Tonight’s Mostly
Comedy was a special one, not least because it featured John Thomson, an
act who - like our other occasionally appearing turn Kevin Eldon - is synonymous with so many key comedy roles.
John only
played the club once before, almost exactly four years ago (which happened to be
the day before I went up Big Ben) and that gig's definitely somewhere in our
unofficial top ten best shows; partly for the performance itself (which included a
brief appearance from Thomson’s alter ego Bernard Righton) and partly for the
interview we did with him afterwards for our More Than Mostly Comedy podcast.
This interview ranged from discussing his early work with Steve Coogan to the
film he made with Bill Murray, all of which he was more than happy to
discuss and was genuinely a great sport about.
That night was
also one of the first times I did an extended solo set, which Thomson was very
kind about afterwards, though I do remember him saying, “Your hand was shaking,
wasn’t it?”; not as a criticism, but as an act of support.
While tonight's show wasn’t as fun as that gig for me personally (more due to my mindset and
the restrictions of the venue) it was still a great night for the audience who
were on board from the off. It helped that we had Jenny Collier on the bill, who
made her third appearance at the club this year with very good reason as she’s so
good and nice with it. Then Thomson came on and did his thing to a very
enthusiastic reaction, thus rounding the night off nicely, to paraphrase his former Jazz Club character.
While I was pleased
with how the night went from the outside looking in, I was reminded of the
frustrating issues we have with the room. Probably the most tiring is
the lack of a proper backstage space and consequently the feeling you're
never out of view. We don’t even have a toilet we can go to that isn’t the one
the audience use, plus there’s no mirror to check we look okay than
the one in the public gents’. This takes us back to what the gig was like in
its first two venues, when the only place you could sneak off for privacy was a toilet cubicle
with a broken lock and none of this is conducive to feeling match
fit.
The other thing I
don’t like (ironically when you consider the above) is the lack of attention you get as you host it. In many ways, Glyn
and I put ourselves in the worst position by filling in the gaps where the room
metaphorically shifts in its seat until we bring on the next act and that can
be a little soul destroying as a performer when you feel ideas falling flat
just because no-one’s seems to be listening.
Of course, it’s
not all like that. We're very proud that the club is about to mark its
tenth birthday. I’d just to like to make it better for us so we in turn feel
better about what we’re doing. Putting that to one side, when you have acts on
the bill like John Thomson and Jenny Collier, you can’t really fail.
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| Tonight's Hitchin Mostly Comedy line-up (left to right): Glyn Doggett, John Thomson, David Ephgrave, Jenny Collier. |