Romeo & Juliet comic strip in Graphic Shakespeare comp

Though avid Socks fans will have seen this routine performed many years ago, and in some of our earliest Youtube videos, our Romeo & Juliet has lain dormant for some time. Not just the live routine, which is returning to the stage as part of our new Shakespeare show, but also in its comic strip form. The 21 page strip adaptation is in the Socks' first comic, which you can find on Kindle, and a lucky few hundred people have in its printed form. Now here it is online, in full, having been entered into the Graphic Shakespeare competition. Do please enjoy.

Mar 12 - Chorley Little Theatre 
Mar 24 - New Greenham Arts, Newbury 
Apr 9 - Widcombe Social Club, Bath Comedy Festival
May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
May 28 - Ards Puppet Festival, Newtonards
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 8 - Flavel, Dartmouth
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
Aug 3-28 - Edinburgh Fringe

Avalanche of Blue Cheese Puffs - new comics by kids

My travels with my Comic Art Masterclasses are evident from this grab bag of comics, created by my pupils, from Okehampton to Healing in Lincolnshire to Horris Hill in Berkshire. And a splendidly imaginative range of titles they've come up with, I must say.

Any excuse to draw Arnold Schwarzenegger riding on a hamster is good enough for me. And yes that is supposed to look like Howard The Duck, though I'm not sure it does. And, yes again, I am quite proud of my drawing of a Harley Davison on the front of Hog Rider, rattled off during breaktime in the middle of a busy class. Two classes a day in most cases, remember.

Dead Donald Duck Dies was the product of Horris Hill, famously the most Beano-fanatic schoolboys I've ever worked with, as a result of being a boy's boarding prep school with no TV. No Simon Cowell suggestions from that lot.

The celebs these various groups did in fact select to tread on a worm were Will I Am, The Queen, Joey Essex, David Bowie and James Bond.



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. 

Adventures Of President Baby - new comics by kids

Every now and again a school will take the big leap and have me in for a whole week, and this week Bishopswood Juniors in Tadley in Hampshire did that very thing. The perfect size of school, they have what we call, in the trade, a 2-Form Entry, which means 2 classes for every year, from year 3 to 6, giving me 8 classes to teach over four days. And here are the comics they came up with.

As regular readers of this blog (and God help them there do seem to be a few) will know, in the course of a morning or afternoon session I can teach kids aged 7 and upwards how to write and draw comics, by the end of which time they've produced an A5 photocopied comic, a copy of which they each take away, containing a strip by every single one of them, plus a caricature by me. That's 240 faces I've drawn in these four days alone.

The titles of these comics are chosen by every one in the class writing an idea on a bit of paper, and them all voting for the best, knockout style. So you're looking at the cream of the crop, from approximately 240 suggestions, every one a gem.

The celebrities these groups chose for the Treads On A Worm demonstration strip were: Simon Cowell (three times), Dec out of Ant & Dec (three times), Barack Obama, and (most original idea of the week) Ali-A (a Youtuber who I must now look up, for my sins).

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. 

"Renowned cartoonist" - Me in the Okehampton Times

http://www.okehampton-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=412029&headline=Renowned%20cartoonist%20Kev%20F%20Sutherland%20visits%20Okehampton%20Primary%20School&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2016

Renowned cartoonist Kev F Sutherland visits Okehampton Primary School

Thursday, 18 February 2016 By Tom French in Local People

PUPILS at Okehampton Primary were treated to a workshop with cartoonist and comedian Kev Sutherland last week.

Kev’s comic strips appear in classic comic The Beano and are chiefly comedy adventures starring The Bash Street Kids, Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger.He has also drawn strips for Ghost Rider 2099 and Doctor Strange for Marvel Comics.

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. 

PHOP and props, a week in the studio

Here we see Emma the presenter and Zoe the producer from the BBC's Peoples History Of Pop, in my studio Monday morning, filming me talking about my teenage diaries for a TV series that'll be going out in the summer. The particular interest was in the Records For The Day I used to put in my diaries (which have their own blog, I do hope you've been reading it), and we talked for the best part of two hours. My office got increasingly cold because I was avoiding having the noise of the boiler in the  background. I hope I don't look too shivery by the end of the 10 seconds of me they'll probably end up using, and you don't see the drips on the end of my nose.

This week was the rarest of things, a whole week in the studio. I say the whole week, actually today (Friday) I'll be driving to Poole during the day to get to tonight's gig. But four consecutive days in my studio, my unusually clean and tidy studio as a result of having the BBC PHOP cameras in, is an opportunity to be creative and get some work done, and I believe I made good use of the time. One thing I finally got done was The Padiham Mural (above) which involved piecing together drawings that I got the kids to do a fortnight ago, colouring them and then waiting for my computer to slowly process them (I may have made the whole thing a bit big).

