Saturday 31 August 2013

The Comicbook Song - new video from the Socks

Recorded live as part of Socks In Space at this month's Edinburgh Fringe. the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre perform the comicbook song, now with added pictures.


As the month progressed it was clear this song wasn't getting as many laughs as our other material. Partly this is because it goes very quickly without pauses for laughs. But mostly it's because, I think, hardly anybody had heard of most of the comic characters the Socks were naming. So now it's all clear, I hope this helps.

THE COMICBOOK SONG (lyrics by Kev F)

There's Superman and Spiderman and Iron Man & Wolverine
There's X Men and Avengers & there's Thor & Hulk and then there's Green
Lantern and Fantastic Four and Wonder Woman and Capting
Marvel & America and Battyman & Ro-obin

There's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,  Catwoman & Jonah Hex
And Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Ghost Rider and Luthor, Lex
There's Watchmen, Titans, Silver Surfer, Tank Girl and even better
There's Kick Ass, Daredevil, The Phantom and V For Vendetta

There's Black Canary, Yellowjacket, Green arrow, & Black Panther
There's one guy called The Question but there's not one called the Answer
In short if you want inspiration there's no further you need look
Than finding ideas in the pages of the nearest comic book

There's Doctors Strange & Fate & Doctor Doom who's from Latveria
And Mighty Thor who first appeared  in Journey into Mysteria
There's Punisher & Ultimates &  Venom who's a big black suit
Or Power Pack or Rocketeer or Black Widow or Sabertoot'

You're probably acquainted with The Justice League or JLA
And Doom Patrol & Guardians Of The Galaxy & Birds Of Prey
And 2 Face & the Penguin, The Sub Mariner & Collosus
The Human Torch, The Riddler, Nick Fury & Doctor Octopus

There's Supergirl & Spawn & Blade The Flash Joker & Marvel Mizz
And Dennis the Menace and Rodger The Dodger & Billy Whizz
That is a tiny fraction of the characters who have passed through
I could read all the rest but I simply can't be arsed to



SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

July 31 - Aug 25 - Gilded Balloon, 10.15pm, Edinburgh Fringe
Sept 4 - Belfast Black Box
Sept 5 - Derry Waterside
Sept 21 - Braintree Arts Theatre
Sept 22 4pm - Nottingham Comedy Festival
Oct 5 - Farnham Maltings
Oct 11 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre

Thursday 29 August 2013

Youtoobling - Let's Twerk

For my latest night of Youtoobling (finding one video after another, loosely connected, and Tweeting them as if anyone was watching) picked up the vogue term of Twerking. It apparently refers to a raunchy style of dancing but, as I noted, didn't used to in my childhood...

How come everyone's using the word Twerk wrong all of a sudden? I invented that at school. A cross between Twat & Berk & was first used to describe my classmate Geoffrey Snushall. I invented . Bloody kids, ruin everything.

Restless Natives, Edinburgh What the city looked like, & Big Country sounded like, in 1985

I'm more blown away by the ability to drive the length of Princes St than anything else

"Eat your Vermicelli Joe" Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren Bangers & Mash

Mambo Italiano, French & Saunders Top tip: DO NOT GOOGLE "Raw Sex" on YouTube. *gulp* *gurgle* *pant*

Who Can It Be Now? Men At Twerk

Senses Twerking Overtime, XTC


The Troggs Tape done by Kraft-twerk Kraft-twerk. See what I did the..?

Twerking For The Yankee Dollar, The Skids

Devo, Twerking In A Coalmine (live on Countdown, apparently)

There's A Guy Twerks Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis, Kirsty MacColl

Where's Captain Twerk?, Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

Twerk Wears White Sox, Adam & The Ants

Do The Twerk, Jackson 5

Young Twerks, Rod Stewart *realising how tiresome this game is*

Is it just me or is Miley Cyrus a spectacularly inept dancer? Really. My cat dances better than this.

"Wash my mouth out with soap & water" Peter Cook & Dudley Moore

Youtoobling - Art School Pop

Inspired by the following tweet, my Youtoobling on Aug 22nd took me down the route of Art School music

. 25 Aug
Great evening listening to chatting in Edinburgh. Amazing stuff. AND a mention of They Might Be Giants!

