Doo-Dah Doo-Dah Day.

The dust has barely settled from last week's Mostly and we're already promoting the next one; this time, headed by the member of musical comedy royalty that is Neil Innes.

See below for the press release for it:

Press Release – 20.10.19
mostly comedy
a monthly comedy club at hitchin town hall


Hitchin’s comic duo DOGGETT & EPHGRAVE celebrate the eleventh birthday of their successful monthly club Mostly Comedy on 3rd October by hosting a cracking line-up at the Town Hall, headed by honorary seventh member of Monty Python, NEIL INNES.
Innes is a British writer and musical comic best known for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and The Rutles. He studied at the Norwich School of Fine Art, from which he was thrown out around 1963, allegedly for "spending all day playing music, instead of making things".
In the period 1962-65, Innes and several other art school students started a band which was originally named The Bonzo Dog Dada Band after their interest in the art movement Dadaism, but which was soon renamed the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Innes, with Vivian Stanshall, wrote most of the band's songs, including the Ivor Novello award-winning I'm the Urban Spaceman, their biggest hit (which was produced by Paul McCartney) and Death Cab for Cutie, which they performed in the Beatles' cult film Magical Mystery Tour.
In the 1970s, Innes joined with Eric Idle of Monty Python to create the television comedy series Rutland Weekend Television. This show spawned The Rutles (the "prefab four"), a Beatles parody in which Innes played the character of Ron Nasty, who was based on John Lennon. The band starred in their own eponymously-titled film in 1978, which featured cameos from George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, and a soundtrack written by Innes.
Neil also appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl and in Terry Gilliam's film Jabberwocky - and was unofficially dubbed “the seventh Python” by Michael Palin.
Fellow musical comic JAY FOREMAN joins Innes on the bill. Jay’s a hit with the critics, having received five- and four-star reviews almost across the board for his four sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He supported Dave Gorman on his 2011/12 tour Dave Gorman’s PowerPoint Presentation and has made a variety of documentaries, with his 2010 film The General Election Xplained winning Gold at the New York Festival.
The gig will be emceed by the club’s custodians: the “polished, natural comedians” (Camden Fringe Voyeur) DOGGETT & EPHGRAVE. Doors open at 7:15pm with the first act on at 8:00pm. Tickets are £15.00 and can be bought in advance at www.mostlycomedy.co.uk.
Date: Thursday 3rd October 2019
Venue: Hitchin Town Hall, Brand Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1JE
Time: Doors at 7:15pm. First act on at 8:00pm.
Admission: £15.00. Book at www.mostlycomedy.co.uk

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
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
Read more

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
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane
Read more