mostly david ephgrave

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...

Yesterday's preview at the Portland Arms in Cambridge was a real joy, just like the year before it. As with last year’s gig, I shared a bill with Norman Lovett, who’s such an easygoing person to be around; while I’m less likely to overthink it at Mostly Comedy, I’m a lot more choosy about who I book when it’s just the two of us and I’m doing a preview; I don’t want to be with anyone who intimidates me or the whole “I’m not really a comedian” inner-monologue will surface. While the wealth of Norman's experience is never far from my mind when I see him, he’s such easy company I can quickly overcome it, plus he's appeared at Mostly Comedy so frequently and even took part in a rehearsed reading of a script I wrote with Glyn a few years back; all of which helps me feel comfortable when I’m about to launch into a new show. The journey to Cambridge was as sweaty and stressful as you might expect in the current heatwave, involving a missed (and presumed early) bus, a taxi no-s...

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...

Tonight was one of my standard ‘travelling to London to set up for a show that didn't happen' affairs; an experience I seem to go through with alarming regularity. To be fair, it was almost inevitable tonight's show would be cancelled, what with it being a Monday night in the midst of the World Cup and on the first day of Wimbledon, smack-bang in the middle of a heatwave, with a late gig kick-off of 9pm; you didn’t need to be Mystic Meg (or whoever her modern-day equivalent is) to predict that. Nevertheless, I went through the motions in the hope I’d have a chance to talk through a few ideas for Edinburgh to some semblance of an audience, be they last-minute bookings (which didn't happen) or comps given out to paper the house (which I offered with no uptake). I nearly didn’t go into town anyway, as for some reason I had barely no energy as I got ready to leave, I had been feeling a little battered down by the whole process over weekend, largely due to being sick o...

The dropping of two new songs from Paul McCartney this week, combined with a warm and spirited appearance on the James Corden segment Carpool Karaoke, definitely bode well for the release of his next album ‘Egypt Station’ in September. The guy belting out ‘Come On to Me’ isn't a 76-year-old; in fact I think it's all a con. I’d happily fund research into whether 18 th June 1942 really is McCartney’s birth-date. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but the energy of the man - and his want to keep making music - is as extraordinary as it is envious. I don’t know how he does it but I’m grateful he does; if I can approach life and work with the same zest if I reach his age, I’ll be winning. I've never subscribed to the theory that an artist's early career is the only part worth listening to. Of course, the insane level of creativity McCartney exhibited from 1962 to 1970 (or even from 1970 to 1980) is practically without parallel, ...

While getting to Brighton today was a little stressful with a cancelled and delayed train along the way, it was worth the effort as the show was a lorra fun (sorry Cilla). My wife and I arrived at the venue less than an hour before kick-off for the usual frenetic set-up, which ended with me putting on my show clothes all sweaty and stressed. Seconds after changing my underwear a punter walked in, which led to a completely crossed-purposes conversation with me trying to explain the house wasn’t open yet that I pitched a little too aggressively. I managed to call him back for some damage limitation, which wasn’t exactly the best way to get into a show mindset. Despite the stressful lead-up, when I started the gig things thankfully clicked. It helped that the audience were onside from the off and seemed more than happy to go along with my off-the-cuff tangents. I love it when it’s like that as gives you something to bounce off of, and gives material the life it often lacks in rehear...

I never thought I’d say this but chatting to Bobby Davro is such a calming influence. Bobby Davro storming it at Hitchin Mostly Comedy (23.05.18) I shared the bill with him tonight at Mostly Comedy, marking the first time I rolled out an extended set of the material that will eventually become my new show, which I had expected to be a little difficult, what with me being such a comparatively unknown entity. While I was genuinely delighted when Bobby agreed to do the gig, I didn’t know if I’d painted myself in a corner by adding him to same bill as me, as I didn’t know if his crowd would be attuned to a younger act trying out some sketchy work-in-progress. The afternoon was inevitably stressful as I watched the time I’d set aside to run my set disappear into a vapour in favour of the endless admin that goes with setting up the club. However hard you try to take it in your stride, there comes a point where the day starts to proverbially bum you...

I was holed up in my office today while the Royal Wedding took place, knuckling down on material for this week’s work-in-progress dates. Despite starting the day a little panicked by it all, I managed to have quite a productive day, I managed to write a short piece that has the potential to completely alter the direction for the show as a whole, and while I certainly won’t have time to instigate this change in tact before this week’s gigs, it’s at least injected some much-needed energy into proceedings and made me feel a little better about the whole thing. As I’ve said a couple of times lately, the hardest aspect of it all is keeping motivated when I’m largely an operation of one. I’ve not been having the best time recently and could do with a confidence boost from an outside source, instead of always having to encourage myself. I have a few plans to combat this, plus I have my PR, so hopefully this will help; I’m bored of thinking about it, reall...

If I were to sum up my life at the moment, it would be very much a case of ‘having something I really need to do, but never getting to it due to another fifteen things that end up in the way’. The thing I need to do is work on new material ready for next week’s Brighton shows, but instead, today inevitably became about preparing for tomorrow’s first St Albans Mostly Comedy date. This was unavoidable, but it was still frustrating, as by the time I finally got to running the short set I’m intending to try out tomorrow, it was getting later and later, so I could only give it a handful of goes before I had to the leave the office and go home. I long for the day when the thing that’s my personal priority is the thing I work on the most. It’s always the same; I’m constantly giving the tiniest fraction of my time before any gig I do to running or tweaking my set, so the chance of me doing it well in performance is left in the lap of the gods, plus I’m us...

