Avengers Reel - new from the Socks

Brand new from the Socks, the Avengers Reel. Enjoy.

It's a song that's been in the last three previews (Glasgow and Bath) and may stay in the show with a bit of a rewrite. Or it might hit the cutting room floor and end up being part of the audience-in music, we're at that stage of development at the moment.



What's that you say? You want to read all the words? Oh go on then since you asked so nicely...

AVENGERS REEL

Summon The Hulk, Black Widow & Ant Man, Iron Man and Hawkeye

Captain America, Thor & Nick Fury – he’s only got one eye

Get em on board the Helicarrier – it floats up in the sky

The Agents Of Shield are waiting to greet you, then we’ll beat Loki

You talk to Iron Man, and I’ll talk to Loki,

And I’ll talk to Captain America

About how come the women don’t get fillums of their own

So they wait to hear Avengers Assemble

Avengers Assemble tada tada

With Rober-ut Downey Juni-ah

And Scarlet Johanssen uh huh uh huh

And Mark Ruffalo with his shirt off

Samuel L Jackson plays this bloke with a patch on

He’s Nick Fury the super techno spy

Meanwhile Thor is a Viking who’s much more to your liking

Also Hawkeye’s here, but we don’t know why

You’ll get a romance and a bromance

Then some fighting in 3D

You’ll always get some in jokes

And a cameo by Stan Lee

Marvel universe movies

Are all made by Dis-a-nee

And they all have a scene at the end when you are going

There is a Solder, a Winter Soldier

We bring him into things, though he’s not interesting

He is quite plucky, his name is Bucky,

And no-one here has heard of him

There’s a wee man here and his name is Bruce

And he wouldnae say boo to a goose

Make him angry he’s big as a hoose

But the Hulk won’t rip his troosers

   Let the wind blow slow, let the wind blow fast,

But it won’t blow up his incredible ass

His shirt and his socks they may not last

But the Hulk won’t rip his troosers

Sequels abound like a rash on your bum

With these Marvel franchises

If you don’t like the last one there’s lots more to come / And also TV series

    Punisher, Daredevil, Jessica Jones,

Luke Cage and Iron Fist

And the Inhumans and the Defenders

And several more that we’ve missed

So

If it wisnae fer the Avengers where would you be

You’d be watching superheroes made by DC

Though Wonder Woman wisnae bad the rest you neednae see

Cos you know you can trust the Avengers

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1st to 26th - ON SALE NOW! 

Previews:
April 27 - The Canvas, London E1
May 26 3.45pm & May 27 5pm Komedia Brighton

June 16 - Zion, Bristol

June 20 - Ludlow Fringe

July 11 - Neath
July 19 - Bedford Fringe
July 29 - Derby Bar One

 - with more preview dates to be announced

Alan to Chucky - new comics by kids

Aha! It's the Easter holidays, so this week's Comic Art Masterclasses have been in some unusual extra-scholastic settings. The above pair of comics were produced with kids in the Swansgate shopping centre in Wellingborough. I'm pretty sure the kid who wrote the title "Alan" on a bit of paper, and ended up having it chosen as the group's favourite, didn't have this particular Alan in mind. (In fact I suspect he was trying to write, and misspelled, the word Alien).

On Friday I did Easter holiday classes in Chingford and Walthamstow, both of which had a slight impromptu nature about them, with kids wandering in and out. Regardless of which we managed to produce a couple of good looking comics. I was particularly pleased with Spiderball Vs Chucky once I got home and coloured it up.

Another pair of comics from the Swansgate in Wellingborough. We were very lucky in having access to the photocopier, which meant I was able to send all the kids away with their A5 comic containing a strip by every one of them, and all of their caricatures.

Given the chance, that is if I arrive early enough in the day, I like the draw a flipchart to leave them with. Some of these find a good home in the schools I visit, and occasionally, when they've not found a more deserving claimant, a lucky kid gets to take one home. One of the above from Wellingborough is now in a child's collection somewhere.

The celebrities these six groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Simon Cowell, Kevin Hart, Michael Jackson (twice), Donald Trump, and The Queen.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. View the promo video here. 

Metro & Lovehoney - Socks Preview in Bath

Check the Socks out all over the centre pages of Metro newspaper, at the start of Easter weekend and on the day of their Superheroes Preview at Bath Comedy Festival.

