Kev F comic art: Burns Night report - a success, with some hitches

The Scottish Falsetto Socks' Burns Night Spectacular was a success, it would seem, with 37 paying punters who sounded happy at the end. But my was it fraught with problems.

The first was that the sound from the video clips, which I use for the musical numbers, wasn't coming through. This has happened once before, and was quickly resolved right at the start of the show in question (Hallo Ian, I think). This time I discovered the problem at 7.30, half an hour before showtime. And it was only Hev's searching online that found the solution. There's a setting on the Mac, a tickbox in System Preferences, that had somehow unticked itself. Having ticked it I then had to check out of Zoom and restart it. So the people who'd already joined the waiting room had to be told to leave and come back again.

With 10 minutes to spare, just time to start the countdown video, I restarted the Zoom session and the sound was working. Note to self: put music in the Countdown. I have always had music in the Countdown video. Then I was finding some people liked to chat through it, so for the Hogmanay Quiz I had a silent countdown. That was okay cos I was doing all the talking. This time, cos I was busy sorting technical issues, it was just 10 minutes of awkward silence. So, next time, music in the countdown, just kept at a level people could talk over if they wanted.

The show started well, and I don't think I came across as flustered as I felt, and for the first 40 minutes we had a show going great guns (see Running Order and links below). Then, at 8.40pm, when I was coming to the end of Life Of Burns and about to introduce Dean Friedman, disaster struck as it has never struck before - the broadband cut out.

Suddenly I was looking at a buffering wheel and a screen that told me the session had ended, and the recording of the session was processing. Hev, through in the lounge acting as Fag Ash Lil the usherette, was also cut off.

Broadband returned after a couple of minutes and we rejoined the session. And, oh so luckily, Dean had reminded me to make him a co-host at the start. So he was able to spotlight himself and do his musical number, which was supposed to happen then anyway. That was godsend and he is a total star, the saviour of the hour.

The Socks then did our world premiere, the first ever Zoom performance of 4'33". It was brilliant, far and away the hit of the show. I was doing at at the request of film maker Sam Vladimirsky, who was going to include it in a documentary. I knew it was going well when I could hear Heather laughing from the front room. There was great laughter throughout.

Sadly the other thing I knew, as we were doing it, is that it wasn't recording. Because the recording of the first 40 minutes of the show was still processing, I couldn't hit Record for the rest of the show. And Sam wasn't able to make it to be in the audience, so the only people who'll ever see it were the people who were there. I also failed to record St Andrew, which was also great.

Then came our next musical number, Always A Bastard, and because of the restart, the sound had gone again on video clips. (I'd realise this when, immediately on return, I'd tried playing the newly made trailer for the Murder Mystery show. Bizarrely some listeners claimed they could hear the sound, but most (inc my second screen and Hev) definitely couldn't). So that number was dropped and, presciently, Dean dived in and played the song he was meant to play a short while later, Don't You Ever Dare. Ironically neither of Dean's songs got recorded either.

I was finally able to restart the recording for the finale, Macbeth, which went well, and led into a very entertaining group rendition of Auld Lang Syne. I came away thinking the show had been a flop, because I was so stressed from all the technical issues, but watching the videos (such as they are) it turns out it was a fine show, and greatly enjoyed.

I'm dotting the i's, crossing the t's, and working out extra backups and alternatives for the Feb 12th Murder Mystery, not least because it's selling so well. (By Sunday it had already sold 17 tickets, with three weeks to go till the show. The joys of being on someone else's mailing list!)

BURNS NIGHT RUNNING ORDER

Intro routine - Piping Them In

I’M A SOCK (song)

Selkirk Grace

BURN’S NIGHT (song)

Address To The Haggis

WHAT SCOTLAND HAS MADE (song)

Stereotypes

Life Of Burns

DEAN FRIEDMAN guest slot 1

Murder Mystery Ad (video)

Story of St Andrew