Socks ROLL UP! Preview dates & ads galore

The Socks have got a nice little schedule of Edinburgh Preview dates lined up, and now they have nifty wee Twitter ads to go with them. We start at the Victoria Theatre Halifax on May 24th...

Then we give London their only taste of the show* on May 30th at the Vauxhall Comedy Club (at 6.30 in the evening, so get out of work early everybody) (*apart from Barnes, which is also in London, we are told)

Then it's our two nights in a row at Brighton Fringe on June 1st and 2nd. I say nights, both of these shows are at 6pm, but it's a Saturday and Sunday so you've no excuse.

On June 8th we come to the Harlequin in Redhill, the home of Sajeela Kershi's brilliant Comedy Cottage, one of those rare venues that got in touch and asked us to come out of the blue, which is nice.

And as if the Home Counties weren't rather monopolising us, our next preview (at time of writing) is July 8th in Barnes (which is also in London, by the way).

On July 19th we hit the North again, playing at the Kings Arms in Salford as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe...

Then next stop os Bedford on July 20th for our annual visit to the Bedford Fringe.

Our final preview, at the moment, is Derby Bar One  on July 28th.

We're on the lookout for more previews if we can get them, so please get in touch if you're running any. All of which is building up to the big one...

Every night at 9.30pm, July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot, and it's already selling well. Bring on those previews!

"...miniature Morecambe and Wise" - ★★★★ Bath Echo

A lovely 4 star review of the Socks Rondo Bath gig in the Bath Echo. Hooray.

Review | The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre: Superheroes – The Rondo Theatre, Bath

The Socks are now something of a venerable national institution; but if you’ve not seen them before, you should. This act has definitely not run out of steam.

There are one or two old gags in this current incarnation of the disputatious footwear duo, but mostly new ones: about Brexit; about superheroes, obviously; and much more.

The joy of this is mainly in the manic speed with which everything happens, and the constant furious arguments between Sock One and Sock Two.

It’s a sort of miniature Morecambe and Wise on amphetamines; but with constant costume changes (yes, socks can wear costumes) daft songs, and deft ad-libs at every slightest hitch or audience distraction.

The number of laughs that this show can pack into an hour seems inexhaustible, and can leave an audience gasping for breath, as laugh piles on laugh from start to finish.

Punch and Judy could never compete with this. _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Reviewer: John Christopher Wood | Star rating: ****

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre performed at the Rondo Theatre in Bath on Saturday 6th April 2019.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre: Roll Up! at The Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, July 31st - Aug 25th 2019 at 9.30pm. On sale now!

Moto Moto & Dead Cows, more comics by kids

Two days in a row at West Monkton primary near Taunton, with years 5 and 6, produced some lovely comics. Whatever the appeal of this Moto Moto meme is, it made an appearance for the second time.

Again at West Monkton we got one of the darker titles of the month. I think I managed to lighten it slightly.

And am Easter holiday class at Zion art centre in Bristol produced a nice comic cover (which, there being no photocopier, exists in this form only, they didn't get a copy to take away). And I have a dreadful feeling I forgot to leave them the flipchart page, oops. I'll post it.

A lovely couple of classes at Harpenden Library in Herts threw up these two beauties.

The celebrities these 5 groups chose for my demonstration strip were Gordon Ramsay, Ariana Grande (twice), Stan Lee, LeBron James, Tom Jones and, most original suggestion of the month, John Ratzenberger off of Cheers and the Pixar films.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here. 

Doctors Whom, Cleese & Jackson - Facebook Trivia roundup

Was I the only person who saw this photo small on their phone and thought “fantastic, Christopher Eccleston’s finally turned up for a line up with fellow Doctor Who’s” ?

In my tired mind I was looking at Capaldi, Pertwee (I know I know), Tom Baker in the hat, Matt Smith, and Eccleston in the flat cap.

I realise now it was only Mark Radcliffe.

