mostly david ephgrave

Today was an eventful day in the sense that I got a lot done, though there was more time spent in front of a computer screen waiting for technology to work than I'd have liked. I started the day by meeting Glyn for coffee (well, tea for him) for the first time since I returned from Edinburgh. The intention was to have breakfast, but it was such a nice morning when I met him in Hitchin Market Place that we just sat in the Square. I inevitably filled him in on the highs and lows of the Fringe; a conversation with additional contributions from Glen Davies who joined us after bumping into us on his way to get his hair cut (we didn’t get to see the final results). Whilst we chatted I told Glyn of my plan to film my show, which ended with us putting a date in the diary to do this at The Market Theatre on 11 th October; while I’m often reticent about doing my shows in Hitchin as they tend to get a slightly muted response, after weighing it up it stil...

Tonight’s sold out St Albans Mostly Comedy with Reginald D Hunter and Hattie Hayridge proved a suitable way to round off our first run at the Maltings Arts Theatre and redressed the balance nicely following our rough-around-the-edges RAF Museum date with Reg last month. The silhouettes of Hattie Hayridge & Reginald D Hunter at tonight's St Albans Mostly (05.07.18) The set-up was a little different to our first show at the venue back in May, when we performed on-the-flat in front of raked seating (whereas the seating was being used for an outdoor production of Much Ado About Nothing by the resident theatre company this month, so we had to put in a stage to eliminate sightline issues), but we ostensibly managed to fix any potential problems, so the show could run sufficiently slickly. We did have a tech flare-up not long before the house was due to open, when we couldn’t get a monitor mix independent from the house mix as part of the sound syst...

Today, I did the nicest of nice radio interviews to promote next week’s St Albans Mostly on Radio Verulam, followed by the nicest of nice halloumi salads in the café below the studio. Me being me, I was nearly late, after missing the bus I had in mind, for the second bus to never come, making the whole bus-catching thing a third-time lucky experience. The first one would have taken me to St Albans direct, while the third meant a change in Luton, which I made in good time, for the connecting bus to be the tardy one; I disembarked at the stop nearest the studio with five minutes to spare and no idea which direction to take; after some vague pointers from a passerby who seemed more lost than me, I made it by the skin of my teeth (my teeth are very skinny). Today’s biggest setback was the lack of a Glyn Doggett, who’s away this week, tour-managing a show in Scotland. While I would sooner have shared the interview with him, I managed to stave off th...

This evening's debut Maltings Arts Theatre Mostly Comedy was an enjoyable way to kick off our St Albans dates. My prevailing post-gig thought is it felt like a perfect fit. The auditorium is extremely comfortable to work in, and perhaps the most focused space where we’ve presented the club, with the Market Theatre or Leiceste r Square Theatre at a very close second-and-third place. While there are lots of positives about the Sun, the biggest stumbling block is how easy it is for the audience’s focus to be lost, particularly when the performer isn’t a well-known one with an instantly recognisable rhythm. It’s a vast, high-ceilinged room with a tiny stage in the midst of a wide wall, with so much potential for distraction. Our techie Paul does an excellent job of lighting it to make the best of what we’ve got, but despite the definite improvement since we first started there, it’s still lacks the cohesion to be a great performance space. Theatre’...

As I write, 1450 pieces of 170 gsm-thickness A5 paper with my face on are wending their way through the letterboxes of 1450 homes in St Albans, just like 1450 pieces of 170 gsm-thickness A5 paper should. The reason for this is advertising, more specifically for our forthcoming St Albans Mostly Comedy dates, which start at the Maltings Arts Theatre this week. We’ve paid for this leaflet drop in the hope it will help spread the word and increase interest in our shows, or at the very least to act as a breakwater between all the usual fast-food menus. In an ideal world we would have opted for a bigger delivery, but this was the most we could afford initially. While our flyers are only going to a fraction of the city’s homes, I’m optimistic they’ll have a positive effect, as we only need a little take-up to make a difference, plus the line-ups are more than good enough to entice the odd comedy fan to a venue that's practically in their same postcode...

Today, Glyn and I visited St Albans’ Maltings Arts Theatre - our soon-to-be sister venue for Mostly Comedy - for a quick onceover of their tech set-up so we’re prepared for the first gig in three weeks. We met with the venue’s tech manager, who was super-organised, much like the venue itself. It’s such a pleasant change to visit somewhere that’s the epitome of tidiness and order that has absolutely everything we need in-house. Mostly Comedy should fit the space like a glove, provided we sell enough tickets to make the night work. Sales are healthy - particularly for the last of the three dates with Reginald D Hunter and Hattie Hayrldge - but they could be better; it’s just hard to establish the night quickly when we’re at the mercy of a location without a constant footfall, despite being so close to the shopping centre’s multistory carpark. The good thing is we still have a few weeks to sell the first show. Organsing the first Mostly Comedy Festiva...

Another day, another press release - and this one's promoting the second of our forthcoming St Albans Mostly Comedys; come down, if you're that way inclined: Press Release – 18.03.18 mostly comedy a monthly comedy club at maltings arts theatre in st albans The duo behind Hitchin’s successful ten-year-old monthly club Mostly Comedy ( DOGGETT & EPHGRAVE) present the second St Albans instalment at the Maltings Arts Theatre on Thursday 31 st May with SIMON MUNNERY and ALISON THEA-SKOT. SIMON MUNNERY is a Chortle Award winner, Barry Award winner, Sony Radio Award winner, British Comedy Award nominee and Perrier Award nominee, who has most recently been seen / heard on Stewart Lee’s Alternative Comedy Experience on Comedy Central, BBC2's Culture Show and Radio 4's News Quiz. Simon's 31-year stand-up career has seen him regularly perform all over the world and star in several major television and radio projects. ...