mostly david ephgrave

And so Mostly Comedy has closed. Our closure statement (26.04.2022). Arriving at this decision was difficult. It went against my natural-born instinct to keep things going at all costs. My brain has an annoying habit of defining what I do on the times when it isn't plain sailing at the exclusion of any evidence to the contrary, and this was no exception. But the fact is the circumstances we found ourselves in thanks to the pandemic were unprecedented and extremely hard to fight, particularly when you have so little money to start with and are constantly calling in favours from friends to make the shows run smoothly on the day. Pre-show audience at a Hitchin Town Hall Mostly Comedy (June 2019) The sad thing is I had visions of it carrying on long into the future, though if I could find a way to outsource some of the admin, that would've helped. I liked the idea of reaching our twentieth anniversary - we were already close to our fourteenth - as, for some reason, the idea that it...

Yesterday's Mostly Comedy was another good one, though this was pretty inevitable with Ardal O'Hanlon on the bill. Ardal at last night's show. It's only the second time he's appeared at the club, with his first visit being almost exactly two years ago to the day. What was evident from the off was how nice he is, as well as being generous with praise; the first thing he said as I walked backstage after Glyn's and my opening set was, "That was a very strong beginning; it was great"; kind words from a performer I've always rated very highly and looked up to since I first became aware of him from Father Ted back in the day. Daniel Cook in the blue. The other act on the bill last night is also a special one and a very nice chap - my former venue-buddy from two years' worth of Edinburgh Fringes, Daniel Cook - who's only ever appeared on a Mostly bill once before, when he shared a preview with me at The Market Theatre as part of ou...

It's a time for press releases right now as I set to work on promoting the various forthcoming Mostly Comedy dates and rather crucially (as it's being filmed it to showcase my comedic ways) a performance of my recent solo show at the Market Theatre in Hitchin. In the case of Mostly Comedy it's working out nicely, as the last-minute edit of a press release I'd originally written for St Albans' aborted October line-up (which has since moved to Hitchin) and sent to The Comet on a whim on Monday has resulted in some excellent coverage in today's edition; this should help boost sales for the show, which is perfect as it only went on sale last weekend. Herts-based fame. The press release for my show hasn't been taken up yet, but there's still time, although I did use part of it in an email I sent to our nearly 900-strong Mostly Comedy mailing list last week (who are all these people?) See below for the press release, then join us on the 11th ; the s...

My God, it’s been an epic, yet satisfying week. It’s Day Five of our first week-long Mostly Comedy Festival and it’s been so hectic - what with running the Festival and keeping up-to-speed with my Edinburgh prep - it's pushed me horrendously behind with my blog posts; the God of Social Media will be livid, if such a thing exists. It’s fair to say both halves of Doggett & Ephgrave are now running on empty, though the fatigue is a sign of time well spent. The Festival's been a resounding success with three of the five nights sold out, and the other two were well-attended too. What’s particularly pleasing is how many punters have taken advantage of our special Gold & Silver Ticket deals, with a handful of people attending every gig; that, ladies and gentleman, is a festival defined - and let’s not forget last week’s gig at Hitchin Town Hall with Harry Hill and Simon Munnery too; we’ve had a stream of exceptional line-ups. We we...

Tonight’s Mostly Comedy had a very special headliner - true to form - in Simon Day and was a great gig all in all, though the last few hours before the show were a little frenetic, so we went into it pretty stressed. June's Hitchin Mostly Comedy line-up: (clockwise from top) Simon Day, Spring Day and Lorna Shaw. If there’s one thing I could eliminate from the whole Mostly Comedy experience it would be the tendency for a race-to-the-finish (or more accurately, a race to the start) with no backstage to disappear to to get your head together for it; just a dressing room would do, rather than slipping into the gents’ (which has the world’s slowest closing outer door) feeling sweaty and low status, hoping you won't first meet meet the main act when they burst in on you in your underwear. Running the club means constantly switching hats, much like that old, chaotic Tommy Cooper sketch, and the lack of a proper backstage area is often the ...

Today’s Mostly Comedy was strange in that it just sort of happened, despite a slow and disconnected set-up. Hal Cruttenden and Richard Herring; two comics in love. Part of the problem for me was I haven’t recovered from the shock of my dad’s sudden illness at the end of last week, which nearly proved fatal, to improve just as suddenly at it had hit (he says in a gross simplification for the sake of a simple paragraph). Now the adrenalin's settled, I'm feeling brain-shot and anxious, which aren’t ideal bedfellows for doing stand-up in a crowded room; consequently, it took a little while to adapt to the noise, which was a little overwhelming for my mind-state. Despite not feeling my best, I insisted on doing a couple of new bits, if only to start ticking things off the list. It's more for the sake of getting material in my head at first than seeing it if it works, as it’s all more likely to land well when it’s properly learnt. It was pleasing to see we were pret...