Spotted on Newsnight. Best bit of studio lighting this century.

*Mulls over a 'waxes and weans' gag. Gives up*

Jackson family suggest blaming it on a) Sunshine b) Moonlight c) Good Times…

Line Of Duty gets 5 stars in Guardian

You gotta be jokin' me Lucy Mangan! This was (spoiler alert) dreadful. None of the alleged characters had any character, or motivation, or subplot, or way of telling them apart.

Try it. Do the old Script Reader trick of hiding the names of the characters and reading the lines. Could you tell which of these cyphers was delivering the lines in this procedural slew of acronyms? You could not.

Last week we discovered someone had done away with those nice boys who wrote The Missing and delivered a pale imitation with their names on it, and now that poor Jed Mercurio's been nobbled and they've got an AI algorithm to write a cargo cult simulation of a Line Of Duty script. Where the undercover copy is (spoiler alert) obviously going to be either him or her. Wait till next week, it was probably both of them... oh who cares, let's just watch Fleabag again.

*******

I think someone has underestimated how easy it's going to be for me to boycott hotels owned by the Sultan of sodding Brunei.  *Goes back to booking.com, decides against The Dorchester and books the Premier Inn Barking as originally planned*'

This is hard to credit, given the amazingly funny stuff he's done in the 30 years since A Fish Called Wanda.

I am a big fan of Comic Swipes, where the originals of many comic images are uncovered. This one, from Asterix & The Soothsayer (one of my favourite books ever) is a revelation to me. I did not know this panel was a homage. Did anyone else?

*******************

ROMA

Finally watched Roma last night, very good. But found I'd been conflating my Mexican film directors. I was watching it thinking "so this is the guy who directed Birdman and Shape Of Water, of course, you can see the similarities". And yes, I'd watched Shape Of Water thinking it was directed by the same guy who directed Birdman. I know now!

So Alfonso Cuaron did Roma and Gravity, but he only produced Pan's Labyrinth which was directed by Guillermo Del Toro who made Shape Of Water. Birdman was done by Alejandro Innaritu who also produced Pan's Labyrinth and who made The Revenant, which I also thought was by the same guy who made Gravity.

I tell you, if one of them would just once make a movie where the shots weren't all pretending to be 10 minute long single takes, I'd be able to tell the buggers apart!

Baptise 

The big mystery is, where have they hidden the two talented blokes who wrote The Missing?

(Spoilers ahead)

This was a repetitive, over-complicated bland procedural which managed to put all its interesting ideas into the first couple of episodes, leaving a finale that was a string of glaring plotholes (what happened to the guy with the cleaver? Why no police sent to the caravan with two dead bodies & a live killer in it?) tied together with dull exposition, stultifying anticlimaxes, and five minutes of padding at the end.

And were we meant to laugh out loud at the denouement of the silly shoot out at the end? I'm guessing not, but I'm betting we weren't alone.

***********

Andrew Ridgley Memoir - a bit on the nose.

***********

March 31.   Don't you hate it when people post pictures of their dead Mums for Mothers Day? Well tough. This is the first Mothers Day my Mum's missed in 57 years and I imagine she's quite annoyed. #HappyMumsiesDay

Mother's Day is an appropriate time to thank everyone who gave to Cancer Research at Mum's funeral. I realise I hadn't shared the figures so, for the record, here's what you all gave:

£905.05 via J Stamp & Sons (Funeral Directors)
£130.00 via online giving

A total of £1035.05 received by Cancer Research, with many many thanks from us all. Mum would be proud of you all.

For Wullieverine by Barry Barmcake, after the Socks show in Chorley

Happiness is watching an old film on Talking Pictures TV, wondering where it was shot, and finding a website that shows you in detail. For the record, the kidnap scene in Hell Is A City (1960) was shot in an alley which is now WH Smith's on Corporation St Manchester 

http://www.british-film-locations.com/s…/Hell-Is-A-City-1960

SCOTTISH FALSETTO SOCK PUPPET THEATRE: ROLL UP!

