Credit where it's due - in this week's Beano

Well here's a welcome turnup for the books, credits in the Beano. Have I started something?

A marvellous thing to see, it was briefly tried under Alan Digby's editorship back when I was last a regular in The Beano, and now Craig Graham's doing the same, crediting writers and artists in a table up the front of the comic. Is it a coincidence that I start asking to get my name featured on my strips, or back in the day hiding it in the background of all my drawings, and widespread credits start appearing all over the shop? Well, whatever the inspiration for it, I'm delighted to see it. And fascinated to see that Mike Pearse, my role model when I started in The Beano, is writing the Bash Street Kids for David Sutherland to draw.

And talking of credits and collaboration, this week's Bananaman should by rights have borne another name, on top of my own and Wayne Thompson's, because this week's story came from an idea by Hev Tweed. It was she who googled Bananaman, found the characters Appleman and Kiwi Fruit Girl in his back catalogue of co-stars, and came up with the Banoffee Pie story idea. I then wrote the story which was nothing to shout about, but inspired me to write more. A three-parter featuring these characters in a bizarre love triangle should be appearing soon. (Hopefully the gentle tweaks to the dialogue that seem to be a feature of the sub-editing, as you can see below, won't leave any of its subtle nuances behind. We'll see.)

We Was Chased By The Moon - new comics by kids

A smashing brand new selection of comics by kids, from Hertfordshire and Weston Super Mare, two days apiece in each. As always the titles are the result of every member of the class writing a title on a piece of paper, then we vote one against the other in a big group knockout contest which gives us the best of 30 suggestions. Above you see what happens after 232 other equally good ideas have been eliminated. Kids are a creative bunch when they try.

The celebrities they ended up nominating for the 'treads on a worm' demonstration were Bear Grylls, Miley Cyrus, Will I Am, Simon Cowell, Johnny Depp, Harry Styles and Katy Perry.

If you want me to come to your school and work my Comic Art Masterclass magic, do please get in touch. And if you're voting in the Beano's poll for the favourite strip, the name you're looking for is Bananaman.



More comics from pupils in Chorley, Newcastle Under Lyme, Borehamwood and Henley, in Dartford and Henley, in Cardiff, Falkirk, Birmingham and rural Devon. You'll find many more if you scour this blog.

Photographing food & bins, living the dream

In a turnaround of the usual state of affairs whereby I'd be off galavanting with the Socks and the schools all over the country leaving Hev at home, this week I find myself with the flat to myself while Hev looks after her folks in North Wales for a short time. And while I busy myself writing Bananamans (yes that is the plural) and sending off Socks tour flyers, I've managed to distract myself with a couple of firsts.

I don't think I've ever photographed a plate of food before. Indeed the subject was in the news last week when a restaurateur forbade diners from photographing his dishes and I thought why would anyone even bother? Well, here's the reason. To show your other half what she's missing. I haven't got the hang of half portions yet, and so devoured salmon steaks and an omelette that would easily have fed two. And that's not all I've photographed for the first time.

I've definitely never photographed the contents of my bin before, but today was driven to it when the recycling lorry came and went, leaving our food recycling untouched. Why was that I wondered? Can you guess? I thought it might be something to do with the eggs (past useby date but uncracked). But no. The answer came from North Somerset Council via Facebook:

"They aren't allowed to bang the bins on the side of the vehicle to dislodge anything that's stuck in the bottom, as that often breaks the lid."

So, a trip to the tip in my soon to be stinky car beckons. The slight madness that being alone in the house  brings on, and which is quite different from being in strange hotels on my own, reminds me of this week's episode of Inside Number 9: Tom & Gerri. If you've not been watching this incredible TV series by Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith then you must, it's the best new writing I've seen on TV this year. 

Just call me Jack Kerouac - writing on the road

Tinsel town in the rain, Glasgow yesterday

I feel like Kojak sitting in a cadillac, I wanna eat I wanna eat a flapjack, stack, rack, six pack Jack, just call me Jack Kerouac. And full marks to anyone who can identify that lyric, which comes to mind having returned from two days in Stirling and Glasgow, during which I got a surprising amount of work done.

I was up there for the Socks to play at the Macrobert theatre in Stirling, which they did to great acclaim. But the costs and timings of flights meant I had half a day in Glasgow & Stirling before going up for the gig, then a full day in Stirling & Glasgow before my 8.50pm flight back. Luckily for me, there was Beano writing to do.

On the morning of my setting off, I was asked by the Beano to write some Little Plum scripts, and I was already in the middle of writing a batch of Bananamans. And, working variously in my hotel room, on buses and trains, in the airport, and at a cracking cafe in Glasgow called South Block, I managed to write 5 Little Plum stories (Damon The Shaman, Totem Pole, Mind Reading, Summer Camp and Bare Grrls) and two Bananamans (Cafe Hero and Bell of Doom). The most productive time I think I have ever spent while travelling between gigs.

And if you want to get a feeling of the romantic atmosphere of the itinerant writer on the road, here is my hotel room (The Golden Lion, don't cha know, Robert Burns stayed there back in the day) yesterday:

"Arsom" - Bananaman Kong 2 in this week's Beano

The "arsom" quote came from one of the comments forms the kids filled out after my classes at libraries in Harpenden and Borehamwood this week. I am officially arsom, and the kids don't lie. I am also the most over-credited man in a comic this week. Look at this panel from this week's Bananaman: King Kong part 2:

Not only does Wayne Thompson leave his own name off the artwork, but he's snuck mine in there on the cover of a book, in much the way I do with my own strips, and then Craig the editor has put a full credit for me up in the title bar. As Alan Partridge might say "I am so big headed."

Not that I'm complaining. For the last few weeks my Comic Art Masterclasses have once again been peppered by kids bringing in their brand new Beanos to get signed. It is good to be able to suggest they pop out to the shop at lunchtime and they come back with my stuff, instead of having to seek out old Beano annuals (or, in a recent case, a copy of The Worm, a book I contributed to 20 years ago, and a Dr Strange comic from the mid 90s).

And today, to add to the fun I've been having doing Bananaman and Pansy Potter, I wrote my first Little Plums. My empire grows.

The Most Popular Comedian's name is..?

Reading the programme for the Leicester Comedy Festival, I started spotting clusters of names. Obviously, being a comedy festival, it is dominated by blokes doing stand up. But unlike, say, the Edinburgh Fringe programme, it's still manageable enough in size for one to pore over it and tot up the various names and how often they appear. It's also alphabeticised by first names which may well infuriate grammatical purists but is very helpful for this little game.

There are women in the Festival, of course, the most common female names being Holly, of which there are two, Burn and Walsh; and Harriet, of which there are also two, Dyer and Kemsley. Of the 498 acts in the programme, only 76 are female (or include a female member, eg Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain which has 2 girls & 6 boys but still counts). So yay Feminism, but some work still to do.

So here, apropos of nothing, are the Most Popular Comedians' Names, using Leicester's line-up as a representative sample (do please try guessing before you scroll down the list):

Bubbling under

With 4 apiece we have:
Andrew (Bird, O'Neill, Ryan & Stanley)
Ben (Briggs, Hustwayte, Norris & Van Der Velde)
Chris (Martin, Mayo, Ramsey & Stokes)
Joe (Bor, Lycett, Ross-Williams & Wells)
Sean (Hughes, McLoughlin, Morley & Turner)
and Simon (Donald, Evans, Feilder & Lilley)

Also on 4 is David, who would be higher up the chart if you count the 2 Daves and a Davey, which I don't. (Elms, Morgan, O'Doherty & Trent +, if you must, Griffiths, Johns & Connor)

Then in equal 5th place, with 5 comedians sharing the same first name we have:

James (Bannon, Campbell, Hately, Loveridge & Mullinger)
&
Mark (Cram, Olver, Restuccia, Simmons & Smith)

In equal 4th place, with 6 comics of a similar nomenclature, we find:

Matt (Dwyer, Forde, Hollins, Price, Reed & Rudge + one more spelled Mat, Ewins)
&
Rob (Beckett, Coleman, Deering, Gee, Halden & Rouse + one more if you count Robert Newman)

In 3rd place, with 7 comedians to its name, is:

John (Cooper, Cooper-Clarke, Gordillo, Hastings, Kearns, Lynn & Robins)

In 2nd place, with 8 comics of that ilk, we see:

Tom (Binns, Craine, Deacon, Rosenthal, Stade, Toal, Wrigglesworth & Young)

And at number one, the most popular name for comedians at this year's Leicester Comedy Festival, with an impressive 10 men bearing the same monicker, it's...

Paul  (Chowdry, Currie, F Taylor, Foot, Kerensa, McCaffrey, Revill, Ricketts, Savage & Tonkinson)

Does this tell us anything, other than that the names of my childhood seem to be having something of a revival (my 1st year high school class included 5 Pauls, so many in fact that two had to be moved to another tutor group because it was getting too confusing)? I don't know. But thanks for letting me waste your time.



