mostly david ephgrave

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 ...

Last night, I had what was supposed to be the penultimate preview of my new show before I jet (or 'train') off to Edinburgh, but - for a variety of reasons out of my control - ended up being the first. Me, during last night's show at Hitchin Town Hall (21.07.22) I'm pleased to report it went well, though there's still a lot of work to be done. While I'd intended on doing an hour, the distinct lack of opportunity to spread the stories I wanted to try across several dates made me decide to split the show into two halves so I could throw a few more into the mix without rushing them. It also gave me more time to regroup in the interval, which is useful when you're road-testing new material. Plus, it gave the audience a welcome break*, which was helpful, not least when the room was as hot as it was. Going through my notes, pre-show. All in all, the results were encouraging. I've found it hard working in such isolation this year, particularly on the back of al...

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...

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 ...

I found tonight’s preview at The Market Theatre a tiny bit frustrating, but to fair, most of that frustration was more to do with what was happening in my head then what was happening on stage. Me in victory stance at tonight's preview at The Market Theatre. (25.07.17) The main problem for me is was I couldn’t help bit compare it to my final preview this time last year at the Broadway Studio in Letchworth, when I could tangibly feel things falling into place; so much so I walked off-stage content with the fact the show was there; it was finished, it was done. Tonight’s show, conversely, was a personally a little hit and miss. For the most part, it felt reasonably slick and there were some good responses from the audience, but there were also moments when the reaction was a little muted and slow. Some of this was to do with the Curse of the Hitchin Festival; it’s a wonderful thing to be a part of and I’m very grateful for the cross-promoti...