July 31 - Aug 25 - GILDED BALLOON Patter Hoose Edfringe - On Sale Now

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here. 

Moto Moto & Jeremy Kyle - comics by kids

A couple of days in Northumberland gave us some of the best comic titles of the year so far. These two, from Bellingham Middle School, being particular favourites.

These two, from Seaton Sluice and Whytrig Middle Schools respectively, were also fun, though slightly disappointing in that they were the kids repeating popular memes rather than being actually original. Still, it's good to be able to Google what they want you to draw, rather than trying to think of something myself that, ultimately, isn't so impressive.

These two from North Bradley in Wiltshire were just the sort of cover I'm disappointed by. Fine suggestions from the kids, turned into lacklustre scribbles by me. You can't come up with a classic every time.

This comic, produced with NQTs (Newly Qualified Teachers) at Colmore school, was an inspiring idea which I somehow turned into a really naff cover. Which I then coloured even nafferlier. Which, of it isn't a word, should be.

The celebrities these 7 groups chose to star in my demonstration strip were Little T (a rapper, m'lud), Kim Jong Un, Mo Salah, KSI (a boxer, apparently), Beyonce, Kevin Du Bruyne (plays for Man City, my ignorance of popular culture references knew no bounds this week), and Donald Trump.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries & art centres. email for details. Facebook, Twitter. Promo video here. 

Lost Sheet Music & resales - more eBay fun

For the first time since I started this eBaying lark, I’ve lost some items, and their whereabouts are a mystery.

Five bits of sheet music, that came from Kibworth, have been going round and round the eBay carousel for a few weeks and finally sold last week. They included Cliff Richard’s Living Doll and three bits of Black & White Minstrels music. But when I came to put them in their envelopes I could not find them. 

They weren’t in any of the boxes in the house, so I have now made two visits to the storage unit, taking the tops off boxes that have been opened and resealed countless times now, and the little buggers won’t show up. Either I’ve tucked them away in a box that I’ve now buried deep or, worst case scenario and frankly I can’t imagine this has happened, they’ve been sent to someone else who didn’t pay for them. Being sheet music they are the thinnest of paper items, making them the easiest to overlook and the hardest to spot. Five punters have been refunded.

Those distractions aside, the last few weeks’ sales have also included the comics that got bought and returned en masse by one rather odd buyer. (You’ll remember I thought he was scamming me, turned out he was just eccentric). I think he realised he’d overpaid for them because, as you’ll see below, most went for less than he paid for them first time round.

The clearout continues, latest thing to be uploaded is a mountain of Look-In comics, a couple of which got snapped up on the first day as you can see.

SOLD since March 10

(Excluding sheet music that got lost)

3 x Lion Holiday Specials. £17.00

Wicked 1 + 9 £11.05

Happy Warrior. £10.00

10 x Dr Who 11-20.  £8.50

10 x Look-In 1976. £8.00

10 x Dr Who. 2 - 10 £7.50

10 x Dr Who  21-30. £6.00

8 x Look-In 1977 £6.00

8 x Rampage (resale, was £14). £6.00

8 x Rampage inc 1 (resale, was £9). £5.50

10 x Dr Who  31-40. £5.50

12 comics inc Action 21. £5.50

10 x Dr Who 1990-96. £4.25

3 x Cap Britain 29-31 (resale, was £2.50). £4.20

10 x Dr Who  94-125 £2.95

10 x Dr Who  75-93. £2.90

Cap Britain 2 (resale, was £2.50). £2.70

10 x Dr Who 1987-89. £2.60

9 x Dr Who  55-72. £2.50

10 x Dr Who inc 150. £2.50

5 x Dr Who specials. £2.50

Pebbles BamBam + 4. £2.50

Beezer 68 + 8. £2.50

3 x Valiant, Billlys Boots  £2.50

3 x Jackie. £2.50

Mystery In Space x 2  £2.50

2 x Radio Times Xmas. £2.50

All Star Western (resale, was £3). £2.50

3 x Cap Britain 32-35 (resale, was £2.50). £2.50

3 x Cap Britain 36-39 (resale, was £5.50) £2.50 

Total March 10 - 27 = £136.15

Yes, but think of all the shelf space I’ve made. Oh shut up.

