Mark's news
This is the place where I'll be updating all and sundry with my latest news. It's worth a check every now and then just to see what I'm up to.
| Monday 2nd August 2010 |
Off to Edinburgh
Well the previews are all over with, the logistics have been sorted and my liver is quivering in anticipation of a heavy month's boozing. I'm off to Edinburgh tomorrow, so if you're around in August, you should totally see the following:
Mark Allen's Go Slow @The GRV (Venue 274), 4:40pm - 6:10pm, 5th-29th August
The humble quest for Universal Genius @ Belushi's Bar (Venue 245), 8:00pm - 9:00pm, 15th-21st August
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| Friday 9th July 2010 |
Mark Allen's Go Slow is a bloody winner!
As I might have mentioned, I took my latest show Mark Allen's Go Slow to the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June. It was a preview version of the same show I'm taking to the Edinburgh festival and was part of "The British Invasion" programme. Not only did I receive very pleasing reviews from audience and critics that saw it, the show also went and won some bloody awards. As part of The British Invasion we won the Hollywood Fringe Award for Best Comedy and the LA Theatre Review Award for Best International Show.Crikey!
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| Sunday 13th June 2010 |
The humble quest for Universal Genius
As well as taking Mark Allen's Go Slow to the Edinburgh Festival this year, I'm also going to be performing The humble quest for Universal Genius for a week. There'll be 6 heats and a grand final where I'll be crowning Edinburgh's own Universal Genius. It's at Belushi's Bar at 8pm from 15th-21st August and will feature all manner of exciting comedic guests and it will be much fun. You should probably come along.
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| Wednesday 21st April 2010 |
Mark Allen's Go Slow
This is the new name of my latest solo show (formerly called The Slow Coach). Although the name has changed, the concept is still the same - it's the story what happened when I decided to stage a protest at the increasing pace of life by doing everything slower for the entire month of March. I'll be performing the show at The Brighton Fringe, the Edinburgh Fringe and the Hollywood Fringe (yes, that Hollywood) Festivals. You can read full details here.
The humble quest for Universal Genius
It's been so long since I last updated this news page that I've now done 3 shows at the Komedia in Brighton and they've been bloody magnificent fun. I'll be cobbling together a video compilation of the highlights soon, so look out for that. If you want to see a live show, the next one will be at the Komedia on 3rd June. There are also plans to transfer it to London and possibly even to do a week-long run of it during the Edinburgh Festival, so watch this space. In the meantime you can read all about it here.
Labservative election campaign
I've just recorded a piece of viral advertising nonsense for the forthcoming elections in which I sport a ridiculous haircut. You can see it here.
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| Wednesday 10th January 2010 |
I haven't updated this news bit for a while. That doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything worth telling you about. Quite the opposite in fact - I've been too busy doing things to stop and tell you about the things I'm doing. Still, here's what's new with me...
Leicester Comedy Festival
I'm happy to say that I'm performing Quite Good Britain at this year's Leicester Comedy Festival on Friday 12th February. To buy tickets, click here.
The humble quest for Universal Genius
I'm writing and hosting a comedy panel show at The Komedia in Brighton on Thursday 18th February where I will be pitting top stand up comedians against in each other to try and find a modern day Universal Genius. There will be rounds on philosophy, languages, science, poetry and hunting, and it will probably be quite ridiculous. The first two contestants will be Terry Saunders and Matt Forde. For tickets and more information, click here.
The Slow Coach
I'm am currently writing my next hour-long show for the Edinburgh Festival called The Slow Coach, where I shall attempt to side-step the current breakneck pace of life and see how I get on. You can see a video explaining a bit more about it here. More information will follow. Slowly.
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| Thursday 29th October 2009 |
| I've added some London dates to the end of my tour as a sort of homecoming for Quite Good Britain. I'll be performing it for three nights at The Hen and Chickens Theatre, Islington on 26th, 27th and 28th November and it shall be smashing. |
| Thursday 29th October 2009 |
| I'm going to be on Sky News on Tuesday 3rd November doing their press review, so basically I'll be talking nonsense about the next day's newspapers and trying to find some funny stuff to talk about. Tune in if you like. |
| Tuesday 27th October 2009 |
| I'm on the Richard Bacon Show on BBC Radio Five Live again tonight. I'm on from 10.30pm-1:00am as the presenter's "friend" even though we never hang out off-air. Should still be fun though, so have a listen if you fancy it. |
| Tuesday 1st September 2009 |
| Just back from a very enjoyable week at the Edinburgh Festival performing previews of my latest version of Quite Good Britain. It all went pretty well so it looks like it'll be in good shape for the tour, which kicks off on September 11th. I am of course cheerfully ignoring the fact that my tour starting on September 11th could be interpreted as a portent of doom. |
| Thursday 20th August 2009 |
| I'm on the Richard Bacon show on BBC Radio Five Live again tonight. Only it's not actually Richard Bacon hosting - it's Colin Paterson. Should still be fun though, so have a listen if you fancy it. |
| Thursday 2nd July 2009 |
| I'm going to be on Sky News tonight at about 10:30pm to provide some kind of wry and humorous look at the day's news. At least I hope that's what they want me to do. If they're after some kind of well-informed reportage on current affairs, they're going to be sorely disappointed. |
Wednesday 1st July 2009 |
