mostly david ephgrave

I’m managing to still enjoy myself at the Fringe at this late stage, which feels like a triumph when I consider the emotional roller-coaster of some of my previous fringe experiences. That’s not to say I’m not tired, frustrated and often riddled with self-doubt, as this is all par-for-the-course. At point of writing I’ve only had one reviewer in - who came today in fact - and a nonplussed agent, and am starting to wonder if this might be my lot, but despite any perceived setbacks, my mood has been predominantly good; I’m still having fun performing and haven’t gone dead behind the eyes or resorted to phoning it in just yet, which is great when I know how susceptible to these things I can be. Staying well at the Fringe is delicate balancing act that can easily topple to wrong way if not kept gently in check. Even discussing it can feel like a risk. The trick for me has been to not take it too seriously and to keep the festival at arm’s length. I’m e...

Today’s show was a good one, which I was pleased about, as (1) I didn’t sleep well last night and (2) I had some friends in. Last night, I couldn’t switch my brain off. I usually listen to a guided meditation to assist falling asleep, which is always very helpful, but I should have known from the off it wasn’t going to do the trick yesterday when I spent a good ten minutes trying to set a level that didn’t make my phone buzz with the vibration of the recording, thus irritating me instead of helping me relax. It took me at least an hour to finally go under and I then woke up very early too, which isn’t exactly a winning combination. Part of the problem was I was very aware of having friends watching today and wanted to be well-rested for the show. Then, when I didn’t fall asleep quickly, I started to panic; what if I don’t get off at all? This is what happens when you get this far into a run and start over-thinking things. For me, each show is as important as the next, but ...

Yesterday was a day off in name only really, as I had lots to do, but it was cherished nevertheless, what with coming at a time when my energy was starting to wane. It didn’t begin well. It began with pain , when I opened the venetian blind in my bedroom on waking up to have it collapse on my head. Thankfully my cat-like reflexes came to play pretty quickly, with me managing to both move out of the way of its downward trajectory as much as possible while also catching it, which would have looked impressive if anyone had seen it, but I’ll never know if they did as they would have to have been in the building opposite and feel the need to stop me on the street to compliment me on my blind-catching prowess, which is pretty unlikely, but I live in hope. I won’t mince words, by the way: it was fucking heavy. It was also not exactly the gentle warm-up into my only day off that I'd hoped for, not least because it meant I had to get in touch with the ...

I was disappointed to discover I missed last week’s episode of University Challenge when they broadcast it a day early to make way for coverage of the IAAF World Championships (because apparently watching the likes of Usain Bolt and Katarina Johnson-Thompson compete at an international level takes precedence over seeing eight hyper-intelligent yet self-conscious students preen as they express their knowledge to a tetchy ex-Newsnight host. Having messed up last time, there was no chance I’d make the same mistake again; it's hard enough to get through an average week without my UC fix, let alone when I need a little light relief from my current run on the Edinburgh Fringe. So it was that I settled in front of my temporary TV in my adopted front room for a good old-fashioned bout of Twitter mockery; I'm clearly just jealous. St Edmund's Cambridge Vs. Magdalen Oxford (14.08.17) 8:02PM: I suspect St Thomas Cambridge's team might w...

Today’s audience was tiny, relatively speaking, with just four in, but they were on board from the beginning - thank God - so the low numbers didn’t matter. Like I said yesterday, the size of an audience doesn’t necessarily correlate with the success of the gig, as some of the smallest crowds can be the most responsive, though this depends on how self conscious that small crowd is; today’s were there to have a good time, fortunately, and kept joining in, which can turn to anarchy if not kept subtly in check, but thankfully it didn’t get too messy, though my diction was a little sloppy due to tiredness. Tomorrow’s my day off, which couldn’t come at more opportune time as I’m starting to feel the strain of the relentlessness of it all; the last few days have seen me wake up later, and today particularly found me struggling to get my brain in gear; I felt shattered while setting up and hoped I wouldn’t have to be on my toes too much for the show, as I...

Today's Edinburgh show was my busiest to date and the best one so far; two things that don't always go hand in hand from experience. I’ve often found smaller fringe audiences to be the most responsive, as there’s something special about talking to an intimate room if that room’s on board. When there’s a bigger crowd you tell yourself it’s going to be a good one for it to inevitably fall flat; two of the best reviews Doggett & Ephgrave have received to date were to tiny crowds, if there’s such a thing; a handful of punters are often more impressed if you give a sparsely populated gig your all. This morning’s show contradicted my theory perfectly. The audience was absolutely lovely and with me from start to finish; for the first time I was able to ride laughs, which was brilliant. I found I had to give it more energy than usual, which was surprising, but it was a great atmosphere and was a lot of fun to do - and the feedback on the door a...

Today’s show went back to being fun again, after the quietness of the day before. Setting up for today. Performing comedy is like an exercise in psychology. I find it fascinating how two similar-sized audiences can respond so differently from one day to the next, often due to how comfortable they feel about the numbers in the room. Both today and yesterday’s shows had less than ten in, and while today’s crowd were very vocal, yesterday’s seemed self conscious and ever so slightly perplexed, like they’d wandered into the room not expecting a performance to be happening at the far end of it, but didn’t want make a scene by leaving I always try to establish from the off that the audience size doesn't make me feel awkward in the hope this will help everyone relax, but it doesn’t always work. It’s like when you go to an event you’ve been looking forward to for ages, but when it comes to it, you start to over-think things and don’t settle and end ...