My eBay items for sale are all here - happy bidding!

SCOTTISH FALSETTO SOCK PUPPET THEATRE: ROLL UP!

July 31 - Aug 25 - GILDED BALLOON Patter Hoose Edfringe - On Sale Now

Socks Roll Up at Glasgow Comedy Festival - 3 great shows

Remembering last year’s previews of Superheroes, when I suffered with a tough crowd on the second night, this year the Socks geared themselves up for three nights in a row, giving the first full tryouts to the new show Roll Up! I’m happy to report they went wonderfully.

In February we did a partial tryout of some new material, but mostly gave the crowd the best of the Superheroes show, so these were the first attempts to do an hour of Roll Up. Two nights at Dram, and a night at the Britannia Panopticon.

Night one, Wednesday at Dram, went well, considering the shows gags were all badly clustered together and we finished after 45 minutes, so rounded the show off with a revisit of Earth Song and Don’t Let’s Be Beastly.

I then spent Thursday daytime rewriting the script, introducing new material, adding new music, totally revamping the show. The structure for Thursday night at Dram was the one that worked so that’s what we stuck with for Friday at Britannia, with one small addition. Here’s the running order we have so far:

Opening 3 gags Ocelot/Barnum/Steroids - (on the first night we opened with way too many strung together)

Can I do Eurovision? - Introduced Thurs, got sympathy from start

I’m A Sock

Greatest Showman opening - (on the first night opened whole show with this. Much better after I’m A Sock song, still needs better punchline).

Gags Burlescue/3 Rings/Knuckles/Leno - good, could use more

Philip Astley routine - (slashed by 2 thirds from first night, musical punchline introduced, from audience suggestion, 2nd night)

Mad Cow adlib (started as adlib Weds, currently part of script)

Anne Hathaway Song - this will have to be replaced by something better.

Performance Artist - Remembered this from the 07 show and threw it in adlib on 2nd night. It works.

Audience suggests acts. This has given us good adlibs so far. Whether they’ll work so well as repeats we’ll have to see. Lion Tamer was good, Knife Thrower good, Juggling I developed into a routine with sound effects for Friday, which suffered from bad sound, it might stay.

Bechdel Test - Repeated from last year’s show, for Thurs & Fri. Will have to go.

Magic Routine - Brilliant as always (from 2010). So tight, we just have to make everything else this tight and we have a good show.

Nicole Kidman - Worked well from start. ‘Flying Fuchs’ monologue may have to go.

Brexit/Polish/marriage - contrived but seems to work as a plot line.

Eurovision Brexit song - Now works as it’s integrated into the plot.

Lady In Pants - gappy but it works.

Cross Channel Golf - a bit long, not sure it fits. Might replace.

Greggs song - works well. Would like to expand into dance routine.

Grimaldi routine - My favourite new routine. We need more like this.

City Of Stars song - seems popular, it’s a grower

Trapeze act - quite good but needs tightening. Call back to juggling is good (need more of these)

Phantom Of Opera Finale - Good in parts, getting better as it goes. Not the greatest showstopper, could we find something new and perfect?

Don’t Let’s Be Beastly - A mild end to the show, people seem satisfied with it. Again, if something amazing comes along in the next spate of writing, all the better.

So we have a good plot, with the capacity for tightening, and much more staying on topic than last year’s show. I’m inspired to keep writing, feeling like we’re building towards more of a Shakespeare than a Superheroes.

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre: Roll Up! at The Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, July 31st - Aug 25th 2019 at 9.30pm. On sale now!