Don't Let's Start, They Might Be Giants


Buffalo, Stump  

Get Up (Sex Machine) Flying Lizards  

There Goes Conchord Again, And The Native Hipsters  

Einstein A Go Go, Landscape  

O Superman, Laurie Anderson  

Sure Nuff Yes You Do, Captain Beefheart  

The Famous Bobby Brown, Frank Zappa  

What's So Funny Bout Peace Love & Understanding, Elvis Costello & friends  

Peace Train, Cat Stevens  

In The Middle, Tim Moore  

You're Not The Boss Of Me Now, They Might Be Giants  

Big When I Was Little, Eliza Doolittle  

Big In Japan, Cindy & The Barbie Dolls

Down The Dustpipe, Status Quo live 1970

Superstar, the Karen Carpenter story in Barbie Dolls Todd Haynes  

Goodbye To Love, The Carpenters live in Japan 1972  

Gudbuy T'Jane, Slade  

Goodbye To Hollywood, Billy Joel  

Everybody wants to shine in the Rock Follies, The Little Ladies  

Say Goodbye To Hollywood, Ronnie Spector There you go  

It Never Rains In Southern California, Albert Hammond  

I Am, I Said, Neil Diamond  

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, Green Day  

"Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close up| Sunset Boulevard  

Elstree, Buggles  

Video Killed The Radio Star, Bruce Wooley & The Camera Club  





Youtoobling - Cars

I continued Youtoobling on Aug 19th, this time beginning for no reason I can remember with Alexei Sayle...

Ullo John, Got A New Motor, Alexei Sayle

Brand New Cadillac, Vince Taylor,  


Driving Away From Home, It's Immaterial (never seen this live/mimed version from foreign telly)





Go Motoring On The A13, Billy Bragg  

Greased Lightning in Spanish, John Travolta (Mentions the Quartermile )

Convoy GB, Laurie Lingo & The Dipsticks (I predict we won't be seeing this on TV a lot)  








Tell Laura I Love Her, Billy Connolly  

Always Crashing In The Same Car, David Bowie  



They Shoot Horses Don't They, Racing Cars  








Youtoobling - Jewish Pop

A hobby of mine of long standing is Youtoobling, watching one pop video after another and tweeting them as I go along. I think of it like DJ-ing and occasionally people join in an Retweet them. This month of August I've indulged a few times, rather than going out after I get home from my Edinburgh show. Here are some of the strings of loosely-connected pop videos I've found, beginning with Jewish pop music, inspired by a show we'd seen that day. It was August 17th...

Saw the excellent today at . You should see him, he's this good: Also v funny and all true


Inspired by 's show today, here's Billboard Top 30 Jewish artists by record sales

God Gave Rock & Roll To You, Kiss

Lucky Stars, with Gaby Roslin

The Dean & I, 10CC

Something For The Girl With Everything, Sparks

My Old School, Steely Dan

On & On, Stephen Bishop

Janis Ian, At 17 Last year on Dutch TV. Voice still sounds like it's 1977.

Lonely Boy, Andrew Gold

Overnight Sensation, Eric Carmen's Raspberries & Jim Henson's Muppets
 
Angie Baby, Helen Reddy (file under Artists You Didn't Know Were Jewish)

Carole Bayer Sager, I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love

Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, Billy Joel

The Queen of 1964, Neil Sedaka

Jack Sparrow, Michael Bolton, Andy Samberg

Connection, Elastica

Inbetweener, Sleeper

Hanukah Song, Adam Sandler

Perform This Way, Weird Al Yankovic

Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Judy Garland, Yip Harburg

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Bunny Dood Defeats King Lettis - kids comics from July



I've been so busy doing my shows and classes up in Edinburgh throughout August, that I'd totally forgotten these, the comics produced by the kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses in the last week of July, before I headed up to Scotland to do the Fringe. These are from classes in Windsor & Maidenhead libraries, Bedford Fringe, the Beano exhibition at London's Southbank Centre, and Northlew & Ashbury Primary School in Devon.

Every pupil goes away with a comic containing a strip by each of them plus an individual caricature by me, these are just the front covers, titles chosen from a selection from every member of the class. Oh you should see the ideas that don't make it.

When asked to name a celebrity for me to draw in the "Treads On A Worm" demonstration story, these chose Simon Cowell (twice), David Walliams, Prince William, Usain Bolt, Rihanna, Cheryl Cole and most obscure suggestion of all Peter Gabriel.



