Socks On JokePit

Whether this will make a difference to the promotion of our shows or not we shall see. The Socks are now on JokePit. It's a listing site and ticket agency for comedy shows, which means that we appear alongside other such events when folks are searching, with a profile for our act and also a link to our shows.

Here's our act listing, do say if anything needs changing...

And here's our next show, on March 19th. This is a totally separate box office for it, which means that tickets are being sold here and also on WeGotTickets. At time of writing, WGT has sold 12 tickets, and we usually sell the bulk in the few days running up to the event. Let us see if, now, the JokePit box office sells any.

This has necessitated setting up an account with Stripe, the sort of thing I'm loathe to do, it always makes one feel vulnerable to give away the sort of information you have to. But tis done, let us see if tis worth it.

UPDATE: After a few days, Stripe have emailed saying "We’re writing to let you know that we have noticed an increase in customer refunds and disputes in businesses operating in your industry. Unfortunately, to help ensure that your customers can get timely access to refunds and chargebacks, we’ll need to change the payout schedule for your Stripe account for UT Productions. Starting today, your funds will be made available to be paid out 14 days after a payment is accepted."

One bonus point to We Got Tickets there, who still pay within 7 days.

March 19th: The Scottish Falsetto Socks: Talking Of Changing The Subject, on sale now!

★★★★★ "Absolutely terrific" - 5 star review for my Comic Art Masterclass

★★★★★

Absolutely terrific! I was trying to find something fun for my husband's birthday during lockdown that would work for the kids to get involved in as well. I found Kev and his comic strip class and took a punt - he was BRILLIANT! He is very charismatic and talented and full of stories as well as being great with kids and adults alike. We all learned a lot in the 2 hours and had fun drawing our own characters and comic strips - we have a kitchen table full of drawings now! Thanks Kev, what a great afternoon!

How's that for a 5 star review for a Comic Art Masterclass? I was booked for a party, via Class Bento, and this seems to be where Class Bento's strengths lie.

On Saturday I tried promoting a class by listing it on Class Bento, and though ten people bought tickets, only three ended up joining the class, making it officially my lowest attended class ever (beating Wednesday morning's Renfrewshire library class's previous record). However Class Bento has proven much better at attracting orders for private bookings of my classes.

Sunday late afternoon saw me booked by the Callman family, for Jeremy the Dad's birthday party. The kids joined in and, as you can see from the review, had a great time.

I have three such potential classes under enquiry in the next month. If they go ahead and are as successful as this one, then Bento works as an agency and has the bonus of reviews that appear on the website thus driving further business. Let us see if this continues, here's hoping it does.

Join my free Kev F Comic Art Mailing List here. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook. 

Next Comic Classes, open to the public:

Sat Mar 6: Bento Class 

Sat Mar 20:  Zion Bristol

Fri April 9: Plough Arts

Mon April 12: Largs Youth Theatre

Global Virtually Hilarious Comedy - more Socks gigs

Two Socks Zoom gigs this week, both great, and both with an international flavour. The first, Global by name, wasn't that global by nature though it had a good line up of John O' Keeffe, Lubna Kerr, Madge vs Mariuh (first double act I've seen on Zoom, worked well), Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, Kathy O’Bryan, John Morris & Gareth Ball. The Socks gave them the first part of the Magic routine this time.

Virtually Hilarious really was the global gig of the week, and the best attended. That had over 40 viewers, which they admitted was their biggest yet. Certainly the biggest we've played to apart from Mortified in Tamworth, Dean's gigs, and our own shows. Most of the open mikes have struggled to fill one screen, so well done Virtually.

The acts were dotted all round Europe, the host being in Prague and the MC in Barcelona. The line up, from  Vienna and a few other places were mostly American, with a couple of Brits and us. A very high standard of professional comedy, and we acquitted ourselves rather well. They were Tristan Barber, Sravanthi Basa, Matthew Murtha, Paul Jacobs, Scottish Falsetto Socks, Tori Burton (an excellent "Tori Talk" with powerpoint cartoon slides about her experiences as a pole dancer) & Jack Holmes. We gave them An Actor Prepares, which went really well. A 10 minute slot.

Coming up we have:

March 16 - Late Stage Comedy

March 18 - Darren Hoskins Cabaret

March 19 - our own solo show

March 26 - Notts Puppet Festival (details tbc)

April 4 - Sounds Proper

April 10 - Private party

April 16 - Blue Suede News

April 23 - 27 Minute Comedy Hour

We sure are squeezing these Zoom gigs in while we can, looking forward to get some real live gigs lined up by the summer (though we'll keep our Zoom gigs going on a monthly basis, I think).

