Friends (Not the Sitcom)

This afternoon, I caught up with a friend I haven't seen for a couple of years.

The fact we haven't been in the same room for so long is, frankly, a little bit ridiculous. We both live in the same town. That's the way it goes; you end up making more effort with the people who live further away, and neglect those who live closest. Why is life like this?

(Don't respond.)

Thankfully, our friendship is such that's it's easy to pick up where we left off. There's no judgement about the time that's passed. We just get on with it.

It was lovely to see her and to hear how things have been going. We had a heck of a lot to fill each other in on and not enough time to do it. That's okay. Hopefully, we'll get back into the habit of seeing each other more often. She came armed with a wedding gift too, which was lovely, plus a batch of biscuits. You can't fail with biscuits.

The rest of the day was filled with a doctor's appointment, a meditation class, sending out emails to the acts appearing at tomorrow's London Mostly, and tinkering with my solo stand-up. I'd had a specific routine in my mind for tomorrow's gig that I'm not sold on. Then on Sunday, I had an idea for a bit of material that I think might be stronger. The question is: do I go with the skit that I know better but may not be funny, or take a risk on a thing I think has more potential, but I barely know. The jury's out. I'll decide tomorrow, damn it.

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

Comedy That's Worth a Letch.

Today, I nipped to Letchworth to meet with illustrator (and one-time - two-time - comedy poet) Mushybees, to discuss an event Mostly Comedy will act as surrogate parents to as part of Letchworth’s Arts Takeover in a couple of weeks. Months ago he got into contact to see if we’d be up for co-organising a comedy stage as part of Letchworth’s weekend of arts-based attractions in July; something I’d provisionally said yes to, before things got hectic in the lead-up to Edinburgh and we didn’t take it any further. Despite not getting down to the nitty-gritty straight away, we managed to pull a line-up together in a back-and-forth of emails yesterday, leading to me getting Glyn’s blessing and us deciding we’d officially go ahead with it (whatever ‘officially’ means in this context). In reality, it’s not complicated: from 12pm until 6pm-ish on the 22 nd July, Glyn, Mushybees and I will host four Edinburgh previews from four acts (including me), before Nor...

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...

mostly david ephgrave

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