mostly david ephgrave

Today was very productive, taking in a meeting regarding Mostly Comedy potentially taking on an additional venue in another local town (well city, technically, if that doesn’t give things away) plus a rehearsal for the last outing of my show ‘Now Who’s a Comedian?’ at Leicester Comedy Festival this weekend. The meeting was promising, which was great, as we’ve always felt Mostly could work well in another town provided the town had the right catchment and the people in charge of the venue were on board with the nature of the night, and were prepared to allow time for the club to grow. We’ve dabbled with taking it elsewhere in the past (most recently with last year's date at Letchworth’s Broadway Theatre which, if anything we were concerned might be a little too close geographically to Hitchin, though it did work) but something about the nature of this particular venue and its location definitely bode well for it being a potential new home; we’re going t...

Never underestimate the power of Stevenage Town Centre for lowering your morale. I was only there for an hour this afternoon, which was still enough time to create a negative impact. It’s just so bleak. I swear it didn’t used to be like this; when I grew up there, I was its biggest defender, but I may have been looking through the rose-tinted spectacles of youth. Whatever the case, there’s been a definite decline; what was once an aspiring new town is now the sort of place to avoid eye contact at all costs. God forbid you ever stand out. The main thing going against it is the logistics; where was the sense in building the town centre so far away from the residential areas? Damn those new town planners. Damn them to Hell. Perhaps the most depressing thing I saw on my visit to Stevenage was the Santa’s Grotto in Westgate Shopping Centre. Surely no child would be foolish enough to think the real Santa would set up shop there. Which reminds me ...