Lucky old Bath Comedy Festival, courtesy of good old Nick Steel its sterling organiser, had the privilege of a 90 minute show for this our tenth appearance at the Festival.  (We are, if you're interested, the only act to have played all ten festivals.) They were also the first of this year's preview shows to have the actual title (Superheroes) in the programme. Leicester, Glasgow, and Brighton in May put their programmes together so far in advance that we've been listed only as "The New Show", cos I had no idea what the theme of the show was going to be back in November. In fact Nick had us supplying him with info so close to the deadline that we even managed to squeeze onto the front cover of the Bath programme:

So, how about the show itself? Thanks for asking, it was brilliant. Our best Superheroes Preview yet. And, with the exception of the last show at Glasgow, they've all been pretty good.

Because of the odd nature of the audience at our last show, the 2nd Glasgow Preview, which I'd spent a day rewriting and preparing, I didn't feel that rewrite had had a fair test, so tonight in Bath they got that rewrite with no changes (just two removals: the then-topical Ken Dodd and Stephen Hawking gags, and the lame Wonder Woman routine).



In addition, because we were doing a 90 minute show, the Bath crowd, which was about the size of the Leicester audiences and very appreciative from the start, got a 30 minute warm up from the Socks, doing our old favourite stuff. Luckily for us, though we've been there 9 times before, alternating between shows at Widcombe Social Club and the Rondo Theatre, they've been seeing the new show every time, so last night most people hadn't seen our 'staples', so gave a smashing reception to the Halloween, Michael Jackson, and Magic routines, and to Walk On The Wild Side and Sweary Poppins. And there was another addition to our comedy arsenal - Lovehoney.

Lovehoney, whose banner ad you can probably make out in the background of this Sock selfie, are new sponsors of the festival, and they do sex toys. Which gave us the opportunity for some great ad libbing, and nice callbacks throughout the show. Sadly I only videod the second half of the show, the Superheroes bit, so didn't record most of the Lovehoney adlib material, so you'll have to take my word for it that we were on form.

Thus warmed up, the Bath crowd were the perfect test for the Superhero material which is holding up very well, and will be developing further by the time of its next preview in Brighton in May (if anyone has any preview opportunities in April, we'd jump at them). High points include Superman and the Racist Brother story; improvements are needed to the Avengers Reel, the Avengers skit, and the X Men; a lot needs to be done to integrate or give better punchlines to Batman, Harley & Ivy, and the Fantastic Four; and items that may hit the cutting room floor include Steed and Mrs Peel and Spider-Man, if and when better material comes along. The writing process continues.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1st to 26th - ON SALE NOW! 

Previews:
May 26 3.45pm & May 27 5pm Komedia Brighton

June 16 - Zion, Bristol

June 20 - Ludlow Fringe

July 11 - Neath
July 19 - Bedford Fringe
July 29 - Derby Bar One

 - with more preview dates to be announced

Chubby The Space Cow - comics by kids

A return to Prema Arts in Uley in Gloucestershire looked in danger of being snowed off (a bit of a theme this year) but went ahead fine, with two classes going beautifully, and a lovely cover in the form of Chubby The Space Cow. And I was on a door split, which I should do more often (memo to self).

Then, in a contrast to my last visit to Dublin where I was there for a whole week, this was a whistle-stop one-day visit to Larkin school, which I haven't been to since 2010. A sambo is what they call a sandwich, honest. Though beware what happens when you tweet it, is all I can say.

Whizz Kidz Manchester was a short one-off class with the wheelchair kids, some of which I've worked with before, in Birmingham, most of which are new to me. And I'll be working with another group again soon, in Liverpool next time. There was no access to a photocopier, so this group went away without a finished printed comic, but I still coloured the components up after the fact, as is my wont.

The celebrities these five groups chose for my demonstration strip were Elvis Presley, David Beckham, The Queen, John Cena and Donald Trump.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. View the promo video here. 

"Festival stalwarts" - Chortle

Chortle is the most respected authority on comedy in this country, so it's incredibly pleasing when one gets a good mention. In the story today plugging the Gilded Balloon's Edinburgh tickets going on sale, they've put us prominently in the article as "festival stalwarts". It may only be a small thing to you, but to move from also-rans to stalwarts is a definite pleasure.

Added to this, they've listed our full Edinburgh run on their gig guide, which is a boon and a boost. So, many thanks Chortle. We look forward to delivering a show that merits a review in August.

Here's that article in full.

Gilded Balloon floats its first Fringe shows of 2018

Luisa Omielan, Zoe Lyons and Rhod Gilbert

Luisa Omielan, Zoe Lyons and Rhod Gilbert are to play the Gilded Balloon at this  year’s Fringe.

The comics were announced in the venue’s first batch of programming today.

