Meanwhile over at The Sitcom Trials...

This week I've been very busy doing artwork for advertising clients, drawing superheroes, cavemen, dinosaurs, and filing cabinets with files escaping from them (and no, I can't stick the pictures up here, but trust me they're amazing). I've also spared a few moments to update the blog next door, which has been getting more traffic than this. That's because it's The Sitcom Trials blog and there's a new Sitcom Trials show in the offing. It's on March 30th in Bristol, the script deadline is Feb 29th, and the new producer is Vince Stadon, whose script won one of last year's Manchester Sitcom Trials. As for all that traffic we've been getting...

Thanks to BBC Writers Room who just retweeted the call for scripts for the Bristol Sitcom Trials. As a result, viewings of the blog just went up considerably, I gained a heap of extra Twitter followers, and poor old Vince is about to be deluged with more scripts than he possibly dreamed of. (Details of what The Sitcom Trials wants and how to enter are here). In tribute I've just retweaked the Sitcom Trials poster (because it just wasn't complete without Mrs Browns Boys) and made a Bristol version. Enjoy...



PS: I'm not saying the Trials blog wasn't getting a lot of readers before, but this graph shows the spike in our readership immediately after the retweet by BBC Writers Room:



PPS: And breaking news, it looks like the next Manchester Sitcom Trials is just around the corner. We are looking at dates in July, keep an ear out, you'll be the first to know.

There's also talk of the return of the Trials to London, but isn't there always? As a jog to the memory, and an exciter to the pulse, let's cast our minds back to the start of the last London season. And enjoy again the words of wisdom from Sitcom Trials Judge David "TV Burp" Quantick...



And PPPS: The Sitcom Trials blog just got paid to insert its first ever bit of advertorial. That's right Bill Hicks, yes I just did that.
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The Canon Of Comics on Radio 3

Talking of changing the subject, did anyone hear this radio programme? It's on iPlayer:

The Canon Of Comics



It's called the Canon of Comics and is an essay about continuity and canon, by a new young philosopher, Jon Adams, who knows far too much about Crisis on Infinite Earths. Very interesting listen. (If the link doesn't work go to iPlayer and look for The Essay or New Generation Thinkers or The Canon Of Comics).

And, yes, someone sent me the link. I'm not a full time Radio 3 listener. Maybe I should be if this is what I keep missing.

Kev F

Situation Murder - comedy to die for

Here's a treat from the bottom drawer that I'd totally forgotten about - Situation Murder.



In 2004, after The Sitcom Trials had done its last Edinburgh Fringe run and was noticeably failing to get a second series, I devised a different show, a series of murder mystery comedies where the audience would interrogate the cast and try and solve a crime. It has two regular characters hosting the story every episode, and a new cast of characters every time.

Now collected up in a book, available on Amazon Kindle (or iPod, iPad etc), are 5 full scripts, complete with the briefing notes given to all the cast members so the reader could, if they wished, stage these murder mysteries for fun or profit.

Of course what I'd really "invented" was the 1970s ITV series Whodunnit, which had itself been reimagined in the 80s as Cleudo. All I'd done was make it funny. And rereading these scripts they really are jolly good fun.

• A celebrity chef on a reality TV show is murdered by a fellow celebrity – but who?
• A death metal rocker is found hung on the back of the dressing room door – by whom?
• Three strangers meet in the airport car park, which one has blood on their hands?
• A body in the car park of a truck stop, but whose?
• The audience of a comedy show join in a seance to solve a murder, but why?

If you're in the slightest bit intrigued, dear reader, you can download a free sample. And by all means upload a review, or how about buying the book. By golly it's worth it.

Oh, and if I've not mentioned it, The Sitcom Trials itself returns to Bristol in March and, if you want, you can enter a script. Details over on the Sitcom Trials website.

Recommended Reading List for Comic Art Masterclasses

Thanks to Amazon, which is my now distracto-hobby, taking over from Twitter and Youtube this last week, I've put together a Recommended Book List for pupils in my Comic Art Masterclasses (click to see it):

It's done through Amazon so it links directly to the books you can buy. I've tried to keep it school-kid friendly, though I've had to include some things for older readers, which I shall try and label accordingly (uh-oh, minefield ahoy). If anyone can think of books that I've overlooked, and there will be lots, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do.

Yours, spreading the good word of comics far and wide



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I'm a Bestseller - official

Unbelievable as it sounds, one of my books is a bestseller. I had to take a screen grab. Look:



The Immortal Partie, A Mr Hawk Investigation, my murder mystery graphic novel illustrated by the brilliant John Erasmus (by the way does anyone have contact details for John? I can't find him, and in the fullness of time he might need paying some money) stands at number one in the Mystery Graphic Novel charts on Amazon. Which is fantastic.

I know it would be grossly unprofessional to let the cat out of the bag and reveal our actual sales figures. But we've sold 2 copies. I can only deduce that these rankings are established from the number of people who look at your book and download the free sample, or maybe on the level of activity in any given period. Either way I'm more than delighted with this apparent news, and you can be sure that at sometime in the future this screengrab will be used to defend my description of myself as Bestselling Author Kev F.

You'll find all of my books listed on my Amazon Author Page. Sorry, I mean my Amazon Bestselling Author Page.

Ode To A Haggis for Burns Supper, by the Socks

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre have had a wee stab at Rabbie Burns' Ode To A Haggis. If you're organising a Burns Supper, all you have to do is be marginally better than this...



This is from the Socks archive, so apologies for the poor video quality and the total lack of costumes. Amazingly, the Socks performed their first Edinburgh show and much of their second, naked. How did we get away with it?

Socks at Leicester Comedy Festival Feb 9-11
Socks at Adelaide Fringe Feb 17 - March 18

World's Biggest Comic now at British Library (in a cupboard)

In a jam-packed last couple of days during which I've accompanied the Scottish Falsetto Socks to Camden where they played the excellent comedy show Pun Run (10 top comics compered and organised by Bec Hill, actually getting laughter and applause for doing nothing but puns, it's the future of comedy); stayed in a hotel in Hampstead where we got upgraded from the worst view in London (they put us in a room with no windows. Literally. No. Windows) to the best (on the 5th floor, with a view across London from Alexandra Palace to the Telecom Tower. Top tip: complain about your room whenever they try and put you in a room with Literally. No. Windows.); and travelled to Colchester where I gave a talk about comics at the impressively marvellous Firstsite gallery (thanks for having me, you were all lovely); I've got home and remembered that I'd totally forgotten what we did on Friday en route to the gig. We took the World's Biggest Comic to the British Library.*



In a development which had slipped my mind over the New Year period, I've been invited to display the World's Biggest Comic at the British Library in February. It'll be the first opportunity for it to be seen in public since 2002, possibly a star-studded affair, a good networking event. I'll be in Australia. I might not even tell you when it's happening.



* Excuse poor punctuation, it's late I've been busy