mostly david ephgrave

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 ...

Five words, uttered nonchalantly by the Etcetera Theatre’s Duty Manager after tonight’s show that put the fear of God in me: “You had three press in” . What made her comment more alarming was there were only nine people in the audience. The ‘crowd’ watching my show this evening was one-third reviewers. There was a journalist for every pair of standard punters. I think I’ve made my point. Me, with sign, tonight. It will be interesting to hear what they think, particularly now the show starts with a brief dissection of my unfavourable Chortle review. Will this win friends or gain enemies? I’ll have to wait and see. Hopefully they came from different sources, for variety. I'm delighted to have such a great journalistic turnout (the best I’ve ever had), daunting though it may be. The show was okay for a first night. I was a little flustered by the get-in and took a little while to relax. The audience were quiet in places, which makes more s...

I'll keep it brief, as I've got to get up in a couple of hours to get the train; such are the unsociable hours of a performer.  Tonight saw my first proper performance of '...and Ephgrave' on the Brighton Fringe. I have to say I enjoyed it. I don't HAVE to say I enjoyed it, in fact, but I still will. The initial set-up was stressful, due the usual problems I associate with doing a show in a Free Fringe venue. While they do a wonderful thing, and I'm exceptionally grateful for the opportunity, it's always a little fraught when you're playing a space with no technical support. I spent at least an hour and a half trying to work out which channels worked on the two desks at my disposal. As someone who's reasonably technically proficient and still struggled, I dread to think what it would be like if you had no idea how anything worked.  Thankfully, I had my friend Stephen there to assist me. It was nice to have the moral support, particularly ...