Comedy
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication to comedy@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Siân Bevan. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
Thursday 11
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. Adam Crow, Wil, Stu Who? and Steve Harris will be here all week, along with hot food, dancing afterwards and the chance to feel merry and unnecessarily huggy. Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. Yay, it’s nearly Christmas! Do the traditional thing and go and listen to some dirty jokes, courtesy of Brendan Riley, Joe Heenan, Smug Roberts and Sinck. Fit O’ The Giggles @ The Argyle The Argyle Bar, 15–17 Argyle Place, 221 9759. 9pm. £3 (£2). Keara Murphy hosts an evening of quality comedy, as the grown-up version of her popular Absolute Beginners night. With a magical joke competition to win a bottle of fizzy plonk. Heresy The Jekyll & Hyde, 112 Hanover Street, 225 2022. 9pm. £3. The Heresy basement continues to emit the baddest jokes every Thursday night, lead by MC Rick Molland. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £7 (£6; members £3). The Reverend Obadiah Steppenwolfe III hosts this evening in his unique, yet holy, way. With Rob Deering, John Ross, Chris Ramsey and Dee Custance.
Friday 12
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Thu 11. DAM Fine Comedy Gramafon, 7 King Street, 552 7177. 8pm. £5. Jon Stanley is your gracious host in this weekly comedy treat. Top local acts for a mere fiver.
✽✽ The Stand The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055.
8.30pm. £9 (£8; members £5). Bruce Devlin comperes this weekend, and a fine weekend it is too, with comedy from Tony Burgess, Stephen Carlin, Patrick Rolink and Dave Strong. Knock yourselves out. Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044 . 7.30pm. From £8. See Thu 11. The Stand The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £9 (£8; members £5). See Thu 11.
Saturday 13
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Thu 11. Comedy @ The State The State Bar, 148 Holland Street, 332 2159. 9pm. £5. Every Saturday night The State basement is home to another collection of stand-up and love.
✽✽ The Stand The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055.
9pm. £12. See Fri 12. Woodlands Bumper Value Comedy Club Uisge Beatha, 232–246 Woodlands Road, 564 1596. 9pm. £6 (£4). MC Alan Anderson handpicks another line-up to satisfy the needs of Glaswegian Saturday night wit-seekers. Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044 . 7.30pm. From £8. See Thu 11. The Stand The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £12. See Thu 11.
50 THE LIST 11 Dec 2008–8 Jan 2009
Sunday 14
Glasgow ✽✽ Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333
Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). Oh, where would we be without the ever reliable Mr Redmond and his Sunday showcase of joy? This week he’s joined by Stephen Carlin, Ricky Callan, Martin McAllister and Jim Park. Improbabble The Liquid Ship, 171–175 Great Western Road, 331 1901. 9pm. £4 (£3). The Improbabble crew (Billy Bonkers, Peter Aitchison, Obie and Kari McKenna) perform a high-energy night of sketches and stand-up based around audience suggestions.
Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch is it Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1pm. Stand improv dudes Stu and Garry riff more comedy gold from audience suggestions. The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). If any line-up on earth could get you in the Christmas spirit, this is it. Sherbet-filled compere Billy Kirkwood introduces John Ross, Jay Lafferty, Garry Dobson, Gus Lymburn and John Whale.
Monday 15
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. Martin Bigpig, Trevor Crook, Sandy Nelson and Rudi Lickwood are performing at Jongleurs this week, so leave your work head behind and go down for some comedy and a wee dance afterwards.
✽✽ The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road,
0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). Bruce Morton is your comedy Santa, providing festive cheer as the host of this special Christmas line-up. Acts include The Reverend Obadiah Steppenwolfe III, John Ross and JoJo Sutherland. Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044 . 7.30pm. From £8. Raymond Mearns, Johnny Candon, Ninia Benjamin and Rob Deering will all be there. You should be too. Fit O’ The Giggles Absolute Beginners The Mercat, 28 West Maitland Street, 225 3861. 8.30pm. £2. Every Monday the Mercat plays host to a selection of new comics and more established acts testing out their latest gags. Tonight is headlined by Graeme Thomas and compered by Keara Murphy. The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). Don your comedy Santa hats, down your mulled wine and scoff a mince pie on the way to the mighty seasonal offering from The Stand. Susan Morrison hosts, introducing the magnificent blustering of headliner Phil Nichol, as well as Gary Little, Stuart Murphy and Garry Dobson.
Tuesday 16
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15.
✽✽ The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). See Mon 15.
Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044 . 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15. The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). See Mon 15. Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15. The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). See Mon 15.
COMEDY OF THE YEAR
In the past 12 months, America was at long last able to give itself a good hard slap on the back. Not only did they dispense with Bush and give McCain the elbow, they allowed some of their finest comic minds to invade these shores in a non-violent, genuinely hilarious manner. Chris Rock showed us just why he is the king of comedy with a visceral set about racial politics while raising the bar on gender comedy and Doug Stanhope popped our way briefly to show why he still has Bill Hicks’ celestial ear. During the Edinburgh Fringe, the US could be proud of citizens such as John Pinette, the big guy with the massive talent, physical double act Pajama Men, kooky old Kristen Schaal who in tandem with Kurt Braunohler nabbed an if.comedy nomination while pick of the summer bunch was Louis CK and his superbly brittle musings about his nation, his gender and his age.
The Fringe also featured some excellent avant-gardists with The
Meeting having us pray for that site-specific show going into overtime, Joke-oke making stand-up stars of the audience and JL Roberts and Nadia Kamil bamboozling us all with their Wisecrackin’, Mindsqueezin’ Behemoth. The best of the ‘summer’ character acts were Joanna Neary and Adam Riches (who truly suffered for his art by smashing up his leg onstage but continuing his August, em, run with the aid of a chair) while some strong sketch shows arrived from Lady Garden, Idiots of Ants, WitTank and Pros from Dover.
But loudest cheer of 2008 went to the splendid David O’Doherty who capped a fine year by winning the big prize in August for his latest organ-friendly sit-down extravaganza, Let’s Comedy. And we only hope that everyone does just that in 2009. (Brian Donaldson)
Wednesday 17
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15.
✽✽ The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). See Mon 15.
Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044 . 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15. The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). See Mon 15. Thursday 18
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15.
✽✽ The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). See Mon 15.
Fit O’ The Giggles @ The Argyle The Argyle Bar, 15–17 Argyle Place, 221 9759. 9pm. £3 (£2). See Thu 11. Heresy The Jekyll & Hyde, 112 Hanover Street, 225 2022. 9pm. £3. See Thu 11. Friday 19
Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15. DAM Fine Comedy Gramafon, 7 King Street, 552 7177. 8pm. £5. See Fri 12.
✽✽ The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £12 (£9). See Mon 15.
Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 7.30pm. From £8. See Mon 15.
✽✽ Craig Hill’s Alternative Christmas Message Traverse
Theatre, Cambridge Street, 228 1404. 8pm. £13 (£5–£8). The perky kilted one cheers up everyone with jokes, tunes and lashings and lashings of camp. The Stand Christmas Special The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £12 (£9). See Mon 15.
Saturday 20 Glasgow Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs,