gone - it’s pretty fair to say they were the to blame; the car's position's too flagrant to be an accident. And I bet they felt they had the perfect excuse: they're the centre of the Universe. And when the centre of the Universe risks missing their train, everyone else’s rights go out of the window. To not be selfish is to show weakness; this is their film and they’re the central character: they’re Steven Seagal, okay? While I hate sexual stereotyping, this may be the only time in human history where we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the car's owner was a man; I’d...

I just wanted to write a little addendum to last night’s piece on Ken Dodd's death. This morning, I listened to the 2013 documentary celebrating Dodd's life, titled ‘How Tickled I Am’ and found it both interesting and amusing in equal parts, but there was something he said right at the end of the programme that touched me enough to note down. It was while discussing with clear joy what he did for a living that he exclaimed, “All the rotten jobs people have to do, and here's me, I have this wonderful job where I only see people happy; I only see them smiling. How wonderful is that?" What a lovely way to put it; I’d never thought of a comedian’s job that way. For someone like Dodd who was a notorious workaholic who’d do five-hour-long shows as a matter of course, his level of commitment suddenly makes sense when framed like that; why would you want to stop, when you’re playing to a room filled with such delight? It r...

The past few days have been sad ones for the comedy industry, what with the loss of two old-time comic greats, Ken Dodd and Jim Bowen. I never got to see one of Dodd’s infamously epic shows in person, which was a shame, as it would have been fascinating to see a performer of almost unparalleled experience at work. I actually tried to book him twice for Mostly Comedy, which didn’t work out, which was a pity, as it would have been a real coup for the club and a solid learning experience. Hearing Ted Robbins eulogise Ken Dodd on BBC Breakfast on Monday served to reiterate just how distinctive his comic voice was; Robbins inevitably slipped a couple of his gags into conversation, and not only were they perfect, you could also hear Dodd’s delivery in the air (as opposed to in his hair, which was another trademark). There aren’t many comedians who can be present in their own jokes while also not being there. As for Jim Bowen, I was lucky enough t...

I sometimes wonder why I live-tweet University Challenge so incessantly. Is it a way of shifting focus from the clear gaps in knowledge when it comes to the subject-matter of most of the show’s questions? I see myself as a reasonably intelligent human being with a fairly wide field of reference until I turn to BBC2 on a Monday evening, when I morph into a gibbering, dribbling cretin. At least with Only Connect (which they now air before University Challenge, which is a mistake: it used to be quiz-show dessert, but now it’s a misplaced first course) I stand a fighting chance; with University Challenge, the only one-upmanship I can muster is I’m marginally less socially awkward than the show’s contestants…though it's probably a close-run thing. See below for tonight’s childish Twitter ramblings: Merton - Oxford Vs. Edinburgh (12.03.18) 8:32PM: Paxman looks so very, very, very, very weary. 8:33PM: Thomas looks like a Nazi a...

Over the past few weeks I’ve been indulging my fangirl obsession for a certain musician’s back catalogue by dipping into ‘ Take it Away: The Complete Paul McCartney Archive Podcast’ . The subject matter is as self-explanatory as it is ambitious: the hosts Ryan Brady and Chris Mercer set out to discuss all of Macca’s post-Beatles work, from his 1970 solo album McCartney through to the present day - with an episode per album - while also taking into account as much of his unreleased material as they can lay their hands on along the way. Listening to them cover a topic I’m so familiar with is like comfort food for the soul (to use a clunky image). It’s the sort of thing I would have loved to have been part of myself, if there’d been someone around to do it with; curse the massive distance between the podcast’s hosts and me. And even I've learnt stuff I didn’t know about my most revisited subject, and heard snippets of demos I was unfamiliar with t...

Today was another day of note for Mostly Comedy, with the mailing list pre-sale for Bobby Davro's appearance at the club on 23rd May - sharing the bill with work-in-progress from me - beginning at 9am this morning, with me keeping an eye on proceedings, as always, making notes as I watched. I'm often tense on these occasions, particularly when it's a slightly unusual line-up, as you never know for sure if it will grab people's interest; our pre-sales are quite a good indicator of how an event will do, so when thirty tickets were snapped up in the first ten minutes today I relaxed a little bit. It's still selling healthily as we speak. I quickly knocked together a press release for our first St Albans date too, which I've included below; hopefully the more I can clear the decks of any admin over the next few days, the sooner I can devote time to work on new material, which is very important to me. My life feels like a sea of press releases and pre-sales and I...