mostly david ephgrave

At time of writing, I’m on the train to Edinburgh for my third consecutive solo show there (and fourth in a row in total) and sixth or seventh EdFringe run, depending on how you count it. What’s weird is my first trip to this ultimate spawning ground for a performer's nervous breakdown was ten years ago this week; this time in 2008, Glyn and I climbed into a hire van with only Haribo for sustenance and drove to Scotland with a fictional flat-packed hot-air balloon basket stowed in the back, for our first Edinburgh Fringe show The Balloon Debate. Now here I am, travelling to Auld Reekie for my third Fringe alone. If you’d asked me a decade ago if I’d ever consider bringing a solo show to Edinburgh I’d shake my head, start crying and run out of the room, particularly if you'd raised the question in September. Yet here I am, facing solo Edinburgh Number Three. It’s hard to compute how I feel about this. At the moment, I’m in a bubble of self-medicated calm, thanks to the com...

The nature of live-tweeting a TV programme is you can’t please everybody, though sometimes, you can’t please the people who were actually in it. Not amused. These days, everyone’s a critic, which is kind of ironic as tomorrow I head to the Edinburgh Fringe where they’re particularly rife. So it’s fitting that one of my tweets should disappoint someone this evening - namely one of the contestants in tonight’s show - if only to warm me up for next month. I’m prepared to admit the tweet wasn’t exactly an example of sparkling wit, but it was pretty innocuous; at the very least, it was unremarkable enough to avoid comment; it’s weird what people take offense to. Outside of this, there was little of note during tonight’s show, other than Morris’ impressively sizeable Afro. See below for what I said about this evening’s programme too. Pembroke - Oxford Vs. Downing - Cambridge (30.07.18) 8:32PM: Morris shows promise. 8:34PM: Lamb...

My equipment and luggage for Edinburgh is now all packed and ready to be shipped up to Scotland tomorrow, with me following a day later. Getting my gear together was yet another reminder of how much time is spent doing anything but working on the show, as there’s just so much involved in taking a production (he said grandly) to the Fringe; quite frankly, it’s tedious, as all the extraneous stuff is never what you set out to do. As silly as it is, I noted this morning that I didn’t make it into The Telegraph’s top 25 Funniest Fringe Jokes list again this year, when in an unspoken way, I had my fingers crossed I would; it’s that standard Fringe lesson: don’t get caught up in hope or expectations or you’ll wind up disappointed. It doesn’t really matter; it’s such an arbitrary thing, but subconsciously it made me feel a little down, as I want the show to be a worthwhile venture and sadly, it’s things like this that make a show's success more tangib...

Today, I sorted out and donated the money we collected for the charity Mind in exchange for the Mostly Comedy badges we gave away at our Festival last week. Delicate mathematics. As with our collection to mark Time to Talk Day at January’s show, it was great to see how generous people can be, with a fair few fivers, tenners and even twenty pound notes (twenters?) thrown into the bucket. This time we made £204.73, which was a pleasing byproduct of a festival that was a resounding success, and an encouraging sign of solidarity and understanding for a topic that’s often much-maligned and misunderstood; somehow, a comedy club is the perfect place to raise awareness of the subject of mental health. It makes me wish I had something I could give away in Edinburgh so I could take a similar collection at my show; I’m not sure what my venue’s policy would be, but it would be great if I could, particularly as my own experience of mental illness features heavily in it. When I p...

Here's another of the promo interviews I've done recently in the lead-up to Edinburgh; this time it's for the Scottish Sun (which is an oxymoron) 1)    What’s the show/performer (name/title, venue, dates): ‘David Ephgrave: My Part in His Downfall’, Just Up the Road, Just the Tonic at The Caves, 2-12, 14-19, 21-26 August at 12 Midday. 2 )    What’s it about? Who’s in it? What’s the inspiration behind it? It’s an hour-long assessment of the pitfalls that have led to my stretching the definition of up-and-coming for sixteen years; if I get to the twenty mark without a huge leap in fortune, I’ll expect a medal. On balance, I’ve not done too badly - I’m an actor, musician and comedian who’s worked in the West End and most of the provincial theatres around the country - but it’s possible this jack-of-all-trades approach to what I laughingly call a career has held me back; if I’d taken that junior manager’s job at Argos in Letchwort...

Yesterday's preview at the Portland Arms in Cambridge was a real joy, just like the year before it. As with last year’s gig, I shared a bill with Norman Lovett, who’s such an easygoing person to be around; while I’m less likely to overthink it at Mostly Comedy, I’m a lot more choosy about who I book when it’s just the two of us and I’m doing a preview; I don’t want to be with anyone who intimidates me or the whole “I’m not really a comedian” inner-monologue will surface. While the wealth of Norman's experience is never far from my mind when I see him, he’s such easy company I can quickly overcome it, plus he's appeared at Mostly Comedy so frequently and even took part in a rehearsed reading of a script I wrote with Glyn a few years back; all of which helps me feel comfortable when I’m about to launch into a new show. The journey to Cambridge was as sweaty and stressful as you might expect in the current heatwave, involving a missed (and presumed early) bus, a taxi no-s...

