Mostly Blogedy.


I’m thinking about trying an experiment at tomorrow’s Mostly Comedy. Don't worry: there won't be a Bunsen burner involved.

With Monday’s Soho Theatre show and various other commitments, I've had no time to meet with Glyn to discuss any new material. We’d usually do something tried and tested when that's the case. You can’t do something new every month; well, we can’t anyway.

This wouldn’t usually be a problem, except for the fact that we’re doing our hour-long show at the club in a couple of months – and are trying to avoid doing much from it in Hitchin in the interim, to keep it fresh for the audience. As a result, I was thinking about us pretty much reading one of my blogs verbatim tomorrow night.

It won’t be the first occasion we’ve used my blog as a source for material. This is to be expected, particularly when I’m writing one a day; most of my ideas will wind up in it in some form or other. It will, however, be the first instance of us using one in such a raw state.

It will still be projector-based, as the idea involves a visual element.  I already ran a rough slideshow past Glyn a few months’ back, who liked the idea, so it won’t be completely unfamiliar. We’ll also put our usual double act stamp on it when we talk it through tomorrow morning.

Reading it out rather than having it learnt shouldn’t be a problem. Everyone else that previews material at our club does it, so why can’t we?

(Don't respond.)

My only issue will be logistical; I don’t like leaving my mic in its stand, and will also have to hold my remote. I guess I’ll just have to resort to the usual many-paged crib sheet at my feet.

That’s if we decide to go through with it. We’ll see how it goes. I may lose faith in it entirely over the next twenty-four hours.

If so, it wouldn’t be the first time.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Image
Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera
Read more

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce
Read more

Hoo-ray and up She Rises.

So much has happened since my last post in March that this blog risks sounding like an itinerary. The main news is that Hitchin Mostly Comedy will return in the summer at a new venue, the Queen Mother Theatre . The road to this decision was convoluted, though enough fell into place en route to leave me optimistic about this new start. The catalyst was a survey I ran via our mailing list a few months back, in which I asked, "If the club returned in the current climate, with tickets still around £15 (and with similar line-ups), would you still attend?"; the response to which, in simple terms, was a resounding yes. Nearly 250 mailing list subscribers responded in a single week, with around a hundred also taking the option to leave some feedback. And only two people were abusive, which counts as a win when you consider they posted their comments online anonymously. Imagine how many more insults we would have received if the comedy club was a woman. Particularly if she was Diane
Read more