mostly david ephgrave

One thing I didn’t anticipate on my way to tonight’s show in Brighton was I’d be performing to (amongst others) 27 German students. Informal. Their teacher popped his head around the door an hour before I began, to see (1) if there was anything on, and (2) if my show would be something I thought his class would understand. This was a hard question to answer as, while language wouldn’t necessarily be a barrier, they might struggle with some of the content, what with my propensity for choosing quite niche cultural references; did Noel Edmonds’ Nineties-era work make it as far as the Rhineland? Let’s hope not. My reluctance to answer with a clear yes or no may have been cause for doubt, as he didn’t commit to coming back. I took a bit of a risk tonight, by making some big changes to my set at the last minute, so I could be true to my original intention of using the three dates to chop and change what I do, to make the most of the chance to work t...

All in all, today’s show in Brighton was a good way to start the run. I travelled down alone, case in hand (except for when I stowed it), which was fine, as it’s a journey I’ve done a lot, but it was a long time to be in my own company. In some ways this was nice - it meant I could finish my book (‘Conclave’ by Richard Harris, which was very good) and meditate for a bit - but it made for quite a culture shock, going from speaking to no-one for three hours to speaking to a room full of people. I’m already feeling the benefit of scaling down the things I carry; so far, the show is prop-less, save all the projector gubbins, which consists of a small suitcase, a music stand and my manbag (when I’m playing a room with a projector and screen rigged). As it stood, I used their projector, which worked fine, but it’s always good to know I have one with me that I can trust if the technical shit hits the metaphorical pan. I arrived at the venue tw...

One thing you'll often do when promoting a show is filling in questionnaires from journalists looking for straightforward copy for their website, newspaper or magazine. Today, I did just that, answering a few questions about my Brighton Fringe dates that start next week , for the Brighton & Hove-based paper The Argus. See below for what I said, which immediately follows what they said, as that’s how the dynamic of an interview works. Could you briefly describe you show to those who know nothing about it? It’s like a Jive Bunny-style megamix of my life, without the ‘being at a wedding in the late-1980s’ aftertaste. For three nights, I’ll be zipping through a load of new ideas, most of which started out in the blog I’ve kept up almost daily for four years; my wife’s got a salary. What was the inspiration behind your show? Can you pinpoint one particular moment or idea? It mostly stems from my obsession with small detail and ho...

Tonight saw my last show in Bath, which I’m pleased to report went well, like the first one. Me, contemplating the meaning of life, pre-show. As is often the case when you have a long day with a gig at the end of it, it got to the stage where I almost hoped I wouldn’t have to do it. Signs literally seemed to point that way when I arrived at the venue to find I’d been missed off the blackboard outside; it’s disheartening when you’re booked to do a show at 6:00pm, yet the sign outside the pub suggests there’s nothing on until 11:00pm; how many people would see this and turn away? This negative feeling was compounded when the act before me overran by over ten minutes, which meant I got into the space late and had less time to deal with a sound issue that came up. Thankfully, I managed to fix this, but the stress of the truncated get-in didn’t put me in the best mindset to talk for an hour; I could have done without the agro. Ultimately, I was glad things went ahead, a...

I did the first of my two Bath Comedy Festival dates today, which I really enjoyed, despite a slightly frenetic lead-up. Live and in CHALK. My wife and I drove down this morning (she did the steering and I did the pedals), and while the journey was pleasant, we arrived with only just enough time to park, drop our things off at the hotel and get to the venue. The show before me came down at 4:00pm with mine set to start at 4:30pm, yet we only walked into to the building at 3:45pm-sh. Consequently, I didn’t have much chance to look over my notes before I began, which could have been fraught when most of the material was new. Thankfully, the get-in was swift and unstressful (largely thanks to the excellent tech staff), which was a relief, as you never know if there’s going to be an issue when you go into a new space, particularly when running AV to an unknown projector and desk. Despite the rush, I settled pretty quickly once I’d begun, ...

I’m pretty much all set for my shows in Bath this weekend . I did a couple of runs today, to get the general shape of what I’m doing in my head, and it seems to zip along quite nicely. There are points I’ll definitely address in the coming months and other bits that need writing, but it will be nice to at least get some of the ideas out in the open, even in their early state, to start seeing what works. Some of the material I do this weekend may not make it to Edinburgh, but hopefully a fair amount of it should - and it’s encouraging to have the beginnings take shape. My only concern is whether the tech set-up at the venue will be as I need it. It should be, but there’s always an added element of stress when you’re unable to get into the space until half an hour before the show. The start time for tomorrow is 4:30pm and then 6:00pm on Saturday, which is a pain as it would have been more helpful the other way around, to give more of a window to drive to Bath tomorrow and an...