Hathaway to Alwright - lots of Roll Up videos

Though I like it, I think this song has to hit the cutting room floor as it doesn't really fit in Roll Up. So, for your pleasure, enjoy Anne Hathaway as recorded at the Britannia in Glasgow.

And this routine, too, went really well at Glasgow, but is too off-topic to remain in the show. If I can write something as good as this to replace it I'll be delighted. It's Matt Alwright v Tiger Woods v Songs Of Praise.

I've also taken a string of one-liners and turned them into clips for Twitter and Facebook:

Steroids
Eurovision Brexit
Knife Throwing
Grimaldi
Debbie McGee
Ocelot
Performance Artist

Whether they get any viewings or put bums on seats, only time will tell. At time of writing we've sold 58 tickets for Edinburgh, which beats all previous years, but that's largely cos we went on sale so much earlier than previous years. The show, however, is now written as a full first draft, with lots of material dropped since the last full previews, and me dying for another preview to try the new stuff out in. Agonising to have a month to wait, but we'll struggle on. Let's make some props.



The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! Previews:

May 24 - Victoria Theatre Halifax
May 30 - Vauxhall Comedy Club
June 1 & 2 - Komedia Brighton Fringe
June 8 - Harlequin in Redhill
July 8 - Barnes Fringe
July 19 - Kings Arms Salford, GM Fringe
July 20 - Bedford Fringe
July 28 - Derby Bar One 

July 31st - August 25th, The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! at the Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose 9.30pm. Sexy new venue, sexy new timeslot. 

Superheroes final shows + Roll Up sneak previews

The Racist Brother costume, photographed possibly for the first time, last night backstage at Artrix in Bromsgrove where we performed Superheroes for most likely the last time. Our mini Spring Tour took us to Chorley, Bath, Barton On Humber and Bromsgrove, where they all got a half hour opening set comprising mostly new stuff from Roll Up - effectively half-Previews - then the whole hour of Superheroes. Superheroes has grown from being a show that I felt was in the shadow of its predecessor, Shakespeare, to become a favourite. Laughs like The Joker, Motion Capture and Clark Kent's glasses were really up there with some of our funniest bits, and I'm proud of the structure of the show, with its Racist Brother subplot. Talking of which...

"It was me all along! I used the Motion Capture suit! You don't really have a brother. And racists don't really exist!"

If you never saw the show Superheroes, that will make no sense whatsoever. So, the props and costumes for Superheroes go back into the dressing up box, and we whip out the sewing machine to bring the Roll Up characters to life.

Which brings us (via this lovely backstage shot at Barton In Humber, just lucked in with the lighting there) to Roll Up. What stuff's been working in these tryouts, and what's still to come?

Newest material is Annie The Elephant, which I wrote and recorded between Chorley and Bath, and which has failed to get a laugh every time since. It did best at Bromsgrove, where I didn't do it as the first song (after I'm A Sock). Also its music is a bit thin, needs beefing up.

Anne Hathaway is one I want to drop from the show, but when we've done it it's got better than Annie The Elephant. Come on, we can't have two songs about Annes in the same show, that'd be madness.

Philip Astley and his song get a good laugh, as does Mad Cow bonfire, and all the circus gags - the biggest laughs being from three circus gags I wrote this week just before Barton. Pagliacci and The Doctor is a very good routine, though it fizzles out a bit at the end. The circus act improv has thrown up some good bits - Lion Tamer and Ventriloquist might yet find themselves as permanent fixtures.

Phantom Of The Opera is now dropped from the show which means, following Les Miserables that we tried as the finale in Leicester, we've already tried out and chucked out two different finales. Also the cross-channel TV bit with Matt Allwright has gone (meaning I could put those on Youtube if I wanted, I'll think on't).

Meanwhile I've written a full plot structure for the show (including Nicole Kidman, Lady In Red and Greggs) and a brand new finale* that's yet to be tried out live (Greatest Show On Earth). The plan is that this'll let me slot other, stronger material in as it comes. For example we still have the Eurovision Brexit song in there, which will stay until something better squeezes it out. I'm happy with the structure. The work on more better gags and routines continues.

(*Brand new being the key here, Les Mis and Phantom were both based on scripts that I'd written and done as videos a few years ago.)



The Scottish Falsetto Socks ROLL UP! Previews:

May 24 - Victoria Theatre Halifax
May 30 - Vauxhall Comedy Club
June 1 & 2 - Komedia Brighton Fringe
June 8 - Harlequin in Redhill
July 8 - Barnes Fringe
July 19 - Kings Arms Salford, GM Fringe
July 20 - Bedford Fringe
July 28 - Derby Bar One 

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

Black Hole - new video by the Socks

A brand new video from the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, commemorating the discovery this week of a Black Hole. Do please enjoy.

I've also made this into a square version for Twitter and Facebook.



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!

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.