mostly david ephgrave

It was good to get back on the Edinburgh Fringe horse today, metaphorically-speaking, after a nearly week-long hiatus, which was finally rectified by having my ear syringed so I no longer felt like I'm living under a bell jar. When I left my appointment yesterday, everything sounded so clear on my walk through Princes Street Gardens it was as if my soundtrack was being provided by an award-winning Foley artist (who won the prize for Most Convincing Recreation of a Scottish Tourist Hotspot). This return to normality put me in an inordinately good mood for someone at the latter stage of an Edinburgh Fringe run, probably because I knew I’d finally be able to do my show again, which is the reason I’m here after all. The only slight setback today was we went up a good five or ten minutes late due to a tech issue, which meant I was behind on time from the get-go, though it still managed to be a fun gig irrespective of that. The audience was tiny admi...

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 had just to two real people in, plus my new flyerer (who’s a real person too) who unfortunately had to leave before the end; something I was sure to mention at the beginning, so the two genuine punters didn’t think she was walking out. It was once again a lovely show and the pair in were very receptive, but of course it’s frustrating to do a good one and have so few people see it. Basically, I’m falling victim to a terrible start-time, as when I arrive there’s essentially no-one about, but when I leave the venue at 13:20pm, The Caves is bustling with people going to watch the mixed bill show Afternoon Delights or some such. I sincerely hope this picks up, as I don’t want a show I’m proud of that’s starting to settle despite a difficult genesis (like Phil Collins' stroppy band) to be seen by next-to-nobody and to just get a single and largely inaccurate write-up, like the one from The List that popped up yesterday, which bizarrely s...

By rights, a show to four people (with one from the Comedy Awards panel) shouldn't be fun, but today’s was, as well as being possibly my favourite so far (although the first show probably got the most vocal reaction). Mere seconds before I was due to start, it looked like I’d either have to cancel or do the show one-on-one to the comedy awards’ judge, which isn’t something I’d do in any other instance and would only have done today if (1) he’d been comfortable with it and (2) couldn’t guarantee someone from the panel would be able to come another day. I was just asking his opinion when the other punters suddenly appeared and saved the day, and what made it even better was they'd paid for their tickets and weren’t brandishing the papering comps I'd instructed my flyerers to hand out…so that’s money in the bank (albeit only just double-figures). Such a small audience is a tough proposition, particularly when they chose to sit close enough to the stage to force me into a...

I ended up not doing a show today, which in a perverse way felt like a bit of a treat. I was talking to my technician Michael moments before we opened the house about how the intensity of a run on the Fringe would be easier to withstand with a day off a week. While it’s fair to say I’ve started every day tired for at least a week now, my energy tends to kick into gear once I get to the venue, but today was the first time I needed a fifteen-minute power-nap before leaving my digs, as the results of a month of early starts had finally caught me up. I don’t think anyone is built to withstand so many shows without a break; it doesn’t really happen like this in many other instances outside of Edinburgh - and yet so many of us return year after year, trying to achieve the nearly impossible act of doing a twenty-five-ish day straight, and wonder why we come out the other side shattered and prone to low mood; even the Lord Almighty created the Earth with a...

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...

It didn’t matter that there were only two people in for tonight's show, as it was both enjoyable and useful in equal measure.   It just goes to illustrate that you can never predict these things, other than taking an educated guess at the moment. Yesterday, only two people turned up as well, and as soon as I started talking to them beforehand to see how they felt about it and whether they wanted it to go ahead, the width of their eyes made it clear that they weren’t comfortable with it; I understood completely, as there aren’t many who would be. Conversely, I could tell very quickly when I spoke to the two women who came tonight that they were more than happy to watch it and if anything, that they thought it sounded quite fun. They seemed nice and good humoured, so the me that at other times might have decided to pull it before I went out-front thought, “What the heck”. I should state for the record that they were exceptional sports. With the wrong people, havin...

Tonight, I previewed my Edinburgh show to two people; well, three if you count my wife, who's already seen it enough to be my understudy. Thankfully they were a nice couple, who didn't seem too intimidated by the prospect of being eyeballed by a comic for an hour. I'd usually not perform to less than five or six, or more than one group at the very least - any less and it switches from a performance to a hostage situation - but I've cancelled so many previews in the past few weeks, that I wasn't going to let the chance to do a proper run pass me by; particularly after carrying all the necessary gear to London to do it.  The lead-up to the show was all kinds of disastrous. Before leaving Hitchin, I discovered that the screw thread of the hole on the base of mine and Glyn's new projector is smaller than the screw you use to attach it to our tripod, rendering the tripod useless. I had an hour to get to Argos to buy a new one (which didn't fit either) and then ...