mostly david ephgrave

Yesterday, we released a new episode of More Than Mostly Comedy , featuring an interview with the excellent Tony Hawks , which we recorded a fortnight ago - our second new MTMC both in a month and since the club relaunched in 2023. That 'our' has been subject to a personnel change since Mostly was last a functioning entity. I now host the podcast with Dan Graham, who also now runs the club with me. I suggested resurrecting the podcast a few months ago to make the most of what, for me, has always been the best part of Mostly Comedy: the fascinating people it brings us into contact with. Why waste that opportunity by restricting it to a one-off gig in a room, when you can get something out of it that lasts beyond that date? (Don't respond.) Tony Hawks is undoubtedly such a person. I've been a fan of his books ever since my friend Ash recommended 'Round Ireland with a Fridge' to me while I gave him guitar lessons in the early 2000s. I instantly fell in love with To...

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 ...

A month since my last blog about September's Hitchin Mostly Comedy , we've nearly reached the limit of what we can do to keep the club afloat, which is pretty inevitable in the current climate. A video still of Doggett & Ephgrave performing at the first Hitchin Mostly Comedy (23.10.08) The sad thing is sales for October's gig had improved considerably in the week after our first show back. It was probably the simple fact that a gig went ahead after so many cancellations since Covid hit that had reinstilled people's confidence. But seven days later, in classic sod's law style, the faeces hit the air-cooling device. The main act pulled out for a better-paid gig and, because the other comic originally scheduled to appear had sadly passed away, the complete change to our line-up put us in a situation when we'd have to at least offer refunds to ticketholders first. Doggett & Ephgrave interview Phil Cornwell (far left) at the last Hitchin Mostly Comedy (23.09....

Pulling together a couple of composite images to summarise Mostly Comedy 's 2020 act roll-call - as I do every year - served to underline what a great bunch of people have either appeared at the club or guested on our podcast since January. Stills, taken from some of our Zoom-based More Than Mostly Comedy Podcast interviews this year. ...plus a few more. Of course, the year was nothing like we'd planned, with just two proper live dates in January & February thanks to COVID-19, but at least we managed to make a virtue of adversity by dipping more heavily into the podcast than usual, with ten new episodes already released and another three waiting to be edited; that's far more than we would have done had the club been open, so that's good. And even if we'd gone ahead with the onstage interviews we'd intended to do at the club this year, it's unlikely we'd have had such an impressive roster of guests; that's the advantage of being interviewing peop...

Here's a little video message from Glyn and me to thank everyone who's donated to the JustGiving page to protect Hitchin Mostly Comedy from closure due to the coronavirus crisis; we're not out of the metaphorical woods yet, but the extraordinary generosity of the club's fanbase has certainly bolstered our chances to keep it going. If you haven't donated yet, don't be shy, as - to use that tired, old phrase - every little helps; throw your bunce in the direction of this link...

For the second time in a year, I've turned to JustGiving to help me through a financial plight; last time it was to contribute to the funding-hole left for Edinburgh when my dad's estate was frozen after he passed away; this time, it's to bolster Mostly Comedy through the coronavirus situation. Like so many industries, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown live events into crisis. Suddenly, the future of venues & gigs looks worryingly unsustainable. Sadly, that's the case for Mostly Comedy too. Glyn and I run the club as self-employed performers on a low income. As it stands, Mostly makes just enough money to sustain each consecutive event and our running costs, but its survival relies on (1) the gigs going ahead, and (2) our taking little money from it. And when the money isn't there, we plug the gap. Until our shows can continue, the club has no money coming in (our ticket provider holds all funds until a week after each show). Meanwhile, our running c...

Tonight's Mostly Comedy saw the club sink just that little bit more comfortably into its new home of Hitchin Town Hall with a suitably busy gig (with just over 200 attending) and a suitably big name to close in the form of Reginald D Hunter. Reginald D Hunter at Hitchin Mostly Comedy (19.09.19) The point hammered home was how nice everyone at the Town Hall is and how easy setup is compared to all our other bases. We're still getting used to not having to do as much as previously, but it's a lovely problem to have, particularly when our time together's so tight; I arrived a little before Glyn at 4:30pm and we were still long done by about 6:45pm, which was unheard of back-in-the-day; I even had time to get changed and eat, which was a bonus. The show itself went well too. Both Lynn Ruth Miller and Reginald D Hunter were great and charming in their inimitable way and the audience reaction was fantastic. Admittedly, the gig loses intimacy in a room this size, but s...

Today I changed the ink pad in the Mostly Comedy hand-stamp for the first time in eleven years; it's fair to say we got our money's worth. Stampy-wampy, catchy-monkey. If I could be bothered, I'd dig out some graph paper and work out a rough tally of how many hands it's stamped, although it wouldn't take into account people who snuck in without being branded, of course. It's probably best I don't anyway as it would be a dull endeavour, although I'm sure the grand total's still impressive. That stamp has travelled from venue to venue and somehow managed to stay intact. You could even say it's a little iconic on a local level at least. When I wasn't replenishing my ink stocks - euphemism - I was prepping equipment for tomorrow's show to make life easier on the day. Our get-in is super-tight so the more ready we are, the easier it will all be. It's another busy one too with 200 or so people coming, so it's good to not ...

