mostly david ephgrave

Tonight’s show at Leicester Square Theatre was fun, if a little rough around the edges. Setting up, pre-show. It’s always nice to return to the venue, as it’s one I’m very familiar with, having done various shows there with Glyn and on my own in the past. Over the years they’ve made various little improvements to the space - I’m in the Lounge and not the main house, obviously - so it’s now a better room to play, but I’ve always liked it, really. It also has a projector rigged, which is half the battle won for me. One thing I’d like to dispense with, if I’m honest, is going straight from overseeing setting up to actually doing the show, with very little time in-between. This isn’t really something you can avoid when you’re only doing a couple of dates here and there, but I long for the day when I have the luxury of turning up solely thinking about the show itself, and not whether the gear will work. Thankfully, I had the splendid Stephen Morgan tech...

It was great to finally get things going today with my first show at this year’s EdFringe. The last few days saw two previews with no turnout, mostly due to the weather and the fact the festival hadn’t truly kicked off yet, but this went in my favour as it gave me a chance to run the show twice in the space, which made me feel more solid when approaching today. One thing I hadn’t quite prepared myself for was the energy required to keep it firing apace, or at least to give the show a sense of cohesion while still letting the jokes sit. I don’t help myself by starting at a lick, therefore making it hard to get my breath back; am I really that unfit? I had fifteen or so in today, which is more than enough to make the show work in the space. What was nice was there was a good range of ages, which reassured me, particularly when some of my references are quite niche. I don't think you need to know the people or things I’m discussing directly as the...

Let off a flare; my Edinburgh Fringe run has begun.  I enjoyed my first show. Despite being dogged by technical issues right up until five minutes before curtain up - THERE ARE NO CURTAINS - the performance itself was tech glitch-free. I had a small crowd in (my use of the word 'crowd' is perhaps slightly ambitious), but they were nice, and stuck with me right through to the end, which is always a bonus.  In the audience today were my lovely flyering team, who seemed to enjoy it. It would have been awkward if they didn't, as you don't want a gang of people in your employ, telling your potential audience that they'd be best-served to give it a miss; I'll leave that job to the people promoting other comedians' shows, of which I imagine there are quite a few.  After the show, I popped to a greasy spoon with my PR Milla, for a late breakfast and a debrief. We were stuck for ideas for where to eat until I suggested The City Café, where ...