mostly david ephgrave

From September 2010, every month for two years, Glyn and I would carry four 4.5' square rostra 176 yards from Glyn's dad's chip shop to Mostly Comedy's then-venue The Croft before/after each gig, in all weathers, for a step in the venue floor to render them invisible when we put them in place. It was an utter ballache. Nine years on, these chunky wooden bastards still bug me. The Croft's stage was hardly the Palladium. And when I say "all-weathers", I genuinely mean all-weathers. The worst was snow, although it's not like a sunny day made it any more enjoyable. Not only were the rostra heavy, but they were also very cumbersome. They were wide and a nightmare to keep purchase; it was like holding a butter-coated tombstone with clammy hands. Navigating from A to B was akin to a scene from the Eric Sykes / Tommy Cooper film The Plank with equal slapstick; my knuckles practically dragged along the floor at the end of Orangutan-like arms by the end of our j...

Pulling together a couple of composite images to summarise Mostly Comedy 's 2020 act roll-call - as I do every year - served to underline what a great bunch of people have either appeared at the club or guested on our podcast since January. Stills, taken from some of our Zoom-based More Than Mostly Comedy Podcast interviews this year. ...plus a few more. Of course, the year was nothing like we'd planned, with just two proper live dates in January & February thanks to COVID-19, but at least we managed to make a virtue of adversity by dipping more heavily into the podcast than usual, with ten new episodes already released and another three waiting to be edited; that's far more than we would have done had the club been open, so that's good. And even if we'd gone ahead with the onstage interviews we'd intended to do at the club this year, it's unlikely we'd have had such an impressive roster of guests; that's the advantage of being interviewing peop...

Wednesday afternoon's interview with Josh Widdicombe was the relaxed, easygoing chat I hoped and expected it would be and will make for an entertaining episode, I think. Us and Josh, during last night's Zoom interview (15.07.20) It's funny as, from the outside looking in, he's one of the bigger names we've interviewed, although the way we came into contact with him makes this feel less significant, as regards intimidation at least. Not only was he one of the club's regulars during its earliest days, but we also shared a Free Fringe venue with a split-bill show of him and James Acaster with them in immediately after us, so we were relaxed with them both. It helps that, like James, he's just a nice guy with no arrogance, who's remained that way, irrespective of his success. And as far as I'm concerned, those are the best people. So this allowed the interview to flow with ease and without pretension. Plus it was great to catch up. And it's ...

I’ve spent the afternoon sifting through photos taken at Mostly Comedy over the past six years, then uploading them to Flickr. We’re lucky to have such a meticulous record of the club since it began. Looking through the pictures serves to remind me of how many people have appeared at Mostly Comedy (and our various side projects) through the years. They capture a mix of well-established and soon-to-be-huge comics, alongside a wealth of acts pitched somewhere in-between. Then me and Glyn, just to make up the numbers. The list of people who’ve appeared astounds me. Everyone from Phill Jupitus to Josh Widdicombe, Phil Kay to Nick Helm and Michael Barrymore through to Norman Lovett. The photos conjure up many memories. More than that: they bring those memories to life . We’ve also filmed every Mostly Comedy since the beginning. That’s a lot of footage. Alan Yentob will find the tapes invaluable in years to come. Doggett & Ephgrave have shar...

Last night I had less than four hours sleep. Doesn't matter; I'm still buzzing. This is partially due to the two large black coffees that have already filtered their way past my oesophagus (not an enjoyable word to spell after a late night, nor a pleasing mental image). T he main reason for this morning's heightened sense of excitement , however, is that I’m still riding on the coattails of last night’s Mostly Comedy.  For those of you who are not in the know, Mostly Comedy is the monthly comedy & music club I run with my comedy partner, Glyn Doggett (no affection). We set it up on a whim, after taking our first show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008. It was called ‘The Balloon Debate’; a comedy three-hander set 2000 feet above East Anglia in the basket of a hot-air balloon (a basket we had to set-up and strike in less than seven minutes every night; such is the quick turn-around at the Festival).   ‘The Balloon Debate’ was Dogge...