Tonight’s Mostly Comedy at the Sun Hotel with Arthur Smith and Phil Wang was a great way to draw
a line under what's been a truly exceptional year for the club.
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| Arthur Smith, on-stage at The Sun Hotel, Hitchin (13.12.17) |
We’re all too
aware of how lucky we are to be running an event with such ardent and
consistent support. Just the last few months have been a case in point, with
Jack Dee, Phill Jupitus and Henning Wehn’s dates all selling out in a matter of
minutes; a few years ago we would never have dreamt this possible and yet
here it is; we always hoped the club would become a hot ticket that stayed in a smallish room and didn't lose
it roots and that’s exactly what’s happened; it’s extraordinary really.
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| Doggett & Ephgrave being weird, pre-show. |
It shows how much
we’ve grown to accept the calibre of line-ups we host to have an act of Arthur Smith’s stature play
the club again for us to barely bat an eyelid. It helps that he’s such a nice guy who’s the epitome of being down-to-earth and easy going, but there’s still
that frisson of excitement when he steps onto the stage for the first time:
it’s nice to have maintain that little bit of theatre to proceedings and build
momentum.
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| Ephgrave at the window. |
The only thing that
would have helped tonight’s gig would have been to switch the bill so Phil Wang
was in the first half and Arthur Smith was in the second, as having Arthur at
the top meant we’d metaphorically shot our load early (this was absolutely no
reflection on Phil who was great, but Arthur’s obviously the bigger name). Phil
had to close though as he was doubling up with a gig at the Bear Club in Luton,
and perhaps our gig wouldn’t have been so appealing if he hadn’t already been
in the area, so that’s the way things go.
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| Arthur Smith plays a sold out room at the last Hitchin Mostly Comedy of 2017. |
So, in summary,
2017 saw thirteen shows with an impressive roster of acts, many of whom hadn’t
played the club before - and 2018 already looks set to follow suit. Not bad
going for something we set up on a whim.
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