I am, as always, available to give my Comic Art Masterclasses to your kids, wherever they be* (*NB Within reason. I mean if you live on an island in the mid-Atlantic it'll cost, is all I'm saying.) Tweet @KevFComicArtist, find me on Facebook, or why not try emailing me? Details at comicfestival.co.uk

The Dog Did It - comics by kids in Edinburgh masterclasses Aug 2013



Tuesday 27 August 2013

The Dog Did It - comics by kids in Edinburgh


Throughout the month of August, as well as performing the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre in Space every night on the Edinburgh Fringe (and producing The Sitcom Trials on the 21st, don't forget) I've been busy doing ten days of Comic Art Masterclasses across town. With most, though not all of them (photocopiers permitting), we've produced a comic that each has taken away, containing a strip by every one of them, a caricature by me, and these fantastic front covers. The kids all come up with a title, from which we choose the favourite. I then design the cover, they add a bit, and look at what you end up with.

These are from Balerno High School's summer school, and libraries in Portobello, Colinton, Drumbrae, Muirhouse, Kirkliston, Morningside and Newington. And the celebrities they nominated for the "...Steps On A Worm" demo strip (which I realise I give a different name every time I describe it) were The Queen (twice), Harry Styles, Michael Jackson, Harry Hill, Jimi Hendrix, Simon Cowell, Miley Cyrus and Jesse J.

I am, as always, available to give my Comic Art Masterclasses to your kids, wherever they be* (*NB Within reason. I mean if you live on an island in the mid-Atlantic it'll cost, is all I'm saying.) Tweet @KevFComicArtist, find me on Facebook, or why not try emailing me? Details at comicfestival.co.uk

Bunny Dood Defeats King Lettis - comics by kids July 2013



Socks In Space, the show - Edinburgh audit part 2

 
Thanks to Becky Betts on Twitter for this shot of the Socks playing the BBC stage. 

Socks In Space - Edinburgh audit part 2

And so we've come back down to earth (more specifically Leicestershire, staying over with Mum) after a month in outer space with the Socks. Time to make a few notes on the show and thoughts for the future.

Socks In Space had more previewing and advance-testing than any previous shows, with us trying out work-in-progress as early as February's Leicester Comedy Festival, and I have concluded that that was too early. Most of the stuff we tried there never made the show, and it was in the weeks before Edinburgh that the show really found its best components, with others being added once the run had begun.

Routines that were tried between Feb & July that never made it to Edinburgh included:
Melies Brothers (debuted in Glasgow, never as good as I thought)
Bionics (debuted Leicester, didn't last long)
Taylor Swift We Will Never (Leics, never funny)
Expendable song (Leics, survived Glasgow)
Life On Dr Who song (debuted in June, never funny enough)

Then there were two key routines which were still in the show on our first Edinburgh night but were gone by the first weekend:
Vinny Jones CPR routine (debuted Leics, finally squeezed out by better material)
Rocket Man / I Will Survive song (debuted June, squeezed out for time)

So the final running order for Socks In Space has been:
I'm A Sock song (established 2007, not been bettered yet)
SF genre gags leading to Bottle routine
Comics to movie gags
The Comics Song (debuted Neath, July)
The Avengers routine (debuted June, grew through the run)
Improv routine(s) debuted during Edinburgh run
War Of Worlds gags (began Feb, grew thru run)
Doctor Who / Capaldi routine (debuted 5 days into Edinburgh run)
Green Screen Song (debuted July, 2 gigs before Edinburgh)
Alien routine (debuted in final preview in Manchester July)
Andy Warhol song (from 2009, still works)
Fireball XL5 song (a rare survivor from Feb, but re-recorded)
Countdown routine (debuted London July)
Star Trek routine (began in Feb, kept developing thru run inc..
Chekov routine (highpoint, debuted during Edinburgh run)
David Bowie song (tried in Feb, dropped, rewritten, now highpoint)
Ding Dong routine (started Feb, given punchline July, sometimes dropped for time)
Star Wars finale (from 2009, glad to revive it, perfect ending).

There is nothing like a month of playing a new show every night to keep you feeling creative and adding ideas all the time. I think next year (if we do Edinburgh next year, still to be decided) The Socks will tour the best of Socks In Space and other material, and wait to try out the new show until the June/July preview season.

