www.list.co.uk/comedy
Comedy @ The State The State Bar, 148 Holland Street, 332 2159. 9pm. £6. See Sat 24. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 9pm. £13. See Thu 29 for line-up. Edinburgh Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 6.30pm & 10pm. From £11. See Fri 30. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £13. See Thu 29 for line-up but with Sean McLoughlin replacing Rick Molland.
Sunday 1
Glasgow Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 3–4pm. £3. Live laughs for younger comedy fans. This week Sian Bevan, John Gordillo and host Bruce Devlin keep it clean for ages 8–12. No under 5s; all kids must be accompanied by an adult.
✽✽ Simon Amstell: Do Nothing Pavilion Theatre, 121 Renfield
Street, 332 1846. 7.30pm. £20 (£18). The Never Mind the Buzzcocks host famous for his biting jibes at guests and pop stars shows off his sensitive and self- deprecating side in his stand-up show. See preview. FREE Ha Ha Raw Comedy Ivory Hotel, Langside Avenue, Shawlands, 8.30pm. See Sun 25. Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). Start your November off with the surreal fizzbang of a night with Michael Redmond. There’s lots of funny boys tonight, namely John Gordillo, Chris Henry, Derek Johnston and Rob Kane.
Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch is it Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1pm. See Sun 25. The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). It’s All Saints Day, so celebrate in the Church of Comedy with compere Stu Murphy, Alan Sharp, The Wee Man, Jeff O’Boyle and the gentle world of David Kay.
Monday 2
Glasgow Improv Wars The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £4 (£2). A night of unexpected fun, as Billy Kirkwood, Garry Dobson, Stu Murphy, Chris Forbes and The Improv Dogs champion the fine art of improvised comedy. Edinburgh Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2 (£1). Sian Bevan and improvisational wizards Stu & Garry will be joined by a pick ‘n’ mix of new acts.
Tuesday 3
Glasgow FREE The Go Button The Inn, Station Road, Bearsden, 8.30pm. The Go Button continues its successful brand with this Bearsden gigaroony, featuring five comedians for no pennies. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £2 (£1). Andy Sir and Bruce Fummey gee up more new acts who fancy themselves as a bit of a comedian. Go and see if they’re right.
Edinburgh ✽✽ Simon Amstell: Do Nothing Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson
Street, 529 6000. 7.30pm. £20 (£18). See Sun 1.
✽✽ Jason Manford Special The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street,
668 2019. 8pm. £14. The affable northern one from 8 Out of 10 Cats is making a
STAND-UP SIMON AMSTELL Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, Sun 1 Nov; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 3 Nov
Simon Amstell is gifted. Gifted with the sort of comedy head-start that many aspiring stand-ups would swap vital organs for, that is. As a Jewish, gay, hapless, neurotic, slender whippet of a thing, with a tendency to stalk famous people he fancies, his routines must virtually write themselves. Add to that the fact that he has a background of TV work that has seen him interviewing glaikit pop puppets (on Channel 4’s Popworld) and hosting sarcastic celebrity panel shows for a living (on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which he gave up presenting earlier this year), and he must surely have several decades’ worth of good-to-go comedy material at his fingertips. Do Nothing, his very well-received Fringe show from this summer, does tap into his Jewishness, his gayness, and his obsession with Jared Leto lookalikes, plus the odd anecdote about famous people he happens to have met: ‘If I can be in a room with Keanu Reeves, then nothing is real any more.’ But mostly, his routine is just the very articulate, cerebral ramblings of a nerd, with the usual hang-ups about being good, being cool and being attractive to the people he finds attractive.
For those who didn’t catch the show back in August, it’s a chance to see what happens when the pop bitch drops his guard, and exposes his more sensitive, paranoid side. It will also explain why his dear old grandma is nothing but ‘an inauthentic sycophant’. Let’s just hope, for comedy’s sake, he never actually cottons on to how gifted he actually is. (Claire Sawers)
couple of appearances in Scotland so catch him in full, live, beautiful observational flow before TV land devours him whole. Wicked Wenches The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £3). The very marvellous and, let’s face it, pretty famous Lucy Porter headlines this month’s celebration of all things female and funny. With regular compere Susan Calman, AL Kennedy, Diane Morgan and Jay Lafferty. Wednesday 4
Glasgow Julian Clary: Lord of the Mince Pavilion Theatre, 121 Renfield Street, 332
1846. 7.30pm. £20 (£17.50). JC presents an intimate evening in celebration of 25 years in the camp spotlight, as he heads back to the stage. Wicked Wenches The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £6 (£5). AL Kennedy and Lucy Porter join tiny firebrand Susan Calman for a Glasgay! special.
Edinburgh ✽✽ The Broken Windows Policy The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272.
8.30pm. £4. The Stand’s sketch show (formerly The Sugaring-Off Cabin) returns with another batch of freshly baked goodies. Directed by Paul Sneddon and hosted by Joe Heenan.
Comedy Hitlist THE BEST COMEDY *
✽✽ Alun Cochrane The daydreaming Yorkshire lad who was born in Glasgow gives us the kind of blistering show that earned a mighty five stars from us in August. The Stand, Glasgow, Mon 26 Oct; The Stand, Edinburgh, Tue 27 Oct. ✽✽ Daniel Kitson He won’t let us into his shows or allow us the time for an interview, yet we still love the guy. Yorkshire comedy legend number two of this hitlist. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 28 Oct. ✽✽ Jim Jeffries The Aussie who now washes his smalls in California gets Hammered for one Glasgow night only. See 5 Things. Barrowland, Glasgow, Fri 30 Oct. ✽✽ Simon Amstell Giving up the TV presenting lark may well have been the best thing for this guy’s career. Do Nothing = Laugh Lots. See preview. Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, Sun 1 Nov; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 3 Nov. ✽✽ Jason Manford Not veering away from the box just yet is the Manc comic with the wry eye on life. Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Tue 3 Nov. ✽✽ The Broken Windows Policy The sketch crew formerly known as The Sugaring-Off Cabin return with more skits and bits. The Stand, Edinburgh, Wed 4 Nov.
Thursday 5
Glasgow FREE Bratchy and the Wee Man’s Comedy Pub Quiz The Arches Café Bar, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1035. 8pm. Comedic brothers Bratchy and The Wee Man, him of YouTube infamy, host a pub quiz with a difference with interactive games, WWE moves and tomfoolery. Oh, and there’ll be cash prizes and all. The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £8 (£7; members £5). Billy Kirkwood comperes this evening, which features a mighty impressive line-up: Lucy Porter, Mark Nelson, Diane Morgan and Andrew Learmonth. Edinburgh FREE Heresy The Jekyll & Hyde, 112 Hanover Street, 225 2022. 9pm. See Thu 22. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £8 (£7; members £4). Start the weekend off with a comedy session courtesy of Noel James, Gordon Southern, Phil Differ and Elaine Malcolmson, all held together with the sticky glue of host Scott Agnew.
22 Oct–5 Nov 2009 THE LIST 47