This year's Halloween pumpkin

I'm pretty busy with writing, as it happens, but I couldn't resist taking the time to make a Halloween pumpkin. A return to tradition, after last year's Jimmy Savile (of which I remain proud), this is supposed to be the werewolf from American Werewolf In London, though whether that's what it's ended up like I can't be sure. Enjoy.

Same time next year?

2011's Skull pumpkin
2010's Frankenstein pumpkin



Kev F comicbooks also available from UT Productions on Kindle:
The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Comic No 1
Sinnerhound - Highwaywoman
Hot Rod Cow
The Tock - an illustrated book for children
The Immortal Partie - A Mr Hawk murder mystery adventure
Edinburgh Sketchbook 84-85

The following Sitcom Trials script books are on Kindle and come highly recommended:
The Lavender Millbank Mob
Go Wild In The Country
Kiss Me Son Of God
Situation Murder
Dead Air & Clarice
Didn't You Used To Be..?

Halloween - new video from the Socks

Hallo, my name's not... Yes it's a brand new video version of the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's most popular routine, Halloween. Just in time to be out of date in less than 48 hours. You're welcome. Enjoy, please RT, and we'll see you with it all again this time next year.

 

SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour...NOW!
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre
Nov 17 - Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester 
Nov 30 - Christmas Special, Camden Head, London
Dec 6 - Christmas Special, Ring O'Bells, Bath

"Pain and monkey laughter" - 9/10 review from Cardiff, July

Only just emerged online, a smashing review for the Socks show back in July. Cheers.

Review: Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre & Joe Lycett

Posted by Weeping Tudor from Cardiff - Published on 21/10/2013 at 16:58
0 comments » - Tagged as Comedy, Festivals, Movies, Music, Stage

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Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre &Joe Lycett
Chapter Arts Centre 

Saturday 13th July 2013
Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Rating: 9/10
Overall Rating: 8/10

Like with dance, I confess that I don’t see enough comedy. But this night was a hilarious evening made has made me want to see much more.

Joe Lycett, who was replacing Nick Helm, proved to be just as funny as any major comedian on the circuit today. His whimsy and charm had a matter of factness that made for a sophisticated and campish act. Or as he put it ‘Joe Lycett so he should have put a ring on it’. Him being informed that his spirit animal is a walrus (who is now a sort of alter ego), his fake complaint letters and what the gay Olympics would be like (non Russia related) all made for some stellar humour and a wicked and sharp tongued act.

He confessed to being gay and asked if there were any in. I resisted the urge to speak up, plus no one else did. I’m never one for a comedian ripping into me, so I let it slide. His emails to the Daily Mirror about a certain celebrity kicking a pigeon as a photo for the paper was the highlight of his stand up.

The main reason for coming to his was for The Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre. I have been following it on YouTube for some time and when I knew there was a live performance of it in Cardiff, how could I possibly say no?

It’s very funny old fashioned Scottish humour which made for an hour of general hilarity and tears of joy unlike anything else. The show was set in space, apparently, with a thread of sci-fi along the way. Much of the wit came from elsewhere and it wasn’t until the end of the show that we got to be in space, but it’s all the funnier for that.

Like Tommy Cooper, it’s funny because things go wrong, very wrong missed cues, props falling, failed jokes (which our sock friends were more than happy to admit). Them asking for requests of Michael Jackson’s No. 1s songs was a great moment. Pointing out to a lady that the album Thriller went to number one and not the song (biggest selling Vinyl of all time. My mum still has a copy).

I shouted out the song Beat It as it was the only other one I could think of since all the others had been said. My reply back from one of the socks in classic Scottish style was ‘You beat it ya ****!’ much to my shock and sheer amusement. The David Bowie sketch along with the impersonation, almost had me on the floor in a fit of pain and monkey laughter.

Follow them on YouTube. It deserves much more praise

Joe Lycett Rating: 8/10
Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Rating: 9/10
Overall Rating: 8/10

Events » October 2013's Sprout Editorial Group Meeting

Travelling by Weather Map - new video from the Socks

Brand new from the Socks, a video looking at the world and how we get around it. Enjoy, and do share if you like it.

 

SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour...NOW!
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre
Nov 17 - Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester 
Nov 30 - Christmas Special, Camden Head, London
Dec 6 - Christmas Special, Ring O'Bells, Bath

Dahhn to Margate (and Horsham and Canterbury)

Now that's what I call planning. Three Socks dates that actually go in a sensible order. Horsham (about 2 and a half hours from home) then Margate (about 2 hours further east) then Canterbury (less than an hour east again).

And the gigs just kept getting better and better, starting with a small but lovely crowd in the big Capitol theatre in Horsham; then an understandably small audience in the Tom Thumb Theatre in Margate, which is the second smallest theatre in the country, only fitting 50 people into its beautiful little environs (adapted in the 1980s from a former Victorian coaching house, the seats came from an old Music Hall, and it is one of the most delightful theatres I've ever been in, and one I want to return to every year); topped off with a sellout in the Spiegeltent at the Canterbury Festival, with more than 200 people giving us one of the best shows in ages. I know I keep saying that, with this autumn's tours having included some simply sensational audience responses, but I can't leave it unacknowledged.

The current 90 minute show (which they had in Horsham and Margate, as well as Farnham, Birmingham, Derry & Belfast, with Canterbury getting an interval-free 75 minute version) comprises 45 minutes of best-of followed by Socks In Space pretty much in its entirety. A validation of just how good a new Edinburgh show can become, we're getting some of the best laughs and performability from material that didn't exist until July of this year (Avengers, Alien, Star Trek and, inexplicably, Countdown, are killer routines now).

Since you ask, yes I have chosen the theme for next year's show and, yes, I've started writing it already, and yes I have a particular reason for starting writing it so soon and, no, I can't tell you about it yet. Stay tuned, news to follow.

The next gigs as well scheduled as this will be my four day run in Hull, Barton, Chorley and Manchester in November. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a four hour (if I'm lucky) drive home through the (so we're told) worst storm since 1987. I may be some time.

 

SOCKS IN SPACE - The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are on tour...NOW!
Oct 24 - The Capitol, Horsham
Oct 25 - Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
Oct 26 - Canterbury Festival
Nov 1 - Ace Centre, Nelson
Nov 2 - Leeds Carriageworks
Nov 14 - Hull Comedy Festival
Nov 15 - Ropewalk, Barton On Humber
Nov 16 - Chorley Little Theatre
Nov 17 - Lass O'Gowrie, Manchester 
Nov 30 - Christmas Special, Camden Head, London
Dec 6 - Christmas Special, Ring O'Bells, Bath

Don't Believe Everything You See In A Comic Done By A Child

What could be a more apt title for the first of this batch of comics, created by kids in my Comic Art Masterclasses in Withersnack (near Grangeover Sands in the Lake District), the 20/21 Art Centre in Scunthorpe, Wellington College and Colaiste Fierste in Belfast, Enderby in Leicestershire, Kendal Library, and Bath. Yes, I've done a bit of travelling in the last week and a half.

The celebrities they selected for the "treads on a worm" demonstration strip were Jessie J, Miley Cyrus, Will Smith, Simon Cowell, 50 Cent, Michael Jackson, Harry Styles, Robert Downey Jr, and most obscure suggestion (the uncle of one of the pupils, as well as being the co-star of Robin Hood) Richard Armitage.

As always I'm available to come and teach kids at your school, library or art centre how to do what I've been doing for a living for the last 25 years, and as you can see distance is no object (literally Lake District one day, Belfast the next, Bath the day after, what am I thinking?). Have you seen the new video promoting my classes? Go on then, here it is...


The Dog Did It - comics by kids Aug 2013
Bunny Dood Defeats King Lettis - July 2013
I Flushed My Magical Penguin Down The Toilet - Mar 2013
The Bean Men - Feb 2013
Aquatic Owls vs The Moon - Dec 2012
The Hairy Bottom - July 2012
Kid Afro Spaghetti - June 2012 

Top Of The Lakes, too

Having fun here in Kendal, at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, with a brilliant traditional night in a bar full of comics folks last night (at Brewery Arts) the like of which I've missed for the last few years, followed by a jam-packed sellout (okay, free) Comic Art Masterclass in Kendal Library this morning (that's me and the flipchart above), all following a splendid all-day class at a Primary school in Withersnack yesterday - you heard me, Withersnack. And, as I type, I have the Viz talk tonight to look forward to, interviewing Graham Dury and Simon Thorp on stage at the Brewery.

The participation of the shops and businesses of Kendal in this whole event is truly impressive, with window after window making some attempt to comic itself up. Just a couple of examples below, I look forward to seeing a whole collection of them online soon. I'm full of praise for the organisers, I look forward to hearing good reports.