Technical notes. This month's run went smoothly, untroubled by too many extra gigs (in fact I did just two, both daytime appearances on the BBC stages, with easy get-ins and get-outs). Sadly I failed to get a video recording of a good night of the show, for the first time since 2007. I recorded a quiet night, and was planning to record a busy one in week 3, but those plans were scuppered by this month's one tiny niggle, that soured the mood in the last week, and that was The Over-running Issue.

As anyone who's done an Edinburgh run will tell you, the changeover time between shows is short, in my case 15 minutes, and protected fiercely by both the acts and the production staff. Socks In Space was due to start every night at 22.15, meaning that my get-in time was 10pm. And when my run started I was overjoyed to find that the show that was meant to be on before me, Tommy Little, had cancelled his run due to work commitments. Luxury. Of course this couldn't last, and soon I found another show had been moved into that slot - The Best Of So You Think You're Funny.

TBOSYTYF (which doesn't seem much shorter, even as an abbreviation) featured three different stand-ups and an MC every night, which meant it was a little wieldy and overran most nights. Usualy by 5 minutes, but sometimes by 10 minutes, which made my get-in time very tight and meant that I ended up not "going up" until 10.20 or later, which is a very bad thing to do to your ticket-buyers (who, of course, have other shows to go to after you're supposed to end) and an even worse thing to do to the act after you (in my case Hedluv & Passman, whose get-in time was supposed to be 11.15, start time 11.30).

So I speeded up my get-in process as much as I could, and tried to minimise the gap between shows, and it seemed to be working well. Me and TBOSYTYF got on fine, plus I got the bonus of getting to see the headline act for free (the best of whom were Tom Wrigglesworth and Aisling Bea, both unbelievably funny).

Then TBOSetc finished its short run and another show came into the slot before me. A show which I won't name, which had been such a sellout success that they were adding extra dates to the run, and which was in the 9pm slot before me. And it overran. On its first night I stood at the back of the room watching as it overran past my 10pm get-in time, past the 5 minute barrier, then the 10 minute barrier, finally crossing the line in the sand that was the 10.15pm mark. This show was performing while my audience was outside waiting and The Socks were supposed to have started.

So I snuck backstage unseen, started setting up as best as I could, so that once this guest show had finished, we could finally set up and get started. I managed to get my crowd in at about 10.25, of which I was justifiably proud.

The following night I assumed this guest show would have learnt its lesson and kept things tighter, especially because it had a much smaller audience on its second night. But as I stood at the back of the room at 10pm, I realised I was watching material I'd not seen before. This meant the show was behind the time even of the previous day. True enough we passed the 10.05 mark, and the 10.10 mark, and then over the Rubicon of the 10.15 mark, and still the show was going. Knowing how things had gone the previous night, I realised there was a loud bit of group-singing coming up, during which I'd managed to creep backstage unseen last night, so when that point came along, backstage I went.

Unfortunately the house was only half full this night, which meant my technician and the performer could see me going backstage. We were now a few minutes past 10.15, when my show was due to start.

So we did a quick changeover, helped by my setting up backstage while the overunning show wound up, and my audience managed to get in before 10.30pm. I had some people in from the BBC so I was especially keen not to keep them waiting. I even trimmed my show down to 55 minutes, so as to minimise the knock-on effect on Hedluv & Passman's show.

The show went fine and that was that, hopefully the overrunning show would be given a strict telling-off and wouldn't dare invade another show's space and time in such a rude way a third time. Of course that's not what happened.

What in fact happened was that I awoke the next morning to find an email from the Production Manager telling me off for going backstage during the overunning show's overunning show. I was being reprimanded, like a guilty schoolboy, for trying to help things run smoothly while the guilty party was getting away with it! She, and I believe my technician, had run and complained to teacher and I was getting punished for someone else's crime. The injustice of it all was so enfuriating that I went off to work that morning (at Portobello library to do an art class) literally shaking with rage. My hands were trembling with anger and my stomach knotted in, I guess, fear. I do not remember being made to feel so bad by anything involving my show in Edinburgh in all the years I've been coming here (I've been bring shows to The Gilded Balloon since 2001).

The production manager was even threatening that I should not be allowed into the room where my show took place until this offending overunning show had finished its offensive overunning. There I'd been, desperately trying to get my show started and my audience in at something close to the advertised time, and someone was suggesting that it would be preferable to delay things even further, rather than to annoy a woman whose show was overunning by 15 bloody minutes. God, I'm still fuming as I conjure up the memory.