Scottish Falsetto Socks Spring Tour 2014:
Feb 19 - Macrobert Arts Stirling
Feb 22 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Mar 15 - Largs Barrfields Pavilion
Mar 20, 21 - Dram, Glasgow
Mar 22 - Spread Eagle, Croydon
Mar 29 - Kings Lynn Arts Centre
Mar 31 - Bath Comedy Festival - Natural Theatre
Apr 3 - Adam Smith Theatre Kirkcaldy
Apr 12 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
May 9 - Exeter Barnfield
May 14 - Camden Head, London
May 17 - Brighton Komedia
May 23 - Keighley Exchange
May 31 - Aylesbury Limelight
June 6 - Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone
June 7 - Butlins, Bognor
June 11 - Camden Head, London
June 19 - Phoenix Arts, Bordon Hants
June 20 - Derby Assembly Rooms
June 21 - Halifax Square Chapel
June 22 - Derby (family show)
July 9 - Bedford Fringe
July 13 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm
July 17 - Larmer Tree Festival, Wilts
July 18 - Leeds Carriageworks
July 19 - Cradley Heath Comedy Festival
July 22 - Comedy Den Cardiff
More dates to be announced
August - Edinburgh Fringe 2014

Bananaman King Kong pt 1 in this week's Beano

Don't forget to buy this week's Beano, pals. It features part one of a two part Bananaman story called King Kong, written by me, drawn by Wayne Thompson. Here's a snippet of Wayne's brilliant art: And below, for your edification (and to show just why Wayne gets the drawing gig, in case there was any doubt) is my original biro-layout script for that same opening splash:

Now if you'll excuse me, I have 6 new Bananaman episodes to write. And by the way, my favourite strips in this week's Beano (my own notwithstanding) are Jamie Smart's Rodger The Dodger and some wonderful playing-with-the-page fourth-wall-breaking in Nigel Parkinson's Minnie The Minx. A must-buy, as ever. (And there's a free book attached to the front cover - bonus!)

Avengers Live - new video from the Socks

Last night the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre enjoyed a fantastic sellout show at Leicester Comedy Festival, performing Socks In Space in its entirety. Here, online for the first time, is their take on The Avengers..

We hope you enjoy it as much as the audience last night did. Socks In Space continues as part of our touring show, we do hope you'll come and see us in action. Wednesday at the Macrobert in Stirling next...



The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Jan 25 2014 - Rondo, Bath
Feb 12 - Comedy Den Cardiff
Feb 14 - Leicester Comedy Festival
Feb 19 - Macrobert Arts Stirling
Feb 22 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Mar 15 - Largs Barrfields Pavilion
Mar 20, 21 - Dram, Glasgow
Mar 22 - Spread Eagle, Croydon
Mar 29 - Kings Lynn Arts Centre
Mar 31 - Bath Comedy Festival - Natural Theatre
Apr 3 - Adam Smith Theatre Kirkcaldy
Apr 12 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
May 9 - Exeter Barnfield
May 14 - Camden Head, London
May 17 - Brighton Komedia
May 23 - Keighley Exchange
May 31 - Aylesbury Limelight
June 6 - Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone
June 7 - Butlins, Bognor
June 11 - Camden Head, London
June 19 - Phoenix Arts, Bordon Hants
June 20 - Derby Assembly Rooms
June 21 - Halifax Square Chapel
June 22 - Derby (family show)
July 9 - Bedford Fringe
July 13 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm
July 17 - Larmer Tree Festival, Wilts
July 18 - Leeds Carriageworks
July 19 - Cradley Heath Comedy Festival
More dates to be announced
August - Edinburgh Fringe 2014

Tiny flyer problem for the Socks

With the utmost apologies to theatres and venues who are waiting for their flyers for the new Scottish Falsetto Socks touring show, here's an interesting new hiccup...

The flyers on the left are what we were looking for, A5 flyers (that's the one from the Autumn tour) and the ones on the left are what arrived. You can probably see from the photo what is even more striking in real life - they're tiny! The latest batch of 10,000 flyers, with the new Spring Tour dates on the back, have been shrunk to half the intended size. And it was only when Hev was packaging them up to send out and I spoke to her on the phone from the other side of the country that she happened to mention she quite liked the new dinky flyers and what a good idea they were. Only they weren't, and I'm not sure any venues will be able to display them.

Luckily the printers immediately admitted it was their mistake and a new print run is on its way. So I have the intended batch, plus a Variety-pack collection of postcard-sized baby flyers, to use as an added bonus should I see fit. Meanwhile those venues who should be holding their A5 flyers now are twiddling their thumbs waiting, so sorry again.