Omielan will be headlining  Gilded Balloon’s biggest space, the Debating Hall, with her new hour, Politics for Bitches. She said: ‘I believe it’s my right to have an opinion on something I know absolutely nothing about.’

Gilbert continues his return to stand-up six years after his last tour with some more ‘‘work-in-very-very-early-progress’ shows. He said: The world’s gone totally mad since I last toured in 2012, and my head’s all over the shop. It’s time to get back up there sort it out once and for all!"

Lyons will be presenting her new show Entry Level Human, while other perforemrs include Robin Ince in the Museum of Scotland, Melbourne Fringe Best Comedy award-winners The Travelling Sisters, 2017  So You Think You’re Funny? Maisie Adam with her debut show Vague and festival stalwarts The Noise Next Door, Notflix and the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre. 

Also in the programme are Laura Lexx, Justin Moorhouse, Alison Spittle, Stuart Mitchell, Patrick Monahan, Fred Cooke, Red Richardson and  Scott Gibson.

Published: 21 Mar 2018

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1st to 26th. 

Previews:
Mar 29 - Bath Comedy Festival
May 26 3.45pm & May 27 5pm Komedia Brighton

June 16 - Zion, Bristol

July 11 - Neath
July 19 - Bedford Fringe
July 29 - Derby Bar One

 - with more preview dates to be announced

Meanwhile over at the Sitcom Trials....

Because it has its own blog, I rarely mention the Sitcom Trials here in my blog, and to be honest there's not been much to say for the past year, not since the end of the 2016 So You Think You Write Funny season which culminated in Edinburgh that August.

But Friday morning, when I was waking up in Glasgow and recovering from a rather dispiriting preview gig (and reading the comment on the blog from one of the audience members I'd not been happy with, turns out the feeling was mutual), I got a helpful Facebook message showing me that someone was using my name. Namely RTE in Ireland launching what they rather cheekily called "The First Sitcom Trials."

Needless to say I wasn't crazy about this, and sent a few messages by a few different mediums, letting them know that the name was taken, and hoping they weren't trying to pretend to be us. They replied nicely:

Hi guys, just came across your tweets this morning. We would like to assure you that we are not using the same name as you. Before we start anything we also do a name check and make sure no one else is using the same name. We are going by "Radio Sitcom Trials' and you have 'The Sitcom Trials' so different names and didn't need to ask permission. We do see how it isn't the 'first ever', this was more directed as the first in Ireland, as it's only Irish born or Irish residents that can enter. To clear this up I will retitle it the 'first ever Irish'. Sorry for the mix up and hopefully that answers any questions. If you would like to get in touch about anything my email is M.......e. Have a lovely weekend, Michaella.

So I'm happily tweeting support for them and plugging their contest, since it can't do the Sitcom Trials brand any harm. Plus, I've been told, you can't copyright a name. And as long as they're not using my actual format, they're free to call their show what they like.

The deadline for entries is March 31st, and the details are here.

A few people suggested I should try asking them for money. Which does make me laugh slightly. After nearly twenty years of running The Sitcom Trials, it would be amazing for there to be an incarnation of the show that didn't end up losing me money. (If anyone has ever wondered why there are years between shows sometimes, that's the reason. Time has to pass until I forget how much the last show - or tournament, or season - cost me, then I have another stab at it. It's never been about making money, but it would be nice if, once in a while, that was an accidental by product).

Socks In Space - The Full Show

As part of de-cluttering my laptop, and backing things up, I've put the whole of Socks In Space up on Youtube, so do please enjoy it.

It's a single camera recording of the 2014 Leicester Comedy Festival performance, from the start of the spring tour, the show having been our 2013 Edinburgh Fringe show. So it's not the greatest quality recording, but you'll find lots of it great fun. With the usual caveat that, to get the full experience, you really had to be there.

The running order is

I'm A Sock song 
SF genre gags leading to Bottle routine
Comics to movie gags 
The Comics Song 
The Avengers routine
Improv routine
War Of Worlds gags 
Doctor Who / Capaldi routine
Green Screen Song 
Alien routine 
Andy Warhol song 
Fireball XL5 song 
Countdown routine 
Star Trek routine 
Chekov routine 
David Bowie song 
Ding Dong routine
Star Wars finale 

The recording ends before we get to Star Wars I'm afraid.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 1st to 26th. 

Previews:
Mar 29 - Bath Comedy Festival
May 26 3.45pm & May 27 5pm Komedia Brighton

June 16 - Zion, Bristol

July 11 - Neath
July 19 - Bedford Fringe
July 29 - Derby Bar One

 - with more preview dates to be announced