I spent much of today registering this year's Edinburgh show, although I kept being sidetracked by other things that need doing too. I was mainly distracted by the renewal of Glyn's and my public liability insurance, which expires at the end of March. We're in a frustrating situation as regards cash flow, which is being exasperated by a long line of bills that need or needed settling over the last few weeks. The main culprit that's made everything so tight was the hire fee for the Town Hall for July's Dr John Cooper Clarke date; a show that's selling excellently, but the fact the venue costs had to be met in advance long before we receive settlement hasn't helped us. Add an accountant bill, web space and domain-name renewal, a string of extra expenses for last month's Mostly Comedy plus the usual office rent and act fees, and suddenly we're brassic; everything will ultimately settle, but not without carefully moving some money about. The fine art...

While there was no reason to doubt it, I was delighted by the excitement today's announcement that Dr. John Cooper Clarke will play July's Hitchin Mostly Comedy Festival provoked. I'd like to think my judgment of what our audience wants to see is pretty sound, based on the club's popularity, but every so often there'll be a slight undercurrent of worry, particularly when there's either a lot of money involved or the event's taking place at a different venue to usual. In the case of John Cooper Clarke, I'd been working on the booking for a few months and had every crossable appendage assuming the position in the hope it would come good, but knew all along it would only work if we held it at Hitchin Town Hall so we could get enough people through the door to fund it. This obviously meant whittling down a date that both John and the venue could do while striking a deal with both that wasn't too expensive when a show of this nature has more overhea...

I’m frustrated that the cancellation of last week’s Mostly Comedy has put me in an impossibly tight financial situation and fed up with the amount of work I put into something that can so easily be affected by pulling a date. On one hand, I kind of had the deciding vote when it came to the show not going ahead, so I feel responsible for it, which is all the more irritating now I’m out of pocket as a result. While we’ve yet to actually receive any complaints about the cancellation, this is unusual, as people are often very unreasonable about these things, which only compounds the frustration with the amount of work you put in for the amount of money you take out, particularly when cancelling a date is more involved than it going ahead; I can't imagine many of the people who moan about these things would have stuck with a project like the club for as long as Glyn and I did before we took anything out of it financially (we’re talking years here). It just so ...

I started my day by trying to get the press release together for the next Hitchin Mostly, which takes place in a fortnight with Kate Robbins and Jay Foreman, so I could send a campaign to our mailing list about it and forward it to the local press. I’ve written here before of how tired I am of the process of putting together press releases particularly for Mostly Comedy, as it’s such a tedious time-consuming practice I’ve done so often. It’s a necessary evil to help push sales, but it’s so unsatisfying and about as far away from creativity as anything is likely to be. It’s particularly frustrating when you can’t find a solid act bio to work from as it takes so long to draw together a few paragraphs that cover enough to rouse interest while also being well-written. Thankfully my wife gave me a hand this time by writing a rough draft based on the recent press releases I’d sent for the John Thomson Mostly and my show so I had something to work from, which hel...

Tonight I went down to the Market Theatre to pose for photos for my Edinburgh artwork. Pleasingly, it didn’t take long to get what we wanted, though it will be Glyn’s photoshop that will ultimately swing it and make the idea work. The premise is that I’ll appear to be falling through the air as if I’ve leapt from a plane or off the top of a building, to fit in with the ‘downfall’ theme. To make it work, I jumped up and down repeatedly in front of a green screen, ensuring I lifted my feet up behind me enough that the perspective will look right once we add me to the right backdrop; this seemed the most sensible way to do things, rather than arranging for me to actually leap from a great height. Earlier today, Glyn and I popped into Hitchin Town Hall to organise a few last-minute things for Thursday’s Harry Hill / Simon Munnery Mostly Comedy. What’s good is we managed to alleviate the majority of our concerns about what we know is not the most ...

I’m aware time is ticking regarding this year’s Fringe, though I’m trying my best to be measured in my response and not be overwhelmed by it. I’m finding it hard to get in the right frame of mind this year, and while there’s a sense things are moving forward at my work-in-progress shows, I’m weary of talking myself up. I hate it when the process starts to feel so serious as that’s the worst frame of mind for writing comedy. This is why I’m not going to labour the point today as I’ll only blow smoke under the harder parts of what I’m doing; sometimes I don’t want to be asked about it, by myself or by anyone else. The best approach is to be gentle and delicate and only dip in and out of it as much as is necessary. It’s been a hard few years of working alone from which I’d like a break. The good news is now able to pay myself more for the effort I put into Mostly Comedy, but the bad news is it still takes up too much energy. I’m hoping I can begin to strike a more healthy balance, t...

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 ...

Sometimes, a venue’s understanding of what you need to put on a show can vary considerably. The Usual Suspects; posing with Reginald D Hunter at last night's London Mostly Comedy (14.06.18) Such was the case at last night’s gig, which took place in the restaurant of an aircraft museum, where we arrived to find the only staging available was a single 1x2metre rostrum that could barely fit a performer on it, let alone a mic stand too. Thankfully, after a little gentle pushing to get the staff to search the other spaces on site, they managed to find a few more blocks to bolster our bijou stage. I don’t know what we would have done without them; it’s not like we were presenting a small-scale open mic night: the acts appearing were in the top tier of their game. We’d also been as clear as we could in the lead-up on what we needed, and ended up supplying all the equipment bar the stage, which we’d left in their hands. This wasn’t the on...