mostly david ephgrave

From September 2010, every month for two years, Glyn and I would carry four 4.5' square rostra 176 yards from Glyn's dad's chip shop to Mostly Comedy's then-venue The Croft before/after each gig, in all weathers, for a step in the venue floor to render them invisible when we put them in place. It was an utter ballache. Nine years on, these chunky wooden bastards still bug me. The Croft's stage was hardly the Palladium. And when I say "all-weathers", I genuinely mean all-weathers. The worst was snow, although it's not like a sunny day made it any more enjoyable. Not only were the rostra heavy, but they were also very cumbersome. They were wide and a nightmare to keep purchase; it was like holding a butter-coated tombstone with clammy hands. Navigating from A to B was akin to a scene from the Eric Sykes / Tommy Cooper film The Plank with equal slapstick; my knuckles practically dragged along the floor at the end of Orangutan-like arms by the end of our j...

It was with some sense of relief that I did the first new material I’ve tried in a few weeks at last night’s Mostly Comedy, and it got a reaction I was happy with. It’s not that I haven’t been working stuff up with a view to putting in a new show, or blogs I’ve earmarked for this purpose; I just haven’t had the time or the mental space to learn it. I’ve been rushed off my feet lately, and rather than share stories that aren’t enough in the noggin for public consumption and make a hash of them, I’d sooner tinker with them in my own time a little longer, so as not to lose faith before they’re ready.  Saying that, it’s often not until new material is performed at a gig that you find the missing pieces that make it worth listening to. Last night was a case in point, as a lot of the little incidental lines I threw in off-the-cuff got the best response. I wasn’t so aware of it at the time as I was caught up in my administrative 'running a gig' mindset, b...

Today was a day of low-level admin, including finalising the first line-up for St Albans Mostly Comedy (which is good news), putting together a mailing list mailout for next week’s show (in which I mentioned the news of our soon-to-be additional venue, without actually revealing where it was) and generally not doing a great deal, save a little reading, as I hadn’t slept particularly well last night, so writing wasn’t an option. Within the mailout I mentioned the fact that Red Dwarf celebrated its thirtieth birthday yesterday - something I hadn’t realised until Norman Lovett tweeted about it - which felt pertinent, what with us regularly playing host to both Hollys, which we’re doing again over the next few months. Without double-checking due to laziness, this must put Red Dwarf alongside The Simpsons as one of the longest running sitcoms, though in the case of the former, it’s been a little more off-again on again instead of going straight through. ...

Today, I did a couple of runs of my show to remind myself of it ready for my dates at Leicester Square Theatre at the end of the week. These went much as I’d expected, with the first run feeling a bit scratchy and indistinct and the second feeling more robust. It’s always the way when you’ve put something down for a little while to pick it up again: you start off with the sense of it pretty much intact but without the finite detail, then the rest of it starts to come back; all it should take is a little tinkering with the detail tomorrow morning and then another full run in the afternoon to get it back up-to-speed. It didn’t help that my vertigo is still pretty bad, which makes concentration difficult, but I should be okay as long as I don’t overdo it. It’s frustrating though, as working through it today was very tiring, as everything feels twice as hard (but the good thing is I don’t moan about it). The other thing I did today was finalise...

Tonight’s Mostly Comedy was one to be proud of. First off, with Hattie Hayridge and Henning Wehn on the bill, we had an exceptional line-up. You’re off to a good start when you play host to familiar faces; more-often-than-not, an audience feels most comfortable when the people they're watching have form and a television presence; such is the nature of promoting comedy – but the atmosphere can go through the roof when those acts are on top form, like they were tonight. It was probably the one date in Mostly Comedy’s 2016 diary that made us most tense, what with the difficult task of moving a sold-out audience en mass from Henning’s originally scheduled appearance last month. Ticket holders had four weeks to decide whether they’d like to stay with the April date or switch to the new one, before the event went on public sale. Thirty people did nothing before the deadline, which made us paranoid they hadn’t seen the message (well: the numerous mes...

Some might say sharing next month's Mostly Comedy press release in lieu of a proper blog post is a cheat, but those people probably weren't up until 3am yesterday and therefore too tired to share anything else coherent. If it's any consolation, I wrote it myself - plus it's partially about me. So, strap in: Press Release – 18.04.16 mostly comedy a monthly comedy and music club, at the sun hotel in hitchin While 5th May’s Hitchin Mostly Comedy with HENNING WEHN and Red Dwarf’s HATTIE HAYRIDGE is sold out, there’s still a chance to snap up tickets for the 12th May date with stand-up from KERRY GODLIMAN and DAVID EPHGRAVE. KERRY GODLIMAN is an accomplished actress, writer and stand-up, best known for her portrayal of Hannah in Channel Four’s Ricky Gervais-penned sitcom ‘ Derek ’. She’s no stranger to other TV work, however, having appeared on BBC1’s ‘ Live at The Apollo ’, ‘ Miranda ’ and ‘ Our Gi...

Tonight's Mostly Comedy saw a lovely mix of acts doing great stuff, marred slightly by a few audience members deciding to leave early in a ball of distraction and disruptiveness, because they did like the final act. That's the way a comedy night goes; not everyone will like everything. It was just a shame that decided to make their distaste so vocal, pulling focus so much as they left. Outside of that, it was a nice gig. It was always going to be quieter, what with Henning Wehn having to move to a different date - but while the numbers were slightly down, they were a pretty responsive bunch. Overall, I enjoyed it. It was great to have our techie Paul back tonight at the helm. Our get-in was relaxed and completed in good time, thanks to his hard work. Glyn and I had the chance to get ready for the gig with relative comfort, which is in start contrast to usual. This can only be good. Now, it's time for bed as it's FAR TOO LATE. Good night y'all.