Friday night in Leicester's nearly sold out, and last night's headline slot in Cardiff was a corker. And those tour dates and Edinburgh Preview shows keep mounting up, see below and spread the word.



The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Jan 25 2014 - Rondo, Bath
Feb 12 - Comedy Den Cardiff
Feb 14 - Leicester Comedy Festival
Feb 19 - Macrobert Arts Stirling
Feb 22 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Mar 15 - Largs Barrfields Pavilion
Mar 20, 21 - Dram, Glasgow
Mar 22 - Spread Eagle, Croydon
Mar 29 - Kings Lynn Arts Centre
Mar 31 - Bath Comedy Festival - Natural Theatre
Apr 3 - Adam Smith Theatre Kirkcaldy
Apr 12 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
May 9 - Exeter Barnfield
May 14 - Camden Head, London
May 17 - Brighton Komedia
May 23 - Keighley Exchange
May 31 - Aylesbury Limelight
June 6 - Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone
June 7 - Butlins, Bognor
June 11 - Camden Head, London
June 19 - Phoenix Arts, Bordon Hants
June 20 - Derby Assembly Rooms
June 21 - Halifax Square Chapel
June 22 - Derby (family show)
July 9 - Bedford Fringe
July 13 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm
July 17 - Larmer Tree Festival, Wilts
July 18 - Leeds Carriageworks
July 19 - Cradley Heath Comedy Festival
More dates to be announced
August - Edinburgh Fringe 2014

Floating Cactus of Doom - new comics by kids

Here's 2014's first collection of comics by students in my Comic Art Masterclasses. I say students, because yesterday in Cardiff I was working with University students, mostly doing animation and a lot more advanced than my usual age group (we produced What's Occuring Comics). The others come from Denny & Carrongrange in Falkirk, Merritts Brook in Birmingham and Georgeham in Devon.

The celebs they chose to tread on a worm (undoubtedly I've explained this in an earlier blog) were Keith Lemon, Kevin Bacon, Billy Connolly, Stan Lee, Michael Jackson, Will I Am, Vin Diesel and Johnny Depp.

As part of a challenge for some Cumbrian schools, to inspire them in some story writing, I've slightly tweaked the cover of Floating Cactus and added some colour. We should see the fruits of their comic writing, culminating in classes by me, later in the year.

If anyone would like to bring my Comic Art Masterclass to their school, library or art centre, they'd better move fast as the rest of February, and most of March & April are already booked solid with a mix of these classes and my comedy shows. You know where to find me.

More comics from pupils in Chorley, Newcastle Under Lyme, Borehamwood and Henley, in Dartford and Henley, in Cardiff, Falkirk, Birmingham and rural Devon. You'll find many more if you scour this blog.

..also this Comic Art Masterclass in Cardiff, today

I only just spotted the rather nicely designed listing for this Comic Art Masterclass in Cardiff today (followed by the Socks appearing at the Comedy Den in the same venue tonight). A bit late to add bums to seats (I think it's sold out anyway), but I thought I'd show it here cos it looks so nice. See you later Porters.

Beano art sells for charity + Largs class art

 Here we see the fab poster that the Vikingar centre in Largs have done for my forthcoming Comic Art Masterclass in March. Always interesting to see the pictures someone will choose for my back catalogue, and in the case of Largs it's an obscure panel from An Ickle Bitty Werewolf On Bash Street. Book now. By "K Sutherland of Marvel fame" might be stretching it, but if it puts bums on seats, so be it.

In the meantime, I've just received this: "..in September you very kindly gave me the Beano sketch that you did on the last day of the Beano exhibition in London so that we could auction it for our family support charity Home-Start in Richmond.

"I'm delighted to be able to tell you that, last night at a charity ball hosted by the Mayor of Richmond, your sketch raised a phenomenal £550. It was bought by a lovely guy who owns the famous Maids of Honour tea rooms next to Kew Gardens and he was delighted with it."

So, how's about that? 550 quid for a Beano flipchart page? I tell you some thing, I've gone up in my estimation. (And will continue giving them away for free, of course).

Top 15 Somerset gags - new from the Socks

To cheer up the folks of Somerset, who are suffering from dreadful flooding, the Socks have written and performed 15 puniful gags all about Somerset (I hope they're original, they were trying to be). Enjoy, and try not to groan too loud.