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’s been too hot for its own good. I met Glyn briefly this afternoon in Hitchin Market Place to discuss plans for Thursday’s Mostly Comedy over a couple of mint choc-chip ice creams, which were tax deductible because we were discussing work. It was more of an administrative meeting than anything, as we’ve had no time to consider any double act material together lately on account of our current lack of availability. That said, it was also a chance to have a bit of a general catch up, as we haven’t really seen each other since last month’s gig; as I said above, chances to get together are rare. Meeting allowed me the chance to pass on the frustrations of my recent cancelled previews and Glyn the chance to fill me in on the challenges of juggling two young children (not literally). We tend to start most of our get-togethers these days with a general chat about where we’re both at before we look at work - even if time is tight - as it’s all part of...

Today I did my first proper run of the show as it stands since my last date in Brighton. Despite not having looked at it for a while, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed doing the first half of it. It zipped along quite nicely and felt right, which is a great place to be, but there’s a definite point about two thirds in from which I know it needs work. It’s just a case of tightening some of the later material, while also fleshing out a couple of the set-pieces. If some of them continue to feel a bit clunky, I’ll replace them with something else, but I don’t intend to do much - if any - of this before Friday’s show, as I don’t want to pressure myself unduly; there’s always time to have a fiddle with the content before my other previews this month. Part of the reason I don’t want to make too many changes now is I’ve still got to sort out the technical side to Friday’s London date, so inevitably I won’t have the time t to do much tinkering w...

Tonight saw the last of my three Brighton Fringe dates, which was the best of the bunch. The Quadrant: The Stage is Set (18.05.17) If you were to ask me what I said at any given moment, I wouldn’t be able to give you much detail, but at the very least, most of it felt right. Things started to find their rhythm, and I didn’t feel there was anything that slowed momentum down, bar two bits, one of which I don’t feel has actually been properly written yet and the other might just need a slight rethink. It was definitely the best way to draw a line under my Brighton run as, if I’d had a dodgy one tonight, it might have left me unsure as to what to do next. Yet again I’ve discovered that the thing most likely to make sense of the material is to do it in front an audience. That’s what gives the show life - and as long as I’m fairly comfortable with the structure, I can have a bit of fun with it, giving an energy that can never be there without a res...

One thing I didn’t anticipate on my way to tonight’s show in Brighton was I’d be performing to (amongst others) 27 German students. Informal. Their teacher popped his head around the door an hour before I began, to see (1) if there was anything on, and (2) if my show would be something I thought his class would understand. This was a hard question to answer as, while language wouldn’t necessarily be a barrier, they might struggle with some of the content, what with my propensity for choosing quite niche cultural references; did Noel Edmonds’ Nineties-era work make it as far as the Rhineland? Let’s hope not. My reluctance to answer with a clear yes or no may have been cause for doubt, as he didn’t commit to coming back. I took a bit of a risk tonight, by making some big changes to my set at the last minute, so I could be true to my original intention of using the three dates to chop and change what I do, to make the most of the chance to work t...

All in all, today’s show in Brighton was a good way to start the run. I travelled down alone, case in hand (except for when I stowed it), which was fine, as it’s a journey I’ve done a lot, but it was a long time to be in my own company. In some ways this was nice - it meant I could finish my book (‘Conclave’ by Richard Harris, which was very good) and meditate for a bit - but it made for quite a culture shock, going from speaking to no-one for three hours to speaking to a room full of people. I’m already feeling the benefit of scaling down the things I carry; so far, the show is prop-less, save all the projector gubbins, which consists of a small suitcase, a music stand and my manbag (when I’m playing a room with a projector and screen rigged). As it stood, I used their projector, which worked fine, but it’s always good to know I have one with me that I can trust if the technical shit hits the metaphorical pan. I arrived at the venue tw...

I may have confused my neighbour’s cat by running my Brighton show in her presence this afternoon. The reason she was subjected to just under an hour of my material was I’m looking in on her for a few days and thought I might as well use the time on my own to do a quick run-through of the set as it was in Bath and at last Month’s Mostly Comedy, to see how much I remember before I work on it more solidly over the next few days. I don’t think she minded being forced to listen too much, though she did give me a look early on as if to say “Who’s he talking to and what’s he so angry about?” that I tried to placate with a tickle of the head; I’m a practised cat-whisper, after all. It’s my intention to use the three dates in Brighton to experiment with a few new ideas, though it’s highly likely I’ll keep the first show pretty much as per Bath, instead of expecting too much at once; I think I can allow myself a day to settle in to doing it again first. The...

One thing you'll often do when promoting a show is filling in questionnaires from journalists looking for straightforward copy for their website, newspaper or magazine. Today, I did just that, answering a few questions about my Brighton Fringe dates that start next week , for the Brighton & Hove-based paper The Argus. See below for what I said, which immediately follows what they said, as that’s how the dynamic of an interview works. Could you briefly describe you show to those who know nothing about it? It’s like a Jive Bunny-style megamix of my life, without the ‘being at a wedding in the late-1980s’ aftertaste. For three nights, I’ll be zipping through a load of new ideas, most of which started out in the blog I’ve kept up almost daily for four years; my wife’s got a salary. What was the inspiration behind your show? Can you pinpoint one particular moment or idea? It mostly stems from my obsession with small detail and ho...