That Night

Every Edinburgh run includes a night which becomes known as “That Night”. A night when, assuming every other night has been going swimmingly and you’re doing a show you’re happy with, the audience will come along and simply not get it. It happened this week on Monday night when a healthily sized audience sat there in near silence, seeming to not understand gags, or maybe just dislike them. It’s hard to tell, though I did hear one woman talking to a friend as they left asking “how much of that did you understand?”. So quite possibly there was a contingent with English as a second language, we will never know.

You know That Night’s gone badly when you get your only bad audience review. The edfringe.com website only has six reviews on it for the Socks, all glowing. Then someone called Keith D has come along, clearly on That Night, and provided the poo in the punchbowl. He writes “Very disappointing show. Avoid if you can. Part of the show was not even performed, as the 'sock puppets' ran out of time. The only vaguely amusing bit was when the sock puppet 'outfits' started falling apart mid-act.” (I thought it was Keith D, who I know on Facebook and who is notable misanthropic towards the Fringe in general, but he reports that it’s not him, adding “ I shall find this imposter and kill him with socks”). I am reminded of the two audiences that came to our Glasgow previews back in March, one of whom loved the show and one of whom was the “Hooray Henries” who sat there playing with their phones and soured the mood for everyone. Maybe they’d come back on Monday to wreak their revenge and repeat the experience?

I’m happy to report that Tuesday night’s show was a return to form, and with only five performances left to go, even if we were to have another That Night every night, and let’s hope we won’t, it would remain statistically insignificant and won’t sully the memory of an excellent show that’s been a joy to perform almost every night.

And, as if to prove that no night is all bad, the video of Dead Ringer For Superman that has gone online was recorded on That Night. The laughter’s not as big as the other two nights we got on camera, but the lyrics are clearer and the shots of the costume collapse were the best. Hey, even Keith D enjoyed that bit.

(By way of context, here's my report from That Night in 2009 (again it was the final Monday), when the flat audience reaction totally threw me. I now recognise a bad night when it happens, and know it's not my fault. Showbiz.)

The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm  until August 26th 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018

Tortoise and Tweets - a half time report

Here we see the goodies from the goodie bag we all came away with after a pleasant afternoon soiree organised by Hare & Tortoise Productions, the new company set up by Jon Rolph & Claire Nosworthy. Jon, you won't remember, produced my BBC radio pilots Come Together and Meanwhile, way back in the days of yon and yore, and it was great to hear from him again. Having been producing the likes of Armstrong and Miller, and currently developing the Scarfolk Council into a TV series, he has bigger fish to fry than the little old Socks, though hope springs eternal that he & Claire might catch our show while they're up here.

The do started at 11am and, by dint of the fact that I was en route to the last of the month's Comic Art Masterclasses that afternoon, I was the first person to arrive. And it would seem the only performer in Edinburgh who was awake before midday. The goodie bag is the most Edinburgh-friendly you could conjure up, and the Lockets were immediately got through, along with the various energy food & drinks and, of course, the Tunnocks tea cake.

I've been Tweeting very heavily this Edinburgh season. Whether or not it's been to any avail, it is hard to say. Our numbers, as reported elsewhere, are down on previous years, but that is for myriad reasons, which will be investigated thoroughly at the end of the month. Whether they've been bumped up or left totally unaffected by our Twitter activity I really cannot tell. They probably haven't been helped by these rather desperate tweets where, in bursts of passive-aggressive ennui, I've let it be known how hard I've found flyering, some days this month. There have been, it's felt, an inordinate number of resistant punters, in comparison to previous years. This could be faulty selective memory and bias confirmation, but there have been days when you wonder where I ever got that idea that the streets of Edinburgh were full of punters looking for shows to see, and all you had to do was convince them yours was the one they wanted.

There have been a few days when the flyering experience has reminded me of Adelaide. It was there that we found everyone had "already got one". That meant either they'd already booked the one show they were going to see that night, or they already had a flyer and were limiting themselves. This year I've also found that an awful lot of people seem to be day trippers or folks on the final day of their holiday who, by the middle of the afternoon, are on their way home. This phenomenon occurs on any given day of the week, bizarrely.