Mar 19: Talking Of Changing The Subject…

https://www.wegottickets.com/event/511549

"Claudia Winkleman? Yeah, she's my Mum" - comics by kids

 A busy week of Comic Art Masterclass had a high point on Monday when I was doing a day of classes at Latymer Prep in London. I knew it was an independent school. But I didn't know how independent until, in the morning class with Year 5, I made one of my passing gags about "Orange Woman, or Claudia Winkleman I think she's called."

A kid went "Hoy!" and the class laughed. Then, a bit later, the celeb they chose to tread on a worm in my demonstration was Claudia again. So, when I got to speak to the kid himself, Arthur, I said "so, are you related to her?"

"Yeah, she's my Mum." Yes, I was teaching Claudia Winleman's kid. And, as the day progressed, I realised I was teaching the offspring of probably another dozen A-listers. The kids let slip that someone else in the morning class was probably Hugh Grant's, and I think another one was Richard Hammond's. All I'm saying is, I could've charged more.

Shenley Brook End in Milton Keynes is a school that's had me in in real life, and originally had this visit lined up as an in-person appearance. In the end it was a good half day Zoom class.

This comic came from a class organised by Chesterfield borough council. They paid half my bill, so I could sell the tickets myself at the reduced price of £3.50. We sold out, making this just another success story in the events-planned-with-arts-centres experiment (as described here). 

The half-day class organised last week by North Yorkshire libraries was so successful that they added another one, on Saturday afternoon (after the Chesterfield class). A true validation of the art centres experiment. I better plug to them again for Easter. Quick.

Okay, if there was one day in the experimental series that was less successful, it was Wednesday's Will Eisner week classes. A brilliant initiative run by Renfrewshire Libraries, fully funded by them so that I could do two classes in the day, both for free. Unfortunately, being Wednesday, all the kids were back at school so no one was free. I managed to get 4 along to the morning session - the smallest online class I've done, and tying for the smallest class I've done in the last fifteen years. The afternoon (above) fared better, with a healthy nineteen kids signing up and making probably my favourite cover of the week. (Okay, I drew it, and went to town on the homage to Planet Of The Apes issue one, but they came up with the title).

The final comics of the week were with John Hampden Primary in Thame, Oxon. The week began with Claudia Winkleman, so it was fitting to end with her, being menaced by a Boogie Beast. Hey, don't blame it on the sunshine, don't blame it on the moonlight, don't blame it on the good times... well, you can see where that was going.

The celebrities these eight groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Billie Eilish, David Attenborough, Simon Cowell (twice), David Walliams, Abraham Lincoln, Jim Carrey, and Claudia Winkleman.

Join my free Kev F Comic Art Mailing List here. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook. 

Next Comic Classes, open to the public:

Sat Mar 6: Bento Class 

Sat Mar 20:  Zion Bristol

Fri April 9: Plough Arts

More Socks gigs, Derry, international, auction & DVD

 

A varied week of work this week, mostly for the Socks, who started the week by filming a DVD extra about Lytton, an obscure Doctor Who character from the 80s who's now got his own spin off comic. The comics have DVDs including interviews and documentaries. And, now, Socks easter eggs. I didn't actually realise this was a paying gig, so I shall definitely be doing more, and making them longer.

The Socks have returned to the comedy open mic circuit, to see and be seen, and they're enjoying it. Three gigs this week, the first being one that caught us off guard. We didn't realise we'd got it till earlier in the day. Don't Mention Covid Open Mic Comedy (or DMC Comedy to avoid being hidden on Facebook) was a fun night of a dozen comedians, half of whom were from the States. Not having done open mics for over a decade I'd forgotten the variable quality (some people are really not very good), but some acts were great, especially the American comics who were, of course, performing this as a lunchtime gig.

The striking thing about this, and the other gigs this week, was that they had such small audiences. Apart from the performing comedians, there were only about three or four viewers. I put the word out at the very last minute (I'd definitely plug it further in advance if I'm on again). I'm reminded that, back when I used to do open mics in London, this would be a frequent occurence. Gigs with next to no audience was always a London thing. At least this time one is seen by other comics, from around the world, and you only have to travel to the back room.

Chicken Box Comedy was a lovely show, coming from Derry, with the host and half the acts coming from Northern Ireland, it's based on the live show they run regularly and features fun items, like news stories and video clips, plus the presenter Les Ismore (in character) interviews the acts, and kept chatting to us throughout the rest of the show (the Socks opened). For the record, at Chicken Box and DMC Comedy we gave them Halloween and a few random gags. It doesn't take much to fill 7 minutes (DMC was just 5). The recording of the whole show is here. 

