The Handy Handheld Handyman.


Yesterday, my dad - being the technical genius he is - fixed one of Doggett & Ephgrave’s most important pieces of kit: our slide-show remote.

Sexy beast.


The catchily-named Logitech R-R0001 2.4 Ghz Cordless Presenter has been an invaluable, yet silent companion to our live work since we started using a projector to do our two-man stand-up back in 2008. It’s been on stage with us at the Edinburgh, Brighton, Camden and Leicester Festivals, during all of our Leicester Square Theatre dates (and a fair few at The Soho Theatre), plus gigs at various other London venues (including the 100 Club), in Hitchin – and in the lighting boxes of every theatre our musical show ‘Glad All Over!: A Sixties Celebration’ took in during its bijou tour; the little battery-powered chappie gets about.

Our live act revolves around a Keynote presentation running on an off-stage computer, that I control from the stage with the remote in my left hand, while I hold my mic in my right. I’ve put the specifics on record to ensure accuracy if they ever make a Doggett & Ephgrave biopic. Not if: when.

Our remote was reliable until early last year, when it would occasionally fail to trigger the slide-show. It then died during my solo run in Brighton in May. We looked into replacing it to discover it had been discontinued, and that all later models didn't have a volume control, which was essential to our act. Without it, I can't adjust the level of the audiovisual clips that regularly feature in our material. Functioning versions of our original remote now sell on Amazon for over £300.

(I bet you're hooked on every word.)

We’ve tried various brands since, but none live up to the job; they either don't have the range or the reliability. I was starting to panic, until my dad stepped in with his soldering iron to repair the first one. This means we can eke out the Star Trek Porn Letter for another decade; the audience's loss is our gain.

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