mostly david ephgrave

Today’s show, while only having four people in the audience, was easily the most enthusiastic reaction of the whole run; so much so, I jokingly asked them if they'd popped some form of medication. From the beginning, they were in hysterics, and didn’t stop giggling throughout. It was lovely, if a little concerning, as when a reaction’s that good, you don’t want to get in the way of it, or do something wrong the mess things up. It goes to show you needn't be busy for things to work; you only need a handful of people who are on board with it, which was as it was today. I’ve actually been pretty fortunate throughout, with rather typically the most stilted reaction so far being the day The List reviewed it (which so far is the only write-up I’ve got) and that was most likely due to me being thrown slightly by the technical issues that delayed our start that day. Things were going so well today it didn’t even matter when my guitar cut out towards the middle of the show, whi...

Today’s show was a strange one in that it started well, but then halfway through I seemed to lose them. I’m not  sure what happened, but for the first thirty minutes or so the laughs were big and pretty constant, so much so, it took me by surprise. The moment the audience truly got on board was when I did the bit about the arrogant statue in my local Oxfam, which was going so well that one woman was laughing uncontrollably, but somewhere towards the middle of my set, these laughs began to drop off, and while there were still bits that got a good response through to the end, it was definitely more muted; I can only assume I blacked out for a few minutes and inadvertently said something racist. One thing’s for certain: I’m relieved to be nearly done. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed myself - it's been great - but it definitely reaches a point when you need to wind things up and head for home, as the stamina required to bring a show to the Frin...

Today’s show was one of the most fun of the run, despite only having three people in the audience, which serves to reiterate you can never predict how a gig on the Fringe will be. Yesterday, I had about ten people in (and a reviewer) but got the impression they felt intimidated by what they perceived to be a small turnout, yet today, the three punters present were laughing enthusiastically throughout and often joining in. It was a breeze to do as their response gave me an extra energy kick that probably wouldn’t have surfaced if they hadn’t been so keen, which was the opposite of what I’d expected before the show began. This morning, I’d checked sales to discover I had no-one booked (the only time this has happened since my two cancelled previews at the beginning of the run) so I left for the venue unsure if I’d even be doing a show. Then, a few minutes before kick-off, two women arrived and sat together on one side of the room, which left me antic...