I stayed after the show for the group chat at Chicken Box, which was the nearest to being in a comedy club green room I've experienced for at least a year. Some people knew me from when I'd done the 2D comic festival in Derry, and from when the Socks had played at Black Box in Belfast. Quite the most sociable zoom comedy show I've done (apart from the Socks' own, obviously). Though, again, there was next to no audience. I'd plugged it a little further in advance to the Socks mailing list, but even then only on the day of the show, so we only attracted 4 punters. Surely everyone wants to be playing to a bigger crowd than that don't they? Thinks: maybe I should set up a Socks comedy club, a free show that our punters would come to, but would be mostly guest artists. Would anyone come? I'll run it up the flagpole.

Comedy Auction is an oddity. The acts pre-record their auction lots, which are just fairly worthless stuff about which you make up something funny, and the viewers can bid for it. We've recorded three items, the first of which will be in tonight (Friday)'s show. Other auction acts include Rachel Creeger, Izzy Mant and Trevor Lock, with auctioneer Thom Tuck. To be honest, I haven't ascertained where the money goes. It's a privelege to be included in a line up with such comedians, so I hope people like us. Like all these gigs, we're doing it for, as the kids say, exposure. You do open mics in the hope of seeing and being seen. Back in the day, there was a chance that, among the half dozen punters in your smokey cellar in Soho, would be a scout from the telly. I think this is slightly less likely when everyone can see who everyone else is on the Zoom screen, but hope springs eternal.

UPDATE: The Socks are guesting in Global Comedy on Monday March 1st from 9pm (7 minute slot). It's a free show, and I've shared the Zoom link to our Facebook page and mailing list. Let's see if we can make it a good turnout for this one. 

On Sunday 28th the Socks are doing Dean Friedman's All Request Show again; on March 16th we have Late Stage Comedy; on March 18th we're joining Darren Hoskins' novelty show; on March 19th it's our own next show; and in April we have the 27 Minute Comedy Hour show lined up. Let's see how many more Zoom gigs we can get in the diary before the rules relax in May, and suddenly it's all live shows again (which, of course, I won't be able to afford to do. In the past week I've played in Derry, London and Tamworth, and shared the stage with comedians in Florida and California - and on Sunday night I duet with Dean in New York. I hope they continue on Zoom, cos I'm not driving to them).

Mar 19: Talking Of Changing The Subject…

https://www.wegottickets.com/event/511549

Socks guest gigs - two clubs and a corporate

The Socks are starting to notch up the guest slots in comedy shows that they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford to do, this week adding a corporate gig to their list. 

On Thursday night they did a five minute slot in a gig for a company called Devere, organised by the enterprising Jessica Forrest. Admittedly the forty quid we got for it doesn't quite compare to the usual corporate rates (an Avalon act might ask four grand for the same gig), but we did a great slot and got good feedback. I also drew a caricature of the boss as part of my stint, something which only came about after my earlier chat with Jess coincided with me finishing an art class and showing her the caricatures I'd just drawn.

Then on Saturday night the Socks did a 12 minute slot in Mortified Comedy (above), the first online venture for a comedy club that formerly ran every month at a venue in Tamworth. Thanks to the efforts of its organisers Darren and Mark, who also work on Radio Tamworth, they'd drawn a splendid crowd (they had more than 60 in, and would have had more but they'd capped the ticket sales to try and keep the audience controllable). A grand line up of stand ups was capped by a closing set by Patrick Monahan which, thankfully, the Socks were on just before. 

We came up against a technical problem that has dogged us recently, namely the failure of the sound on our video clips. I can hear it perfectly, and so, oddly, can about a quarter of viewers. But most people can't hear the sound from the video clips. This happened first at one of our shows last year, but sorted itself. Then it happened again before our last two shows and needed remedial action - a switching on and off of a Privacy setting, then a re-starting of Zoom - in the moments before the show. This time, despite two complete turnings off-and-on, the music would only play to a few. So we did our gig without music.

This means I have pre-recorded performances of What Kind Of F&C and Sweary Poppins, in front of a Mortfied Comedy backdrop, that will have to go unseen.

For the corporate we gave them Exorcist, Airline Puns and an accapella Walk On The Wild Side, which fills five minutes. This was pretty much the same set they'd had at the Frenzy gig. For Mortfied they got Exorcist, Airline Puns, Walk On The Wild Side, and all of the Magic routine (NB I must amend the sawing-a-sock-in-half prop so it stands up on the Zoom set. It rather flopped right at punchline).

