Tom: "I was well aware that quite a few of us were not giving anything like our best at times"

I certainly didn't get that impression. I've seen most of the acts (including Tom & Tom) several times elsewhere and thought that the performances this last weekend were as good as they've given. "Seat of the pants" is often more effective than lots of dreary setting up time for the audience to get bored through. The suggestion about arranging the seating so that the door is at the back is a good one, though. In practice, the seating arrangements were left to the artists/session leader to sort out. We can't expect Angie and Ken to do that too; Four Fools is mainly Two Committed People with a bit of help from anyone else they can rope in. They do a fantastic job.