But the major focus of week was the Socks' new Shakespeare show. Following last Friday's Leicester preview, and in advance of this weekend's shows in Poole and Leicester again, I got busy writing, recording and prop making.

Above you can see the big but beautiful Theatre prop from the How We Met routine, which I hope is funny, we'll find out later. Along with this we have the newly written Iago Song, a version of which is already on Youtube, and Brush Up Your Shakespeare which I hope will be a strong number in the show (so strong it's not going on Youtube). I also rewrote Othello, following its rather flat outing on Friday, but am already thinking of dropping the whole bit in favour of Iago's Song (a 10 minute sketch or a 90 second song, which would you choose?). The development process continues.

The week also included me buying our advert in the Edinburgh Fringe programme, getting in there in time for the Early Bird deadline, thus saving myself 100 quid. Oh, and I made this ad plugging the Socks' graphic novel. Do please enjoy.

Feb 12 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Feb 19 - Lighthouse Poole 
Feb 20 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Mar 12 - Chorley Little Theatre 
Mar 24 - New Greenham Arts, Newbury 
Apr 9 - Widcombe Social Club, Bath Comedy Festival
May 8 - Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
Aug 3-28 - Edinburgh Fringe

Iago's Song - Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre

Brand new from the Socks, a song from the latest rewrite of Othello from their new Shakespeare show. The story of Othello, as told by Iago, in song. Do please click to enjoy.

Also recently from the Socks studio are a set of Shakespeare pieces played straight. They've done Richard III, Richard II, and now a bit of the Merchant of Venice. Yes, it's the same backdrop. What are we, made of images swiped off Google?

A balance of new funny stuff and experimental straight stuff will be continuing for a bit. Hope you're enjoying it. Next live show is Feb 19th in Poole followed by a load of Shakespeare in Leicester on Feb 20th.

Feb 12 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Feb 19 - Lighthouse Poole 
Feb 20 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Mar 12 - Chorley Little Theatre 
Mar 24 - New Greenham Arts, Newbury 
Apr 9 - Widcombe Social Club, Bath Comedy Festival
May 8 - Bean Caffe, Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe
July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
Aug 3-28 - Edinburgh Fringe

Socks Pinterest Page

I was blissfully unaware that there even was a Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Pinterest page. So my thanks to Mike Higgins, who appears to have set it up. Here it is.

I must also confess to a dreadful ignorance as to how these things work. assuming you, the Sock Fannerati out there, are able to pin things to it, then do please pin away. If you're not, then forgive me. It's out there, what more can I say?

UPDATE: Having tried to pin something to Mike's Socks Pinterest board, I discover you can't, and that there are dozens of people who've pinned our stuff up there. Look:

Oh well, I'm no more informed than I was when I came across it. If anyone can tell me how we can use Pinterest to our advantage, I'm all ears. Happy, er, Pinting.

Feb 12 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Feb 19 - Lighthouse Poole 
Feb 20 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Mar 12 - Chorley Little Theatre 
Mar 24 - New Greenham Arts, Newbury 
Apr 9 - Widcombe Social Club, Bath Comedy Festival
May 8 - Bean Caffe, Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe
July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
Aug 3-28 - Edinburgh Fringe

Socks Leicester Preview No1 breakdown

The Socks did a show as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival on Feb 12th, not only their first gig of 2016, but the first tryout of new Shakespeare material, along with the best of Minging Detectives. So, how did it go, and what's going to survive to their second preview on Feb 20th?

Ming Intro - STD / Loofah / Persuaders - 9/10
Shakes gags - Pericles / Yorick / Coriolanus - 5/10 not bad
I'm A Sock - 8/10, they were a small crowd so slow to warm up. Had them by the end

Leicester City routine - 8/10. Only for this night but good.
Shakes gags - Alls Well, Lear, Claudio - 4/10
Gangsta - 9/10 Solid
Tie A Yellow Ribbon - 7/10, didn't warm to the toilet gags, as has often happened
Sherlock/Shylock - 8/10

Richard 3rd - New part "Now" 5/10. Needs tightening, but sticking with it
Old part "Hump & hairpiece" - 9/10. That's staying.
Walk On Wild Side - 9/10, but really need something new that good

Z Cars - 9/10
Morse - 8/10
Black & White Minstrels - 9/10
Gangsta 2 - 8/10
Poirot - 8/10

Shakes Poem - 7/10 Not bad
Gags Magnum PI, NYPD - 5/10 (this stretch of show losing momentum)
The Killing - 8/10 fading to 6/10

