Not Tonight.


I must have been tempting fate when I recently boasted of how in ten years of Hitchin Mostly Comedy we’ve never cancelled a show outright, as that was exactly what we had to do last night.

In reality, that was the decision that had to be taken - and these things happen - but when you find yourself in a situation like this, you can't help but worry afterwards whether you made the wrong choice, however unavoidable it might have been. A few years ago we found ourselves in a situation where an agent we were dealing with attempted to completely change the terms of an agreement that had been signed off after the deal had been confirmed and the event had sold out, and this put us in the awkward position of having to fight our corner to protect the ethics and identity of the club. While knowing we were right to stand our ground, as if we didn’t, any aspect of the deal could be reneged on at any point, every fibre of Glyn’s and my being bristled at the fear we were making a mistake, yet we held firm, and lo and behold, this ultimately led to the event being reinstated with all our original terms understood; proof that sometimes making an executive decision and sticking by it is the right thing to do instead of plowing on regardless.

That’s not to say that last night’s situation was like the above, other than the fact we initially had to pull the event; no-one let us down, we just had to cancel it. This led to a flurry of time-sensitive correspondence that had to go out quickly so the 150 ticketholders were informed before they left the house. Thankfully, this seemed to work as no-one made themselves known on the door, so presumably they got the message. This was a relief as when a show’s cancelled you’re thrown into damage limitation mode and obviously the less damage that occurs the better.

The worst part of it all is the loss of the money, which was quite vital to me personally. The downside to running this type of business is situations like last night generate twice as much work for no money, which wouldn’t have been the case if the show went ahead. That said, what can you do? One cancellation out of over a hundred gigs or so is not something to cry over as these things happen, though it’s deeply frustrating that I now can’t pay myself for it.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
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...
Read more

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...
Read more

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...
Read more