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Chris Sievey

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Frank Sidebottom at the Bull and Gate, Kentish Town, London

Frank Sidebottom is a fictional comedic character created and performed by English comedian and musician Chris Sievey. Frank is instantly recognisable by his spherical papier-mâché head (styled like an early Max Fleischer , Disney or Merrie Melodies cartoon), worn by Sievey during performances. Frank also usually wears a sharp suit, in a 1950s style.

The concept behind Frank is that he's an aspiring pop star from Timperley (a village in Altrincham, Greater Manchester). Although seemingly middle-aged, he still lives at home with his mother, to whom he makes frequent references. His mother is apparently unaware of her son's popularity. Frank sometimes has a sidekick in the form of Little Frank, a hand puppet who is otherwise a perfect copy of Frank.

Sidebottom's former Oh Blimey Big Band members include Mark Radcliffe and Jon Ronson, and his driver was Chris Evans.

Frank's character is optimistic, enthusiastic and seemingly unaware of his failings. Comedy characters Mrs Merton and John Shuttleworth both started out as Frank's sidekicks on his radio show "Radio Timperley", and the similarity of the characters is evident, all of them exuding a sense of great ambition which belies a domestic lifestyle in the north-west of England.

History

Frank was first revealed to the world on a 12in promotional record which came free with the Chris Sievey-created video game The Biz for the ZX Spectrum computer. The Frank Sidebottom character then went on to focus his output on comedy records, many of which were put out on the 'In Tape' record label of Manchester and previous to that, the 'Regal Zonophone' label.

He reached cult status in the late eighties/early nineties thanks to extensive touring of the country, and focusing on smaller towns such as St Helens. Performances were often varied from straight forward stand up comedy and featured novelty components such as tombola, and a lot of crowd interaction. Sometimes the show also included lectures. Contrasting against the alternative comedians of the time, Frank Sidebottom comedy was family-friendly, if a little bizarre for some tastes.

Frank also had his own comic strip in the children's weekly comic Oink! which was launched around the mid 80s as a rival to Viz.

Frank was perhaps most popular in the North West region of England, where his success was caught up in that of the Madchester scene, and for a time was a regular on regional ITV station Granada. He even featured as a reporter on its regional news programme, Granada Reports. At one point Frank had his own television show on ITV entitled Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show. He also made numerous appearances on Channel 4, including the British version of the game show Remote Control, where each week he would pose "Frank's Fantastic Question" to the contestants.

Along with television, the Frank Sidebottom character also made appearances on radio, on stations such as Manchester station Piccadilly Radio and on Radios 1 and 5, alongside Mark and Lard.

Frank sang Being For the Benefit of Mister Kite on the charity album Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father, which featured other acts like Michelle Shocked, The Christians, Sonic Youth, Billy Bragg, Hue and Cry, The Fall and Wet Wet Wet.

Frank faded into obscurity in the late nineties, rarely appearing either on TV or live appearances. A one off performance at Manchester's Club Indigo Vs Manic Street Mania in December 2005 seemed to be the catalyst for an unlikely comeback.

In 2006, Frank reappeared on the Greater Manchester regional channel, Channel M. His new show, Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show in B/W, features celebrity guests and animation. The first showing of each show is in black and white ("so you don't have to turn the colour down"), whilst subsequent repeats are shown in full colour. He has also made two appearances on Iain Lee's programme on London's LBC.

His most recent show has been a "test card" shown late at night on Channel M, where he and Little Frank ramble on and sing songs whilst framed in a parody of the classic "Test Card F" in the guise of the little girl and cuddly toy.

On the March 6 2007 episode of The Podge And Rodge Show, he appeared in their 'Sham-Rock' talent section, performing a medley of songs by The Smiths. He received an overall score of 22 points from judges James Nesbitt and Glenda Gilson, putting him in 1st place for all the series' acts so far.

Frank will be starring in his own exhibition of drawings, animation and cardboard at London's CHELSEA space gallery next to Tate Britain from 4th July - 4th August 2007. He will also be appearing at Late at Tate Britain on August 3rd 2007.

Trivia

  • On Saturday 26th May 2007, Frank appeared on the ITV2 show "Greased Lightnin' Results", performing the title track from "Grease"
  • In 2005, Frank wrote an episode of Pingu entitled Bedtime Shadows, available on the DVD Stinky Pingu.
  • In June 2006 Frank was the subject of an exhibition at Tate Britain at which he premièred the first episode of his new animation series Frank's World.
  • Frank is a supporter of Altrincham F.C.
  • His catchphrase is generally a reworking of "You know it is, it really is." and is placed at the end of every song he performs, after which he thanks the listener.
  • He appeared in the Peter Kay, Matt Lucas and The Proclaimers Comic Relief Video
  • Frank Sidebottom is referenced as part of the British cultural pantheon and, more importantly, a specifically intoned voice (by anti-hero D.S. Bruce Robertson) in Irvine Welsh's book Filth.
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