I’m a little frustrated by the lack of interest in this
month’s Mostly Comedy, both in the local press and in general.
Despite the fact
the club's gone from strength to strength, there’s a sense that Glyn and I
don’t get the credit for what we’ve built, and when we occasionally shine a
light on our own work - as I am this week, by doing an extended
work-in-progress set at Thursday’s gig - the local papers (whose job it is to
run stories of local interest) - don’t cover it at all.
For nearly nine
years, I’ve written press releases for every show and sent them to the papers,
and as time goes by, our shows have been covered less and less. I know lot of
this is no doubt due to cutbacks across the industry, with fewer
journalists available to specialise in any given field, but I also know that
good content is good content - yet some of the biggest names to play our club
(whose coming to Hitchin constitutes a story)
have been a secret outside of our mailing list and our Twitter followers (and their followers, when they retweet it)
thanks to not being mentioned in the press; then, when it’s the opposite, and I
build the press release around the fact a local performer is working up a show
to take to Edinburgh, it’s also deemed unworthy of the coverage.
The saddest part
of all is this proverbial radio silence has conspired to make this month’s show
the lowest seller in two years, presumably due to a mix of a not so high-profile
line-up (the last few months we’ve had Ardal O’Hanlon, Rory Bremner and the
like) and the fact people don’t know it’s happening. So, in an attempt to
rectify this, see below for the press release deemed too uninteresting to print:
Press Release – 01.04.17
mostly comedy
a monthly comedy and
music club at the sun hotel in hitchin
With
the Edinburgh Fringe looming on the horizon, most comedians turn their minds to
putting together a new show. Consequently, April’s Hitchin Mostly Comedy will
tip its hat to the time of year by hosting two extended work-in-progress sets
from circuit comics TIFF STEVENSON
and DAVID EPHGRAVE.
TIFF
STEVENSON is
an actor, writer, stand-up and a familiar TV face, having appeared on BBC2’s ‘Mock the Week’ and ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’, BBC3’s ‘Russell Howard’s Good News’ and ‘Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled’ on Dave to name a few. She also featured
in Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant’s sitcom classic ‘The Office’ and in the West End run of ‘Celebrity Autobiography’ alongside David Tennant, Sally Phillips,
Doon Mackichan and more.
Tiff's latest solo show 'Mad Man' was one of the best-reviewed shows on Edinburgh Fringe, receiving
ten 4- and 5-star reviews including 5 stars from the Sunday Herald, The
Mirror and Funny Women. That same year, The Times picked her as one of their
top ten Fringe comics. Her radio credits include ‘Front Row’ (BBC Radio 4), ‘MacCaulay
& Co’ (BBC Radio Scotland) and regular turns on BBC Radio 4 Extra’s
Comedy Club. This will be her first appearance
at Mostly Comedy.
Locally-based
actor, writer, musician and comic (and back end of the duo behind Mostly Comedy)
DAVID EPHGRAVE will also preview new
material from his forthcoming Edinburgh show, following recent work-in-progress
dates at the Bath Comedy Festival and before a handful on the Brighton Fringe
in May.
Credits with Doggett & Ephgrave include eleven
seasons with ‘The Comedy Project’ at the Soho Theatre, numerous shows on
the Edinburgh, Brighton, Camden and Leicester Fringe, plus the Time
Out-recommended version of Mostly Comedy at London’s Leicester Square
Theatre. A notable D&E career highlight was reading an episode of their
sitcom pilot ‘Nick & Joe’ in the West End alongside a cast that
included Michael Barrymore and Norman Lovett (Holly in ‘Red Dwarf’). They also host ‘Doggett
& Ephgrave: In Your Inner Ear’ on SG1 Radio.
David’s
solo acting credits include playing Beatles
legends John Lennon and Paul McCartney in
the UK tour of ‘The Roy Orbison Story’, Buddy Holly in the UK / Ireland tour of ‘Buddy Holly and the Cricketers’
and Richard in the West End
production of ‘Dreamboats and Petticoats’. He took his first solo show‘…and Ephgrave’
to the Brighton and Camden Fringe Festivals in 2015, his second, ‘Mostly David Ephgrave’, to London,
Brighton, Bath, Leicester and Edinburgh in 2016, and his third, ‘Now Who’s a Comedian?’ to Edinburgh
this year. He’s also kept a daily blog for four years at www.mostlydavidephgrave.blogspot.co.uk.
The gig takes place on Thursday 20th
April at The Sun Hotel; doors open at 7:30pm with the first act on at 8:00pm.
The show will be emceed by “polished, natural comedians” (Camden Fringe
Voyeur) DOGGETT & EPHGRAVE. Tickets are £11 and are available in advance at www.mostlycomedy.co.uk.
Other acts playing Mostly in the coming months include Mark Watson, Angelos
Epithemiou, Richard Herring and Red Dwarf’s Hattie Hayridge.
Date: Thursday
20th April 2017
Venue: The
Sun Hotel, Sun Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG5 1AF
Time: Bar
open all day. Doors at 7:30pm. First act on at 8:00pm
Admission: £11.00.
www.mostlycomedy.co.uk