Comedy
✽✽ HITLIST
THE BEST COMEDY THIS FORTNIGHT
Scottish champ Des Clarke. The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 17 for line-up. Upstairs @ the Beehive Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 9pm. £5. Keara Murphy plus a selection of comedians equals a bargainous evening in the Grassmarket. The Improverts Bedlam Theatre, 11b Bristo Place, 225 9893. 10.30pm. £4.50 (£4). More improvised late-night funnies from the long running uni troupe, with a catalogue of famous ex-members. Saturday 19
Glasgow Peter Powers Pavilion Theatre, 121 Renfield Street, 332 1846. 7.30pm & midnight. £11–£14. See Fri 18. Tonight’s earlier show is safe for teens, the later one’s adults only.
✽✽ Jimmy Carr SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. 8pm. £25. See
Fri 18.
✽✽ Highlight Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844
0044. 8pm. £12. See Fri 18. Saturday @ the Dram Dram, 232–246 Woodlands Road, 332 1622. 8.30pm. £7 (£5). Alan Anderson’s weekly Glasgow comedy night, with top line-ups for a bargain price. Comedy @ the State The State Bar, 148 Holland Street, 332 2159. 9pm. £7 (£5). Chris Broomfield introduces John Purves and wee scamp Chris Henry in this much- loved gig. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 9pm. £15. See Thu 17 for line-up. Edinburgh Highlight Comedy Highlight, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 8.30pm. £13. See Fri 18. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £15. See Thu 17 for line-up. Upstairs @ the Beehive Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 9pm. £5. See Fri 18.
Sunday 20 Glasgow Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £1). You sit and relax with the super chillaxed Michael Redmond and some guests.
Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch Is It Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1.30pm. The popular weekly improv show from Stu and Garry, with hot food on offer as an extra reward. Get in early, seats go fast. Angelos Epithemiou & Friends The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 7.30pm. £16.50. The magical, grotesquely wonderful score-keeper on Shooting Stars steps to the front of stage.
✽✽ Jimmy Carr Playhouse, 18–22 Greenside Place, 0844 847 1660. 8pm.
£26. See Fri 18. The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £1). Put your coat on over your PJs and head to the Stand for a super- chilled night of comedy.
Monday 21
Glasgow ✽✽ Steve Williams The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879.
8.30pm. £10 (£8). The whimsical Welshman becomes a Stand-Up Storyteller Man for this debut national solo tour. See preview.
✽✽ Jimmy Carr Need some Laughter Therapy? Then sit back and relax with the Carrmeister. Or be on edge if you find his darker material a little unsettling. SECC, Glasgow, Fri 18 & Sat 19 Feb; Playhouse, Edinburgh, Sun 20 Feb. ✽✽ Keith Farnan Full Irish gagging as the comic with a conscience makes his winsome way back here. Highlight, Glasgow, Fri 18 & Sat 19 Feb. ✽✽ Steve Williams The Welsh worrier might be an excitable chap (those are references to previous Edinburgh shows: look them up if you want) but here he is just standing up and telling some stories (and that’s a reference to his current show). See preview. The Stand, Glasgow, Mon 21 Feb; The Stand, Edinburgh, Tue 22 Feb. ✽✽ Jason Manford The effortlessly likeable lad gets back to where the world is safe: on stage and away from the prying papers. See 5 Things. Playhouse, Edinburgh, Tue 22 & Wed 23 Feb.
Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2. New acts, new material and a rammed room full of optimism and people who don’t like paying more than £2 for a cracking night of comedy.
Tuesday 22
Glasgow FREE Comedy at the Halt Bar The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 352 9996. 8pm. Glasgow new talent showcase, collecting the optimistic open spots like badges. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £2. See Mon 21.
Edinburgh ✽✽ Jason Manford Playhouse, 18–22 Greenside Place, 0844 847 1660.
7.30pm. £21. Catch the Manford in full, live, beautiful observational flow before TV land devours him whole. Just don’t mention Twitter, for God’s sake. See 5 Things.
✽✽ Steve Williams The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £10 (£8).
See Mon 21. Wednesday 23
Glasgow Best of Irish Comedy The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £7 (£6; members £3). Michael Redmond presents some of his funny compatriots. Tonight covers a wide range of comedy, from sketches to surreal stand-up with
Edinburgh Highlight Comedy Highlight, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 8.30pm. £13. Hot food, an aftershow club and a beautiful night of comedy. Smug Roberts and Adam Crow are joined by Edinburgh Fit o’ the Giggles Out with the Old Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8pm. £2 (£1). Comedians try out their latest material in the cosy, cosy Beehive. Which is not a real beehive.
STAND-UP STEVE WILLIAMS The Stand, Glasgow, Mon 21 Feb; The Stand, Edinburgh, Tue 22 Feb
In the middle of his first national tour, Welsh comic Steve Williams has just returned from an early morning jog. Admitting to carrying a little excess baggage from the festive period, there may well be another more comedy-based reason why he has been taking to the streets. ‘I try and write every day but I do more thinking rather than physically sitting down and writing. You’ll walk down the street and see someone letting their dog go toilet in someone’s garden and you think, “Why is that happening?”, and then you fantasise about different scenarios and generating ideas from that. When I was at school, they called it daydreaming. Everyone has their own system, and I’m quite sensory and inspired by things I see and hear: I’m really just a daydreamer stroke fantasist.’ With a whimsical, observational wit, Williams has been making his
stand-up dreams come true for almost a decade, from appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe as part of the Comedy Zone in 2004 to touring with Lee Mack in 2006. Williams describes Mack as a ‘master’, but on that jaunt learned just as much about sticky toffee pudding: ‘We were in the Lake District for five days and had it every night.’
Having performed solo Fringe shows such as Binge Thinking and The Ultimate Worrier, Williams has been away from the August madness for a couple of years, having earned a scripting gig on Russell Howard’s Good News which immediately writes off four months of his calendar. This first UK-wide tour, Stand-Up Storyteller Man, has brought him back to these parts (‘I love Scotland. It’s like geographical angina: once you’ve been there it never leaves you’) as well as allowing him heartfelt trips back to the valleys. ‘They have massive significance for me, but not necessarily so for the audience. I love going home and performing in Wales, but to them it’s just another guy on stage. I’ll get all emotional and they’re thinking, “Well, this beats going to the cinema.”’ (Brian Donaldson)
Friday 18
Glasgow Peter Powers Pavilion Theatre, 121 Renfield Street, 332 1846. 7.30pm. £11–£14. Regular comedy hypnotist show. Tonight is ‘Family Fun Night’.
✽✽ Jimmy Carr SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. 8pm. £25.
Razor-sharp gags and increasingly mobile eyebrows (you noticed it too, right?) from that bloke off the telly with the laugh.
✽✽ Highlight Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 8pm. £12. Billy Kirkwood and Keith Farnan spend a weekend being funny, with another funny guest, also being funny. Free club entry after the show. The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 17 for line- up.
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 17
Glasgow The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £8 (£7; members £4). This weekend sparkles with the unpredictable glitter of Ian Cognito, Gus Tawse, Danny Lobell and Susan Morrison. Edinburgh FREE Heresy The Jekyll & Hyde, 112 Hanover Street, 225 2022. 9pm. The weekly basement of edgy comedy, headed up by Rick Kill Your God Molland. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £8 (£7; members £4). He’ll have sharpened his claws, and now Bruce Devlin is here for the weekend to introduce Brendan Dempsey, Sam Gore and guests.
56 THE LIST 17 Feb–3 Mar 2011