What was meeting Frank Sidebottom like? Would love to hear first hand accounts

Posted by Ok-fine-man@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 18 comments

Had ti word the question weirdly due to this subs rules. I've known about Frank for a while as he's an iconic character but I've only recently started to watch comedy clips of him. He was so ahead of his time. He paved the way for the likes of Mrs Merton (literally creating that character for Caroline Aherne), Alan Partridge and Ali G....and I suppose stateside, Eric Andre would be comparable. This is in terms of mixing improvisational and scripted comedy in live scenarios, and also parody interviewing celebrities. Frank is known for his funny music parodies too. But what I love about Frank is how wholesome and Northern his character is - while also retaining that mad frenzied energy. He was played by Chris Sievey who was such a genius. An amazing musician, artist and animator (he made Pingu and Bob the Builder!). I've watched the documentary about him and read Jon Ronson's book. I love hearing stories about him. So does anyone here a have any accounts of meeting Frank for real or attending on of his shows? They sounded amazing.

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18 Comments

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jjgill27@reddit

If you can find a guy from Brum called Dave Travis on socials (he’s active on Facebook), he has a lot of posts about him and maybe did a book about him? He was a club promoter and I think he managed him for a time.

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ComposerThen6483@reddit

I'm a boomer & had to Google him

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Candid-Ad8506@reddit

Went to see him on tour once. Amazing, surreal gig. Seating was arranged in circular tables. At the end he appeared at the front of the stage and walked around the tables chatting and handing things out (badges, pictures, signed football shorts). Stayed in character the whole time. It was honestly magical.

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The_Lost_Boy_1983@reddit

He used to wear that awful early 1990’s Man City “third strip” in brown, the one sponsored by Brother when in stage. You knew when he was going into Freddy as he’d go off stage for a moment to put on that white fitted Live Aid Queen jacket and stick on a Zapata ‘tache to do Radio GaGa. I recall he also had a stage prop of entering through those old fashioned butchers shop red and white vertical strip tapes attached to the stage entrance. His thing was little blazer button badges, at the end of the gig, he’d personally hand them out and shake everyone’s hand. Absolute genius and very misunderstood by the mainstream. Terry Christian tried hard to get Sidebottom for The Word on Channel 4. The producer said no, so The Stone Roses were a last minute stand in, as recommended by Sievey, who was big mates of Ian Brown and Manny from the Lightsight area. That’s how generous Sievey was, didn’t get the tv gig himself but wanted others to benefit.

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Ok-fine-man@reddit (OP)

That's amazing. Are you able to recount your interaction with him, please? And what sort things did he do in his act, anything particularly memorable?

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Candid-Ad8506@reddit

When he came over to speak to our table I told him I'd really enjoyed it. He gave me a pair of autographed football shorts (still have them!) and a very old cassette. I told him I was booking onto his Magic Timperley Bus Tour and he said it was great, it really was. The show itself was amazing. Songs, a casino keyboard, Little Frank made an appearance. Everyone on their feet singing along. I never got to go on the bus tour, he died 6 months later. I still go and visit the statue in Timperley every year for a photo though! I've just checked, there's lots of videos on YouTube from the 2009 tour!

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The_Lost_Boy_1983@reddit

I met Chris Sievey without his trademark “Paul McCartney” paper mache head on. It was set up by a mate of his, Foo Foo Lamar who ran a drag club on Canal St? I think. I interviewed Frank Sidebottom and Foo Foo (Frank Pearson) and called my piece To be Frank. It didn’t get published. Both great people with a story for every single day of the year. Sievey was in a band called the Freshies and Chris Evans and Timmy Mallett used to have them on their Piccadilly Radio show a bit. Evans was Malletts runner back then. Happy Days.

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Ok-fine-man@reddit (OP)

Am I able to read your article anywhere? Sounds great. You should post it online somewhere. Or even just copy an paste it in a comment here.

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The_Lost_Boy_1983@reddit

Haha I was 16 It was 25 years ago It was on blotting paper ffs

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Ok-fine-man@reddit (OP)

Okay, cheers for downvoting my comment.

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The_Lost_Boy_1983@reddit

Apologies fixed that now

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The_Lost_Boy_1983@reddit

That’s right. Do you remember “Too Much Gravy” was Evan’s doing his version of the Mallett/Steve Wright zoo format show on late night Piccadilly? Another great show was with Alan Beswick who used to wind up late night callers.

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Ok-fine-man@reddit (OP)

I think you responded to the wrong comment

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The_Lost_Boy_1983@reddit

I’m drunk sorry

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Ok-fine-man@reddit (OP)

Evans was also Chris' driver for when he was touring with the band

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OccidentalTouriste@reddit

Never met him but I did get one of his Papier mache ears at the Poly of Wales in the 80s.

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blackcherrycavendish@reddit

A Frank and Eric Andre collab show. Can you imagine?

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Ok-fine-man@reddit (OP)

Chris Sievey would never go for it. He famously wanted completed control and would only use his own ideas. If you watch Frank's old shows, you'll see just how light years ahead he was. Much funnier than Andre in my opinion.