Othello - 4/10 - Was the biggest gamble and the weakest link. The strong Minging material, which stood up well, left Othello looking very patchy. Far too much of it is not funny in its own right, relying on familiarity with the play. Othello breakdown:
Tush - no
Des De Moaner - no
Iago plays on name - no
Brabantio - first bit that worked
Pringles - promising, will develop
Hanky - getting there
Double Desdemona - good, will develop
Emilia - good, will develop
Lodovico - no

So, out of something nearing 10 minutes of material, I can salvage two. But that's the value of a preview, and I'm so grateful the Leicester audience had been sufficiently satisfied by the preceding 50 minutes that they let us get away with it.

Well Did You Evah - 8/10. Closed with a song, and it's a good one.

Given that this hour had no through-story, had no breaking-up routine, and had no new songs, it managed to complete its full hour well. On Saturday I'll do much more Shakespeare, which will be even more of a gamble, but I'm up for it (I had Titus Andronicus with me, but no time to try it). As it was the only Shakespeare material for the new show was:

Shakes gags - Pericles / Yorick / Coriolanus - 5/10 not bad
Leicester City routine - 8/10. Only for this night but good.
Shakes gags - Alls Well / Lear / Claudio - 4/10
Richard 3rd - New part "Now" 5/10. Needs tightening, but sticking with it
Old part "Hump & hairpiece" - 9/10. That's staying.
Shakes Poem - 7/10 Not bad
Othello - 4/10
Well Did You Evah - 8/10
(8 items out of 21)

It's a start. And worth comparing with preview Leicester Comedy Festival shows that I've used as early tryouts for the show that would subsequently come together in Edinburgh that August:

Minging Detectives 1st tryout Feb 15
Socks In Space full show Feb 14
Socks In Space 1st tryout Feb 13
Best of Feb 12
On The Telly full show Feb 11
5 day run of Goes To Hollywood Feb 09

Leicester City - new from the Socks, live

Here are the Socks, live on the first of their two nights at this year's Leicester Comedy Festival, doing a topical piece about Leicester City's success in the Premier League. If this turns out to jinx City's performance (at time of writing they're 5 points clear at the top of the League, but they play Arsenal in a couple of hours and everything could change) we'll stop re-tweeting it. Enjoy (click to play).

The Socks return to Leicester on the 20th with more new stuff. Book now, it's selling out fast.

Feb 12 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Feb 19 - Lighthouse Poole 
Feb 20 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Mar 12 - Chorley Little Theatre 
Mar 24 - New Greenham Arts, Newbury 
Apr 9 - Widcombe Social Club, Bath Comedy Festival
May 8 - Bean Caffe, Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe
July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
Aug 3-28 - Edinburgh Fringe

The Socks & me on BBC Radio Leicester

Here we see the Sock on the Left wearing, for the very first time, his newly augmented Shakespearian costume, and behind him Ben Jackson of BBC Radio Leicester who had us into the studio Friday Feb12th to be in the in-depth guest. For as long as it lasts, you can hear it on iPlayer here.

The Socks did the first 5 minutes of the interview, then I as Kev F took over and kept chatting for the best part of 45 minutes, talking about everything from comics (lots of comics) to the Comedy Festival, from the Sitcom Trials to the BBC History of Pop. Since I clearly love the sound of my own voice, I had no difficulty droning on forever and great fun it was too.

I had been asked in advance to choose some records to play, from which they chose three. So it was that our conversation was punctuated by Dean Friedman's Ariel, They Might Be Giants' Birdhouse In Your Soul, and Steely Dan's My Old School. You're welcome, Radio Leicester listeners.

Whether it put bums on seats for that night's Socks show at the Kayal is hard to tell (there were around 30 punters in). Whether it sells out next Saturday's show we have yet to see (last time I checked we'd already sold 45 in advance, so fingers crossed for a sellout ahoy.

Feb 12 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Feb 19 - Lighthouse Poole 
Feb 20 Leicester Comedy Festival 
Mar 12 - Chorley Little Theatre 
Mar 24 - New Greenham Arts, Newbury 
Apr 9 - Widcombe Social Club, Bath Comedy Festival
May 8 - Bean Caffe, Derby Comedy Festival 5.30pm
May 19 - Old Joint Stock Birmingham
May 22 - Komedia, Brighton Fringe
July 3 - Derby Bar One 2pm 
July 10 - Tring Festival 
July 17 - Greater Manchester Fringe
July 21 - Barnes Fringe
July 22 - Bedford Fringe
Aug 3-28 - Edinburgh Fringe