We have two more guest slots lined up, at Chicken Box in Derry, and Late Stage comedy club, as well as our next solo show lined up for March 19th (which is, I discovered belatedly, Red Nose Day. Meaning I'll be the one show that night that's keeping all the money to itself. I may have to do something additional to make amends).

Mar 19: Talking Of Changing The Subject…

https://www.wegottickets.com/event/511549

Hamsters & Sausages In Space - art centre classes + rave reviews

 The third week of February was a busy week for Comic Art Masterclasses - in a month where I have more days of classes in 2021 than I had the same time in 2020 when, you'll remember, there was no pandemic or lockdowns! It was also a week of a fascinating experiment, seeing if art centres and libraries could bring in a bigger audience for my Comic Art Masterclasses than I could by myself. Reader, I can report that, yes, they surely can.

The week began with a class organised by Acorn Arts in Penzance, for which they'd managed to round up a respectable class of fourteen, some of which came from Cornwall, but others came from as far afield as East Anglia and Glasgow.

North Wall Arts in Oxford attracted a class big enough to fill two back covers, effectively a sellout. And it was with these two classes that I initiated the offer of sending the original artwork for the caricatures back to their parents. All I ask is that they buy me a virtual coffee on my newly-installed Ko-Fi page here, and I'll stick their pictures in the post. At £3 a pop to them, 99p for postage, 50p for the envelope, and 34p to Paypal, I'm netting a neat profit of £1.17 for every single one. I think I'm onto a goldmine.

Wednesday's class was organised by North Yorkshire Libraries. Because the tickets were free, they had no problem selling it out. And, because it was free, a handful then didn't turn up, meaning I could, with a little jiggery-pokery-squeezery, fit all 28 of them onto the back cover of one comic. I shall be doing that in future, it saves time and emailing. For this class I also started selecting a new background based on their location and have them guess where I was supposed to be. The answer, the picture you see at the top of the page, was Keighley Reference Library.

My fourth day of classes was organised by Arts Depot in Finchley who won the week by selling out a morning and an afternoon class. In their instance almost every kid came from their local area of North London, whereas the others had all included kids from further afield. Finchley ran the class as Pay What You Want, so I have no idea what they actually paid. Acorn in Penzance was also Pay What You Can, North Wall Oxford was £5 a ticket, and North Yorks Libraries was free.

Here's me pretending to be in the Wallace Collection - which the kids at the Arts Depot morning class got on the second guess, by the way! And as if those kids weren't impressive enough, check out these words of praise that parents sent into the art centre afterwards:

Thank you very much for the picture and for organising the masterclass. My 9 year old absolutely loved it! I think it's the most fun she's had in ages. Please pass on my thanks to Kev F Sutherland - I thought the way he ran the class was great.

 

Thank you so much, Kev was totally amazing, gave my kids such a lift, they enjoyed this so much.

 

My daughter really liked the workshop today! It was brilliant, funny and very creative! Thank you for organising it.

 

Thank you for the drawings of the kids. They are very impressive. The kids wanted to say thank you for the class.  They thoroughly enjoyed it. 

 

This was by far the best session my (creative) daughter has attended. It was absolutely AWESOME and I really hope you do it again and again and again. Kev F Sutherland is just brilliant - absolutely brilliant. Please let me know where else I can review and sing the praises of this session as I’d be delighted to do so. And thank YOU for making it happen.

 

My daughter is a dyslexic learner and this session spoke to and celebrated not only her abilities but her understanding of the world. She was given time to communicate her ideas, she listened to otters and she produced work she was proud of - this extraction is all down to the the most enthusiastic human - Kev F Sutherland. From the bottom of my heart, please thank Kev as his feedback on my kids work will be imprinted on in her brain acting as a resource the next time she gets a knock at school - which she does. I only wish I had recorded the feedback to relive  This was by far the best session my (creative) daughter has attended. It was absolutely AWESOME and I really hope you do it again and again and again. Kev F

The celebrities these five groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip (and, by the way, I'm now using the Chat function in Zoom for them to suggest the comic titles and to name the celebs, all of which streamlines things greatly) were Ed Sheeran, JK Rowling, Simon Cowell, Boris Johnson, and David Attenborough.

Join my free Kev F Comic Art Mailing List here. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook. 

Next Comic Classes, open to the public:

Sat Feb 27 - Chesterfield

Sat Mar 6: Bento Class 

Sat Mar 20:  Zion Bristol