And, with the exception of Geek Chocolate's lovely report, we haven't had a single review this year. Nothing with stars on, nothing from a familiar name. I have, with only 7 shows left, given up hope on getting any reviews which will be seen by punters and have, instead, just started Tweeting our old reviews from 2009 to 2016. Five stars from Edinburgh Evening News, 4 stars The Scotsman. Ah, memories.

NB: My blog about whether Edinburgh is quieter this year, has been read 880 times. Since which time we've just had the busiest weekend when nobody would be under the illusion that the city was in any way quiet. They were a lot of drunks and stag parties, the like of which nobody would want within a mile of their show, but there were certainly a lot of them, so yeah tourism.

The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm  until August 26th 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018

Passing The Bechdel Test - new clip from Superheroes

A classic from the Scottish Falsetto Socks' show Superheroes - Passing The Bechdel Test. A song that I'm quite proud of, it's now online in both subtitled and vanilla form. Enjoy whichever you prefer.

There's also a big square version on Facebook, for your pleasure.

The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm  until August 26th 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018

Superted vs Jimmy Savile - new clip from Superheroes

Another brand new clip from the Socks' Thursday night performance of Superheroes, this time they're ad-libbing about Superted and Jimmy Savile. Relax, some proper scripted stuff will eventually find its way online. Enjoy, if you can.

Socks Superheroes video playlist

The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm  until August 26th 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018

"One of the most entertaining and anarchic nights out in the Fringe" - Geek Chocolate

Thanks to the lovely Michael Flett at Geek Chocolate for our first review of the Fringe! And a smasher it is too. They don't give stars, but darned if those don't read as a four.

SCOTTISH FALSETTO SOCK PUPPET THEATRE: SUPERHEROES

They have become something of a Fringe institution, or perhaps they just require institutionalised, the antics of the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre returning to the Gilded Balloon for a tenth season, this year with a show entitled Superheroes, with no expense spared* as the greatest heroes and villains of Marvel and DC arrive in the form of knitted cotton.

A sold-out late slot on a Saturday night, the presence of puppets does not indicate that this is a show suitable for children, an on this occasion due to some unfeasibly uncooperative props there is perhaps even more profanity than usual in the ad-libbing, often as hilarious as the scripted gags.

Featuring a better Joker than Jared Leto, the show is also educational, enlightening the audience to the meaning of motion capture (for those who think they already know; you’re wrong) and the differences between cosmopolitan, Neapolitan and neo-classical, though the songs are largely reworkings of classic pop.

What might be more obscure to some is the Bechdel Test and the importance of modern entertainment to embrace its challenge, and thanks to a guest appearance by Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy discussing something other than their shared nemesis “with pointed ears who wears his pants on the outside – it’s not exactly Dostoyevsky,” it could be argued that Superheroes passes.

Supported by Cassie the Technician who provides the varied musical accompaniment, the terrible puns are fast and land with a suitable kapow, for certainly the audience were groaning, and while a knowledge of Scots dialect and superhero lore is helpful to get the most out of the show the antics and shenanigans are sufficiently lively to carry the uninitiated through the maelstrom.

The current profile of superheroes higher than it has ever been thanks to the recent offerings of DC and Marvel such as Justice League and Infinity War, these are of course addressed, but nor are the classics forgotten, the trailblazing performances of Adam West, Lynda Carter and Christopher Reeve, all celebrated in one of the most entertaining and anarchic nights out in the Fringe.

Superheroes continues until Sunday 26th August

*taking into account Fringe ticket prices, the ongoing policy of austerity, pre-Brexit anxiety and the harsh rule of Thanos

The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm  until August 26th 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018

Packing Tape Man - new clip from Superheroes

A brand new clip from last night's Scottish Falsetto Socks: Superheroes show, when the audience suggested Packing Tape Man, and the boys had to make of it what they could. Relax kids, the rest of the show is very tightly scripted, honest.

Socks Superheroes video playlist

The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm  until August 26th 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018

Wonderful World - new clip from Superheroes

Just for you, a brand new clip from the Scottish Falsetto Socks' new Edinburgh show, Superheroes - What A Wonderful World, in which the Socks sing about the sort of Batman and Superman film they'd make.

More clips from the show will find their way online soon, though at time of writing we don't have a complete recording of the show yet (my batteries ran out halfway through, may need a new battery).

Socks Superheroes video playlist

The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm  until August 26th 

*Winners of the Bath Comedy Festival Lovehoney Best Joke Award 2018