I poured oil over troubled waters later in the day, I got into my room at 10pm and glared patiently from the back of the room, and I waited till she'd finished overunning and left the stage, then did a silent changeover, and we carried on like that for another two nights. I even apologised to her on Twitter for going backstage during her show (she has not, to date, replied to me). I will be happy never to cross paths with that woman, her show and her attitude ever again. And I tell you what, I bet Beyonce wouldn't overrun like that. Just saying.

That was the only lowpoint of Edfringe 2013, thanks for letting me get it off my chest. Onwards and upwards.

 

"Space age comedy to knock your socks off" ★★★★ 4 stars The Daily Record
 "Astronomical fun" ★★★★ 4 stars Broadway Baby
"A must see show yet again" ★★★★★ 5 stars York Mix
"Some of the finest-written and performed (comedy) on the Fringe" ★★★★ 4 stars Edinburgh Spotlight
"The unparalleled pinnacle of comedy puppetry" ★★★★★ 5 stars Venue (Bath preview)
"Brilliant night of entertainment" ★★★★ 4 stars The Fiction Stroker (Manchester preview)
"Will have you literally laughing your socks off' ★★★★ 4 stars The Public Reviews (Warwick Arts preview)
"Gloriously anarchic act" ★★★★ 4 stars Latest 7 (Brighton preview)
"My face hurt from smiling" ★★★★ 4 stars Broadway Baby (Brighton preview)

Sunday 25 August 2013

A Bird In The Hand - Edinburgh Audit 2013 part 1

Top Three Socks Puppets - The List

 
Like it says, we're one of the Top Three Sock Puppets at the Fringe this year. Anything else you wanted to know?

A Bird In The Hand - Edinburgh audit 2013

Another Edinburgh Fringe season ends and we come away with all the things we always want - ticket sales, great reviews and happy memories. Though, it has to be said, slightly fewer of one, fewer of the other, and about the same of the third.

Money - this is where the Bird In The Hand analogy comes in. Because, if one were to look at my graph of ticket sales for the Socks show Socks In Space (their 6th brand new show) it would look like we were slipping. Sales are about the same as 2009, so beating our total for 07, 08 and 12 (Olympics fiasco year), but quite a bit below our top selling 2010 show. Are we losing it? Well, not really. (NB: The costs of performing at the Fringe 2013, for a number of shows, are covered in this good BBC article.)

Because, as I've always known, an Edinburgh show takes a lot of selling once the month has started, primarily through flyering, at which I am a renowned expert. And flyering. along with extra live appearances and online promotional stuff, is something I've done a lot less of because - a bird in the hand being worth more than two in the bush - I've been doing other work.

This month I have worked for 12 days in schools, libraries and a couple of shops, doing my Comic Art Masterclasses and my caricaturing. I spent a day each in the Dr Martens stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh drawing the faces of hundreds of kids and other customers as part of a Beano boots promotion, and my classes have taken me from Balerno high school to libraries in Granton, Muirhouse, Portobello, Currie, Colinton, Drumbrae, Kirkliston, Morningside, and Newington.  All of which are invoiced for and for which I'll get paid in the next month or so, but all of which meant I couldn't do nearly as much flyering & promotion as I've done in other years.

So the big question has to be, is the extra work worth the commensurate drop in sales? The answer is yes. Take for example the Dr Marten days, a Saturday and a Sunday. These took me out of commission for the entire daytime, leaving me just the evening to flyer in. Had I flyered in that time, could I have added as many bums on seats as to equal the amount I earned from the caricaturing? I think not. Remembering that, after deductions, I take home about half of the ticket sales from my Edinburgh shows, I would have needed to add 600 quids worth of sales, or 60 punters, to equal that day's work. (And given that I sold out completely on the day I was in Glasgow, that would be hard). By my reckoning (over the years) I've worked out that 300 flyers equals 30 bums on seats, so to equal a day at Dr Martens I'd need to distribute 600 flyers which would be hard to do in that time and not as much fun anyway.

(Quick calculation. 10 extra days flyering, which is what we couldn't do cos of classes, would have made 300 extra bums on seats for the month. This would have beaten 2009 by 200 bums, and be less than 50 bums short of our 2010 peak. Also, because of the Sitcom Trials, we played one fewer show than usual, a potential loss of another 100 punters. So we've done as well as and better than ever before. QED.)