Tour dates for the new and updated version of Quite Good Britain have been finalised for this Autumn, which is very exciting indeed. I'll put more information about the show on the website when I get a chance, but for now here's where I'll be:
11th September – The Brindley, Runcorn
16th September – Cranleigh Arts Centre
18th September – The Junction, Cambridge
19th September – Rondo Theatre, Bath
24th September – Limelight Theatre, Aylesbury
26th September – The Ropewalk, Barton-on-Humber
1st October – Komedia, Brighton
3rd October – Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
29th October – The Mill Arts Centre Banbury
12th November – Rhodes Centre, Bishops Stortford
13th November – New Little Civic, Wolverhampton
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| Sunday 14th June 2009 |
| I'm officially the Mayor of Garratt! I stood for election alongside five other candidations in a pub garden in Wimbledon and was awarded this 250 year-old honour by the booze-fuelled electorate. Although the title holds no actual power and the "dirt village" of Garratt technically no longer exists, I'm chuffed. I'm in the process of making a short documentary about it, so look out for that. |
| Monday 1st June 2009 |
| I'll be on The Richard Bacon show on BBC Radio Five Live at midnight tonight. I'll be banging on about pets again, so tune in and have a listen if it takes your fancy. |
| Tuesday 13th May 2009 |
| I've just been accepted as a candidate for the Mayor of Garratt - a place that doesn't actually exist any more. The elections take place on 16th June at The Leather Bottle Inn, Wandsworth and I'll be making a low-budget documentary about the whole proceedings, so watch this space. Oh, and vote Mark! |
| Monday 12th May 2009 |
| Well Pet Project has finally been put to sleep. I did the last ever performance of it in the Brighton Festival at the smashing Fletch at St Andrews venue and it's now been consigned to the Pet Cemetery so I can concentrate on all the other exciting bits of nonsense I've got planned. Next thing up is another show with Terry Saunders at the 3 and 10 in Brighton. It'll be another take on Terry's regular Sitting on a Rug nights and will be based entirely on the credit crunch. It's going to be called Sitting on a deficit. See what we did there? I've got all manner of other things planned, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates. |
| Saturday 4th April 2009 |
| I'm currently booking dates for a UK tour of Quite Good Britain in the Autumn. It was the first hour long stand up show I did back in 2006, but I'm completely revising it for the latest update because there's still loads I want to do with it. The latest incarnation is going to be 50% longer and at least 22% funnier, so watch this space for dates and venues. In the meantime you can read all about the previous version of the show here. |
| Monday 9th March 2009 |
| I'm going to be on BBC Radio Five Live on 17th March talking about some sort of nonsense on BBC Radio Five Live on the Richard Bacon show. Why not have a listen and see if I say anything worthwhile? |
| Sunday 1st March 2009 |
| It's been confirmed that I'll be performing Mark Allen's Pet Project at the Brighton Fringe on Monday 11th May 2009. It'll be at the new Fletch @ St Andrews venue and will probably be the last time I perform the show before I start working on my next bit of nonsense. If you want to see it before it's retired, you can book tickets on the Brighton Fringe website after Thursday 19th March. |
| Friday 6th February 2009 |
| I'll be performing Mark Allen's Pet Project at the Leicester Comedy Festival tomorrow (Saturday 7th Feb). It's on at 7pm at Bowie's Bar, De Montfort Street, Leicester,
LE1 7GR and it will probably be ace. You can book tickets here. |
| Sunday 1st February 2009 |
| Me and Terry Saunders are gearing up for our Valentine's Day special of Terry's regular Sitting on a Rug night at the 3 and 10 in Brighton. We've filmed some superb video bits, lined up a special guest and even put together on a romantic song for the occasion, so it should be a good one. You can book tickets here. |
| Monday 26th January 2009 |
| Episode 2 of my Spraffcast is now online - I told you the next one would be uploaded more swiftly. I'm happy to say that this episode is better than the previous one, which is to be expected seeing as there's now twice as many as before. If it carries on getting exponentially funnier at the same rate, it should be bloody magnificent by the end of the year. Hear here. |
| Sunday 25th January 2009 |
| The first episode of my podcast - Mark Allen's Spraffcast - has now been uploaded, which is more than a little exciting. It was recorded over a month ago, but I've only just worked out how to edit it together, which is why it's only available now when the things we're talking about are a bit less topical - sorry about that. I promise that the next ones will be out much more swiftly. You can have a cheeky listen to it here. Why not subscribe to it - then you'll receive it as soon as it's available and your life might be ever so slightly better. |
| Sunday 11th January 2009 |
| I've just been informed by YouTube that the soundtrack for my Pet Project trailer has now been removed due to a copyright infringement. It turns out that The Stooges don't like me using their song "I wanna be your dog" on it. Is it me, or is that the clearest sign yet that punk is dead? That and the fact that Iggy pop is now doing car insurance adverts. Whatever happened to fucking the system? |
| Tuesday 30th December 2008 |
| I'm going to be on BBC Radio Five Live tonight talking about some sort of nonsense with Stephen Nolan. Why not have a listen and see if I say anything worthwhile? |
| Thursday 11th December 2008 |
| An article that I wrote about the furries has been published in this week's Time Out. It's quite pleasing to see, despite the fact that it's received a hefty old edit. Click here to see the online article and ensuing uproar from the furry community. It's not as if I wasn't expecting comeback from them though - they do love a bit of a drama. I believe it was they who put the 'fur' in 'furore'. |
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