The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Feb 12 - Comedy Den Cardiff
Feb 14 - Leicester Comedy Festival
Feb 22 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Mar 15 - Largs Barrfields Pavilion
Mar 20, 21 - Dram, Glasgow
Mar 22 - Spread Eagle, Croydon
Mar 29 - Kings Lynn Arts Centre
Apr 3 - Adam Smith Theatre Kirkcaldy
Apr 12 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
May 9 - Exeter Barnfield
May 14 - Camden Head, London
May 17 - Brighton Komedia
May 23 - Keighley Exchange
May 31 - Aylesbury Limelight
June 7 - Butlins, Bognor
June 11 - Camden Head, London
June 19 - Phoenix Arts, Bordon Hants
June 20 - Derby Assembly Rooms
June 21 - Halifax Square Chapel
June 22 - Derby (family show)
July 18 - Leeds Carriageworks
July 19 - Cradley Heath Comedy Festival
More dates to be announced
August - Edinburgh Fringe 2014 

Breaking Bad - new from the Socks

Brand new from the Socks, their look at Breaking Bad. We do hope you'll enjoy this, if you do, spread the word and come and see them live.



The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!

Jan 25 2014 - Rondo, Bath
Feb 12 - Comedy Den Cardiff
Feb 14 - Leicester Comedy Festival
Feb 22 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Mar 15 - Largs Barrfields Pavilion
Mar 20, 21 - Dram, Glasgow
Mar 22 - Spread Eagle, Croydon
Mar 29 - Kings Lynn Arts Centre
Apr 3 - Adam Smith Theatre Kirkcaldy
Apr 12 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
May 9 - Exeter Barnfield
May 14 - Camden Head, London
May 17 - Brighton Komedia
May 23 - Keighley Exchange
May 31 - Aylesbury Limelight
June 7 - Butlins, Bognor
June 11 - Camden Head, London
June 19 - Phoenix Arts, Bordon Hants
June 20 - Derby Assembly Rooms
June 21 - Halifax Square Chapel
June 22 - Derby (family show)
July 18 - Leeds Carriageworks
July 19 - Cradley Heath Comedy Festival
More dates to be announced
August - Edinburgh Fringe 2014 

Bananaman: Our Boys - in this week's Beano

And as if you needed any more reason to buy the Beano every week, in this week's issue you'll find Bananaman in a story called Our Boys written by (and credited to) me and drawn by (anonymously) Wayne Thompson. A cracking bit of art by Wayne, to a silly but fun script by me which was written, I seem to recall, in the Wetherspoons on George Street in Edinburgh when I was up there in November doing a string of schools.

After a quiet January, a busy month beckons with a mixture of schools, Socks gigs and caricaturing which will take me to Loughborough, Falkirk, Cardiff, Leicester, Harpenden, Borehamwood, Stirling, Aberystwyth, and Dartford in Kent before the month is out. It's a good job I have a batch of Bananamans and Pansies Potter in hand, I may be away from my desk for a bit.

February in the Socks calendar - Christo

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's 2014 calendar is on the theme of modern art and February's page sees the boys taking on one (or two) of our personal favourite artists, Christo and Jean Claude. If you don't know about Christo, this work being his Valley Curtain, then please please Google him and watch the videos.

The calendar is on sale through Lulu.com at a devilishly reasonable price and is a joy to see and a marvel to treasure.

To see all 12 entries, plus the front cover, click and look at the free preview of the calendar. And you can see 2012 and 2013's calendar (cult icons and sci-fi respectively) on the website.



The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour... NOW!
Jan 25 2014 - Rondo, Bath
Feb 12 - Comedy Den Cardiff
Feb 14 - Leicester Comedy Festival
Feb 22 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Mar 15 - Largs Barrfields Pavilion
Mar 20, 21 - Dram, Glasgow
Mar 22 - Spread Eagle, Croydon
Mar 29 - Kings Lynn Arts Centre
Apr 3 - Adam Smith Theatre Kirkcaldy
Apr 12 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
May 9 - Exeter Barnfield
May 14 - Camden Head, London
May 17 - Brighton Komedia
May 23 - Keighley Exchange 
May 31 - Aylesbury Limelight
June 6 - Hazlitt Theatre, Maidstone
June 7 - Butlins, Bognor
June 11 - Camden Head, London 
June 19 - Phoenix Arts, Bordon Hants
June 20 - Derby Assembly Rooms
June 21 - Halifax Square Chapel
June 22 - Derby (family show) 
July 4 - Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham
July 9 - Bedford Fringe 
July 11 - Beverley Puppet Festival 
July 13 - Sheffield New Barrack Tavern 2pm
July 17 - Larmer Tree Festival, Wilts
July 18 - Leeds Carriageworks
July 19 - Cradley Heath Comedy Festival
July 22 - Comedy Den Cardiff
July 23 - Taurus Manchester
July 30 - Aug 25 Gilded Balloon, 10.30pm - Edinburgh Fringe 2014