The Socks Shows this year have been almost entirely online, and have seen a steep learning curve. Here's a look at how they've all gone, along with their statistics.
Fri July 31st - All Request Zoom Party. This show was, of course, preceded by our appearances on Dean Friedman's Dean Zine Live Stream (beginning April 19th) which were what brought us out of lockdown retirement in the first place, and gave us the confidence to go it alone. Well, let us not forget that before lockdown there were (gasp) live shows, in Leicester in February, and at a birthday party in Margate on Feb 22. That was the last time we saw a live audience. Who knows if that will happen again this year?
Paying customers: 62
Thurs 13th August - Socks In Space. For the Edinburgh Fringe we scheduled three shows, a week apart, reviving our classic shows. This was the one that got the reviews. ★★★★ "a distracting tonic for the times" - The Scotsman, and ★★★★ "the absolute essence of the Edinburgh Fringe" - Everything Theatre.
Paying customers: 37, guest list: 12
Fri 21st August - Boo Lingerie. Another Edinburgh revival, another hit. Although we had not, as yet, mastered green screen on Zoom, so were performing everything against a gold backdrop.
Paying customers: 54, guest list: 5
Sat 29th August - Socks Do Shakespeare. My favourite show revived, and a palpable hit, rounding off the Edinburgh mini season beautifully.
Paying customers: 56, guest list: 4
Fri 18th September - World Tour Of Australia. Cancelled. This was a bright idea that didn't work. Someone in Australia asked if I could do a gig for that time zone, I was so buzzed by my Edinburgh success I said yes. I didn't realised I clashed with a religious holiday, so the person who'd asked couldn't come, and then I only sold 3 tickets in advance to punters, all of whom were in this time zone anyway. So doing a show at midday really didn't seem to serve much purpose.
Friday 25th September - New Material Night. Including some nice new Covid material, including the Plague routine which might have legs, and topical songs about recent events that couldn't have dated quicker, this was about 50% new stuff and a really good start to being creative for Zoom shows. Included our first experiments with green screen (with a green sheet not yet big enough to fill the whole screen).
Paying customers: 33
Friday 30th October - Hallo Ian Special. A real tour de force, comprising almost all new material. Certainly the best stuff I've written in the last year, including the epic Rocky Horror Song, the Mash Song, Tales From The Crypt song, Brighter Shade Of Make Up song, and the Carrie, Lovecraft and revived Phantom Of The Opera routines, all of which could be considered for a live show.
Paying customers: 54
Sat 7 Nov - Roll Up! (The Old Joint Stock Replacement Show). Our planned return to the live stage in Birmingham was scuppered, so we scheduled the show we were going to do, at short notice, on Zoom. Not a single Birmingham ticket buyer came! But real people did, so that's nice.
Paying customers: 26
Friday 11 Dec & Sunday 13 Dec - Xmas Special. Because of technical issues, the Friday show was hard for people to see and hear, necessitating a rerun on Sunday. Sunday's show ended up with 38 viewers, a mixture of newbies and returnees. Again we were awash with new material including Giving Granny Covid and Die Hard is a Xmas Song, plus the brand new Crown and Princess Di Hard routines, and more snippets I'd consider for live shows. The epic finale of Christmas Carol really does deserve to be done live, I'm just not sure it'd work in August.
Paying customers: 56 Friday + 8 Sunday - 64, making this our best selling show of the year!
UPDATE: Dec 31 - Hogmanay Quiz Night, paying customers 32 + 400 free viewers on Facebook.
Here's to the next ones, Merry Christmas everyone.
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