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 27
Glasgow Slumdog Stand Up Slumdog Bar & Kitchen, 410 Sauchiehall Street, 333 9933. 7.30pm. £19.95 (inc meal). Slumdog’s finest cuisine is topped off with a comedy-flavoured dessert, as four top performers help settle your food with some jokes. The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £8 (£7; members £4). There’s a bit of an Irish flavour to this weekend, as Michael Smiley and Carol Tobin join host Bruce Devlin for entertainment ahoy. With twinkly-eyed John Gillick and Bob Graham. Edinburgh Improbables The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, 60 Pleasance, 556 6550. 8pm. £5 (£3). An evening of improvised comedy, in the comfort of the Pleasance Cabaret bar.
Ghillie Gags Ghillie Dhu, 2 Rutland Place, 222 9930. 8.30pm. £15 inc dinner. Enjoy a two course meal and a selection of comedians, or head along after 10pm and get in for a fiver for the DJs. FREE Heresy The Jekyll & Hyde, 112 Hanover Street, 225 2022. 9pm. The Heresy machine continues its evil plan to spread filthy material around Edinburgh, under the Lordship of Rick Molland.
✽✽ The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £8 (£7;
members £4). All kinds of feisty this weekend, from zesty host Susan Morrison to the catty bite of headliner Scott Capurro. With Scott Agnew, Daniel Sloss and Alan Sharp.
Friday 28
Glasgow Famous for Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 8pm. From £12. She may be small, but behold as Tanyalee Davis fills a room, with Martin Beaumont and Junior Simpson. Hot food available, and dancing included in the ticket price.
✽✽ Kevin Bridges SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. 8pm. £20. The
young whippersnapper has only raced through the ranks so bloomin’ fast that he’s got a solo show at the SECC. He’s
CHARACTER COMEDY BOB DOOLALLY’S WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN The Stand, Edinburgh, Tue 8 Jun; The Stand, Glasgow, Wed 9 Jun
‘It’s good to see Scotland has a presence at the World Cup this year,’ says Bob Doolally, ‘even if it’s only the haggis-flavoured World Cup crisps that Walkers are selling. I’m not so happy that they’ve started printing the English flag on Mars wrappers, though. Don’t they know that’s Scotland’s national diet?’ So speaks the sometime football player and manager, who now ‘hacks out a living as an after-dinner speaker and third-rate media pundit’ (he’s also the creation of Scots comedian Paul Sneddon). With World Cup fever once more gripping the UK – the part of it called
England, anyway – Bob has had plenty of experience mulling over Scotland’s underachievements in that field. ‘Argentina ‘78, that was a pinnacle for Scotland,’ he recalls through a drunken haze. ‘I know it was a fiasco, but you compare it to what’s happened since. Not that I was there, of course, I got sent home before the plane touched down. Some dispute about the daughter of an SFA official and which country we were travelling over on the occasion of her 16th birthday.’ So does he see any chance of a to return to the glory days of Scottish
football, when the Lisbon Lions could win a European Cup ‘training on pies’? ‘They have to do something about housing conditions in this country,’ Bob grumbles. ‘When I was a kid, we were always playing football in the street because our houses were shitholes. Look at Brazil, they all live in shanty towns. Until the country sorts out their progressive housing policy, I’m afraid it’s back to supporting any team that’s been to war with England and is likely to knock them out on penalties.’ (David Pollock)
50 THE LIST 27 May–10 June 2010
like Rihanna! But more Glasgow and way funnier. See 5 Things. The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 27 for line-up. Edinburgh FREE Comedy Club at The Station Station Tavern, 316 Gorgie Road, 347 8955. 7.30–9.30pm. The new comedy night on the Edinburgh scene, with a different line-up every week for no pennies at all. Famous for Comedy Highlight, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 8.30pm. From £10. Another packed line- up, with R David, Sean Grant, Christian Reilly and Owen O’Neill. The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 27 for line-up, but with Silky and Caroline Maybe replacing misters Sloss and Sharp.
Saturday 29
Glasgow Famous for Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 8pm. From £12. See Fri 28. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 9pm. £13. See Thu 28 for line-up. Edinburgh Fit O’ The Giggles Upstairs Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 9pm. £5. A newer offshoot of the FO’TG brand, with more experienced comedians offering a Saturday night’s entertainment. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £13. See Fri 28.
Sunday 30
Glasgow Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 3pm. £4. More intrepid comedians bring out their clean(ish) material for the younger funny fans. No under 5s; all kids must be accompanied by an adult. Bank Holiday Special The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9; members £5). Keep the magic going with droopy host Michael Redmond and the highlights of the weekend: Michael Smiley, John Gillick, Carol Tobin and Bob Graham. FREE Ha Ha Raw Comedy Ivory Hotel, Langside Avenue, Shawlands, 8.30pm. Different line-up each week for this free gig, in the rather pleasant Ivory Hotel. Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch is it Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1pm. Stu and Garry take up their customary position as weekly improv entertainers and freelance hangover curers. There’s hot food available but you need to get in early for a seat, ok? Bank Holiday Special The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £10 (£9; members £5). The weekend continues for one more evening, as the weekend’s crew hang around for another performance featuring MC Susan Morrison with Scott Capurro, Silky, Scott Agnew and Gus Lymburn.
Monday 31
Glasgow Dance, Monkey Boy, Dance The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £4. The Monkey Boys (and occasional guests) spark up their improv machines, ready to fire. With John Ross, Allen Chalmers and Raymond Mearns. Edinburgh Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2 (£1). End the month in the company of newer comedians having a go at the funnies, sometimes for a pant- wettingly terrifying first time. With Jojo Sutherland and Teddy.
Hitlist THE BEST COMEDY *
✽✽ Daniel Sloss With news that the young Fifer is set to star in his very own sitcom, conveniently entitled The Adventures of Daniel, your chances of seeing him on the small-ish stand-up stages of the nation may soon be limited. Here’s one such opportunity in a bumper bill which also features Scott Agnew and Scott Capurro. The Stand, Edinburgh, Thu 27 May. ✽✽ Kevin Bridges Another Scottish comic who has reached extraordinary levels of comic achievement at a relatively tender age is the lad from Clydebank who is appearing in the biggest solo gig of his life. See 5 Things. SECC, Glasgow, Fri 28 May. ✽✽ Reginald D Hunter Then there are some guys who have been round the comedy block and back again to gain their high status. One such mesmeric talent is the US-born, UK-residing stand-up and quiz show attendee who will be noising up the Fair City with tales of modern life and love. Perth Theatre, Wed 2 Jun. ✽✽ Tom Wrigglesworth The very tall Sheffield funster gained a jolly well-deserved Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination last August for his show about standing up for his (and a little old lady’s) rights in the face of corporate power. Here, he is on a swinging Gilded Balloon Comedy Circuit bill alongside Susan Calman and Patrick Monahan. The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Thu 3 Jun. ✽✽ Janey Godley Glasgow’s iconic comedic voice raises more hell in the face of a daft and often brutal world. And somehow makes all that bleak stuff darn funny. The Stand, Glasgow, Thu 10 Jun.
Tuesday 1 Glasgow FREE Comedy at the Halt Bar The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 352 9996. 8pm. The Halt Bar is proving a popular wee home for new comedians and fresh material every Tuesday night. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £2 (£1). Teddy tops a bill packed with new(ish) comedians, all hoping to make you laugh. Which is a bit sad if you think about it for too long.