Arfur Press Release.

It's been a while since I've posted a Mostly Comedy press release in place of a blog here. And as our next Hitchin gig's just thirteen days away, now seems as good a time as any to do it:

Press Release – 04.03.20

mostly comedy

a monthly comedy club at hitchin town hall

On 19th March, Doggett & Ephgrave’s popular monthly club at Hitchin Town Hall, Mostly Comedy, will play host to the Olivier-nominated comedian, writer, broadcaster and all-round British institution ARTHUR SMITH, who will both perform and then be interviewed by the duo for their More Than Mostly Comedy podcast.

Arthur is best known for his appearances on BBC's Grumpy Old Men, QI, Have I Got News For You and The One Show, plus hosting BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Comedy Club and BBC Radio 2’s Smith Lectures. He is a Spirit of The Fringe award-winning Edinburgh Festival stalwart and the Olivier-nominated writer of An Evening With Gary Lineker.

He started out as a member of the 1980s’ alternative comedy scene. In addition to stand-up, he wrote and performed the critically-acclaimed Arthur Smith Sings Leonard Cohen (later broadcast on Radio 4), returned to this theme for his 2013 Edinburgh Fringe show Arthur Smith Sing Leonard Cohen (Volume Too).

New York comic SPRING DAY joins Smith on the bill. Day is a fluent Japanese-speaker with mild cerebral palsy, who was previously based in Tokyo where she’s regularly headlined at the Comedy Store since 2002. She has written, produced, directed and performed five solo shows on the Edinburgh Fringe since 2010, and has performed at clubs around the globe, taking in London, Manchester, Dublin, Los Angeles, New York, Melbourne and Paris. In 2016 she was voted Brooklyn’s Best Comedian.

Surrealist comedian and illustrator OLAF FALAFEL completes the line-up. Since being nominated for Laughing Horse’s New Act of the Year in 2014, Falafel’s material has regularly featured in many of the mainstream media’s funniest fringe jokes lists, including the Guardian, Telegraph, Mirror, Evening Standard and the i Newspaper to name a few. Last year, he even managed to nab the coveted Best Joke of the Fringe award with the one-liner, "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' - I think I might have florets". As well as being a comic, Falafel is a children’s author, securing a three-book contract with HarperCollins in 2016, after asking publishers in a tweet to approach him.

The gig will be emceed by DOGGETT & EPHGRAVE. Doors open at 7:15pm and the first act will be on at 8:00pm. Tickets can be bought in advance at www.mostlycomedy.co.uk, where you can also book for forthcoming dates with PHIL CORNWELL, ISY SUTTIE and more.

Date: Thursday 19th March 2020

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

Not The Bayeux One.

The Carole King album Tapestry has been my 'getting-ready-in-the-morning' soundtrack for the past few weeks. It's been a favourite album ever since I was a student, which makes for a pleasantly gentle way to usher in the start of a day. I've always been a fan of a well-crafted song, which is something of a Carole King hallmark, ever since she started writing with her first husband in the early Sixties. Tapestry may be an unimaginative choice for a favourite LP, as it suggests I haven't delved that far into her career, but it's still an undoubted classic; anything with '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman', 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?' and 'You've Got A Friend' on it can't really fail; if nothing else, it proves she likes writing songs with long titles. Next month, she's set to perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at a gig in Hyde Park, which I would have loved to have gone to, if it weren...

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...

'Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream..."

While I’ve been practising meditation for quite some time now, I’ve recently taken to using the mindfulness app 'Headspace' . If you’ve never meditated before, or you’re an old hand at it, it’s a great resource, offering daily ten-minute guided meditations that create a sense of progress, rather than stagnating and going through the same process every day. Until I started using the app, I’d often listen to a handful of audio guided meditations I have on my phone in case of a brain emergency. If you see me with my eyes closed and my earphones in on public transport, I’m probably doing this (unless I’m sleeping and using this blog as an elaborate alibi). While the tracks on my phone are great, they can get a little repetitive as I become too familiar with them and start to anticipate everything the person on the recording will say. This is where Headspace is great, as it offers you a daily course with a different focus each day, as well as pl...

mostly david ephgrave

Search This Blog