Plus - bird in the hand again - I don't receive my Edinburgh money until at least October, sometime later, whereas I'll get my comics work money in the next month. So, and I realise how boring and mercenary this all is, I feel I've struck a good balance there. I've done a great show, it's been seen by bigger audiences than most shows in Edinburgh, and if we failed to convert as many new Socks-fans-in-waiting as we'd like, so be it. Did I mention this year's show's been a great one?

Reviews etc - Another reason sales have dipped below 2010's peak is that the Socks have had less press. In 2008 we were in the Gilded Baloon launch show and thence on the TV news clips including the Culture Show, in 2009 we were on GMTV, and in 2010 we were on the Culture Show in our own right as well as The One Show. We've had interviews in The Scotsman and elsewhere in previous years, last year getting a photo in the listings, and lots of good reviews early on in the season. This year we've ended up with a fantastic full page 4 star review in the Daily Record with two days of festival to go, along with two or three other 4 stars and a 5 star. Another good haul, but perhaps quieter than previously.

Add to this that we didn't take an ad in the programme, and we've made no new YouTube videos. So to have had half a dozen sellouts, be averaging houses 60% full the rest of the time, and achieve the figures above is nothing short of incredible.

Then of course there was The Sitcom Trials. And technical issues, and other shows we've seen. Of which, more anon. Come on, there are flyers still to distribute and seats to fill with bums - and the final weekend has only just begun. Edinburgh, this is your last chance! (For the next 11 months, leastways).

 
"Space age comedy to knock your socks off" ★★★★ 4 stars The Daily Record
 "Astronomical fun" ★★★★ 4 stars Broadway Baby
"A must see show yet again" ★★★★★ 5 stars York Mix
"Some of the finest-written and performed (comedy) on the Fringe" ★★★★ 4 stars Edinburgh Spotlight
"The unparalleled pinnacle of comedy puppetry" ★★★★★ 5 stars Venue (Bath preview)
"Brilliant night of entertainment" ★★★★ 4 stars The Fiction Stroker (Manchester preview)
"Will have you literally laughing your socks off' ★★★★ 4 stars The Public Reviews (Warwick Arts preview)
"Gloriously anarchic act" ★★★★ 4 stars Latest 7 (Brighton preview)
"My face hurt from smiling" ★★★★ 4 stars Broadway Baby (Brighton preview)

Friday 23 August 2013

★★★★ 4 stars Daily Record

In print it turns out our Daily Record review has a full page photo and is a 4 star! Thankyou Daily Record.


SOCK it to me. The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppets are back. Only this time, the googly-eyed pair are boldly going where no item of loose-fitting footwear has ever gone before – outer space and the world of science fiction.
Sticking a couple of socks on your hands for a laugh is the kind of thing you might get up to with your pals after a drunken night out.
For Falsetto Sock creator Kev Sutherland, however, it’s a critically-acclaimed Fringe sell-out. No fancy theatrics here, thank-you very much, just a rickety stand, some cheap costumes and a room full of laughs.
The sketches run from Star Trek to Star Wars and along the way there’s a brief glimpse of Scotland’s answer to the big blockbuster sci-fi movies.
Movies like Avatartan and Bladescunner, for example. Iron Man becomes Irn-Bru man at one stage, and as things get sillier you feel like you’re going through an out-of-sock experience.
The highlights, though, come via interaction with the audience, which ensure the fast-witted Sutherland’s shows are different each time. When he – sorry, the Falsetto Socks – got hit with a movie title they didn’t recognise, it merely ramped up the laughter rippling through the hall.
New Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, gets the sock treatment, while David Bowie pops up to receive the starman effect. The ‘ship in a bottle’ routine got dragged out over the hour-long performance without ever losing its humour and no cheesy end-of-pier show would be complete without a couple of songs, either.
Tourists might struggle with the Scots references occasionally and you really need to get close to the front of the stage in order to fully appreciate the act. That said, even if the sound of squeaky socks seems too lowbrow, rest assured you’ll be laughing your own socks off by the end.
BARRY GORDON

Socks in the Daily Record "...will knock your socks off"

An excellent review in today's Daily Record.
  • By Barry Gordon

Theatre review: Space age comedy involving puppets will knock your socks off

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