Today we announced we’ll be hosting a week’s worth of Mostly Comedy dates - a Mostly Comedy Festival in fact - in July to mark the club’s tenth birthday. It’s something we’ve been toying with for a while, and this year seemed the right time to introduce it. As with last summer, we’re running two standard Mostly Comedy line-ups on the Thursday and Friday at The Sun - the former date with Tony Law and Hattie Hayridge is already on sale - but this time we’re adding three nights of split-bill Edinburgh previews on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Market Theatre next door. This will be in the actual theatre as opposed to the studio where we used to run the club, which is the perfect space for previews in that it doesn’t need a massive audience to have a good atmosphere, or that’s the theory at least. It’s already been super-easy to fill the Market Theatre slots as comics are always keen to book previews in July, what with the Fringe being imminent. Both myself and Glyn’s and ...

Today, I met with Glyn and our techie Paul to discuss Friday’s performance of Phill Jupitus’ tour show at Mostly Comedy, to make sure all their technical requirements and rider are as in hand as possible before the event. It will be a strange one as far as the club is concerned, as it’s the first time we’ve received an outside production as a freestanding theatre show, without us - or anyone else - MCing it. This makes perfect sense in this particular context, but it’s not something we’ll make a habit of, as it’s not really the club’s ethos; it’s an nice one-off, and it’s lovely to be on such a high profile tour’s itinerary, but we wouldn’t want to become a receiving house as a general rule. That said, there’s no harm in trying it once. For one night only, Glyn and I swap hosting for acting as crew. And of all the people to do it for, it makes sense to do it for Phill. It helps that he’s played the club before - albeit at the Market Theatre - when ...

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. ...

Some days, you inevitably use a press release you put together for the next show at your comedy club as a blog post; well, today is one of those days: read it and weep (as long as you also factor in booking tickets...) Press Release – 07.03.18 mostly comedy a monthly comedy club, at the sun hotel in hitchin March sees two instalments of Doggett & Ephgrave’s Hitchin comedy club Mostly Comedy at The Sun Hotel: while 30 th March’s performance of PHILL JUPITUS’ tour show JUPLICITY is officially sold out, returns can potentially be snapped up on the night; tickets for 22 nd March with Red Dwarf’s NORMAN LOVETT , however, are still available at time of going to press. NORMAN is a veteran of the stand-up circuit. He played the original Comedy Store on countless occasions - once supporting The Clash, which he sees as a personal career highlight. Television credits include his BBC2 Sitcom 'I, Lovett' and Paramount Comedy's '...

Today I completed easily my least favourite task to do with running a comedy club (or putting shows on full-stop) and wrote my first press release of the year for this month’s Mostly. Actually, while it may be the first press release I’ve written this year (not "may be"; it is ) it’s not the first copy I’ve put together, having already supplied blurbs for Brighton, applications for Edinburgh and mailing list mail-outs for the club (and all the associated website listings and ticketing links that go with it), so I’d already done as much in all but name - so it’s no wonder I find it so tedious, when it’s the least satisfying and most time-consuming part of what I do. While I don’t enjoy it, I'm fortunate that it’s a job that hasn’t been so pressing recently (no pun intended), what with how often our dates sell out in advance, though I still have to write them even then, as you can’t run an event without promoting it, however well it’s ...

Tonight’s Mostly Comedy at the Sun Hotel with Arthur Smith and Phil Wang was a great way to draw a line under what's been a truly exceptional year for the club. Arthur Smith, on-stage at The Sun Hotel, Hitchin (13.12.17) We’re all too aware of how lucky we are to be running an event with such ardent and consistent support. Just the last few months have been a case in point, with Jack Dee, Phill Jupitus and Henning Wehn’s dates all selling out in a matter of minutes; a few years ago we would never have dreamt this possible and yet here it is; we always hoped the club would become a hot ticket that stayed in a smallish room and didn't lose it roots and that’s exactly what’s happened; it’s extraordinary really. Doggett & Ephgrave being weird, pre-show. It shows how much we’ve grown to accept the calibre of line-ups we host to have an act of Arthur Smith’s stature play the club again for us to barely bat an eyelid. It helps ...