In the interests of covering my promo work for this year's Edinburgh run I thought I'd share in interview I did for Broadway World about it. It's yet to go live, so you read it here first: Broadway World David Ephgrave Q&A Tell us a bit about My Part In His Downfall. It’s an hour-long deconstruction of my life that’s mostly tongue-in-cheek but occasionally a little more serious. In it, I break down the various peaks and troughs I’ve experienced to try to work out what it is that makes me me. I throw in a few songs I’ve written along the way, and maybe even the odd joke, what with it being billed as comedy and all that. What was the inspiration for the show? I wanted to try something different to my previous three solo shows and be more honest about my battle with depression and how being a performer can hinder as much as help me overcome it. It’s a bit of a departure from my other stand-up shows due to this and the use of music, but I’m really ...

To everything, turn, turn, turn, There is a season, turn turn, turn. And a time for a every new series of University Challenge under Heaven. Today saw the second episode of the new run of University Challenge, which   - as I was out hosting the first night in our Mostly Comedy Festival - means I’ve already started the series a week behind, playing catch-up. Tonight’s show was a largely understated affair, save for the inclusion of Glasgow’s Barn, who I’m pretty sure was desperate for us to notice he was back on another game show; he’s like a really lacklustre less-sinister Pennywise.   Emmanuel Cambs Vs Glasogow (30.06.1 8:33PM: If there's no Monkaman equivalent this year, I'm doing a Phil Collins / Sean Connery and threatening to leave the country. 8:34PM: Harris wins the prize for first #UniversityChallenge murderer of the series. 8:35PM: Look at Barn, leaning into Whiteford. Cheeky. 8:36P...

I was feeling very worried about the content of my show after a comment from a friend the other day, though watching a video of last Wednesday’s preview today reassured me I’m on the right track. The thing said that concerned me was, “It’s not comedy”, which is understandably a clanger & a half if true. The statement was more positive in reality, as it was followed by “…but it’s very engaging”, but it’s still played on my mind for most of the week; when I’ve had so little feedback, any nugget I get is over-analysed to the point of ridiculousness. What was nice on watching the video back, was the feeling that it already holds together well, which is a good sign considering the time frame and the fact Wednesday’s show was the first time I included the songs I’d been so torn about putting in in the first place. My concern was they’d sit awkwardly next to the stand-up and slow down momentum, but I didn’t feel that when I looked back at it. Even the...

The most striking moment of last night’s Mostly Comedy that I can’t get out of my head was Jan Ravens’ extraordinarily moving tribute to Victoria Wood; I don’t think I’ve applauded harder to anything I’ve seen at the club in ten years (and we’ve seen some amazing things). The sentiment behind the song rang true to whole room, but then it would, as Jan was performing to a crowd that knew their comedy. While we've lost some inspirational people recently, Wood was one of the hardest to come to terms with and accept; she brought so much energy and heart to everything she did and was the definition of a one-off with a glorious gift for no-nonsense earthy wordplay; there was a kitchen-sink reality to the pictures she’d paint in her stories that Ravens channelled perfectly, somehow underlining the enormity of what we miss in her absence. I don’t know what it is about humanity, but we never appreciate what we've got until we lose it. Such is the case with Victoria Wood -...

My God, it’s been an epic, yet satisfying week. It’s Day Five of our first week-long Mostly Comedy Festival and it’s been so hectic - what with running the Festival and keeping up-to-speed with my Edinburgh prep - it's pushed me horrendously behind with my blog posts; the God of Social Media will be livid, if such a thing exists. It’s fair to say both halves of Doggett & Ephgrave are now running on empty, though the fatigue is a sign of time well spent. The Festival's been a resounding success with three of the five nights sold out, and the other two were well-attended too. What’s particularly pleasing is how many punters have taken advantage of our special Gold & Silver Ticket deals, with a handful of people attending every gig; that, ladies and gentleman, is a festival defined - and let’s not forget last week’s gig at Hitchin Town Hall with Harry Hill and Simon Munnery too; we’ve had a stream of exceptional line-ups. We we...

With a busy week of Mostly Comedy dates at our first five-day Festival to contend with, it's no wonder I'm behind on my blog. On top of this, I've been doing promotional interviews to sell my forthcoming Edinburgh show 'David Ephgrave: My Part in His Downfall.  In my last post, I shared one such interview with the theatre blogger West End Wilma. Today, I'd like you to cast your eye over another Q&A I did with the alternative Festival magazine, Fringepig; you can read the original article here : ·       Tell me about your Edinburgh show. It’s essentially a one-man self-character assassination with jokes; like performing an autopsy on myself using a mic instead of a scalpel. In the show, I try to work out why a performer who’s achieved more than he perhaps gives himself credit - and who apparently refers to himself in third-person - can only ever remember the bad bits to discard the good. I also consider other culprits who’ve...