list.co.uk/comedy Comedy
5 THINGS
YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT . . . JEREMY HARDY 1 Hampshire lad Hardy got into the stand-up game in the early 80s and scooped the Perrier in 1988, beating off competition from fellow nominees such as Doug Anthony Allstars and Robert Llewellyn. 2 His radio show Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation was highly acclaimed and often pretty controversial. The programme’s notoriety reached a zenith in 2004 when he suggested that supporters and members of far-right parties should be ‘shot in the head’. The comment led to a gig he was due to perform in Burnley being cancelled.
3 Hardy wrote a column for The Guardian for yonks, until they had a bit of a falling out. Word has it that the powers-what-be decided he wasn’t being funny enough, having requested five proper gags per column. Hardy reckoned that providing humour wasn’t the problem, just that he had gone all ‘angry, belligerent and nasty’.
4 His favourite TV show of all time is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Could be he has a thing about bloodsuckers – in 2003, he was reported to be working on a script about members of the undead with animator Mike Booth. 5 Hardy appeared in Blackadder the Fourth as a member of a firing squad and had an uncredited role as a shop assistant in Neil Jordan’s 1986 crime drama Mona Lisa. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 29 & Wed 30 May.
Wednesday 13
Glasgow ✽✽ Frankie Boyle: Work in Progress The Stand, 333
Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 6pm. £10. See Mon 28. New Material Night Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 07909 822841. 8–10.30pm. £3. See Wed 30. The Fun Junkies The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £2.50). Magic, sketches and musical breaks from the madcap How Do I Get Up There sketch boys.
Got an opinion? You can now Comment on all our articles at list .co.uk 24 May–21 Jun 2012 THE LIST 83
RADIO BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES Radio 4, Fri 25 May, 11.30am ●●●●●
The old triumvirate of hatch, match and dispatch will surely prove fertile for the big comedic brain of David Schneider as he launches his new radio sitcom. Set in a Local Register Office, chief registrar Malcolm Fox (not Ian Rankin’s post-Rebus crimestopper, but the lad Schneider himself) is a bundle of insecurities which crank him up towards neurotic overload. Having been given an impromptu psychic reading,
he feels that it might be time to take more risks; at first this means deviating from his regular sandwich filling (tuna mayonnaise) but eventually has him popping up onto a rollercoaster to pronounce a pair as wedded. His emotional predicaments are not helped by a staff who would test the steeliest resolve. Luke (Russell Tovey) is a little too excited by almost
everything (though he was given a pass by Malcolm when he discovered a doughnut shaped like Princess Anne); Lorna (Sarah Hadland) has an eye on Malcolm’s job and is on an austerity drive which involves cramming in as many ceremonies into one day as humanly impossible; ditzy Anita (Sandy McDade) has a heart of gold but can’t help getting everything all muddled up.
Even more so than TV, the characters in a radio comedy have to jump out at us and can often be so vividly drawn as to be almost post-caricature. Fortunately, the experienced Schneider (you’ll probably have seen him on Alan Partridge’s various shows as BBC commissioning editor Tony Havers and as himself on the odd Newsnight Review/Review Show malarkey) keeps things reasonably restrained and ticking over nicely in a way that only a Radio 4 morning sitcom can. (Brian Donaldson)
Friday 8
Glasgow The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 7 for line-up. Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, The Glasshouse, 20 Glassford Street, 0870 011 1960. 8.30pm. £15. With Sam Avery, Mike Newall, Kevin Dewsbury and Wayne Deakin. Edinburgh Friday Night Live The Shack, 119 Rose Street, 226 4311. 8pm. £8. See Fri 25. The Beehive Comedy Club Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £5–£7. See Fri 1. The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 7 for line-up.
Saturday 9
Glasgow Comedy @ The State The State Bar, 148 Holland Street, 332 2159. 8.15pm. £7 (£5). See Sat 26. Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, The Glasshouse, 20 Glassford Street, 0870 011 1960. 8.30pm. £16. See Fri 8. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 9pm. £15. See Thu 7 for line-up. Edinburgh Saturday Night Live The Shack, 119
Rose Street, 226 4311. 8pm. £10. See Fri 25. The Beehive Comedy Club Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £5–£7. See Fri 1. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £15. See Thu 7 for line-up. Sunday 10
Glasgow FREE Fresh Meat The Butterfly and the Pig, 153 Bath Street, 221 7711. 8.30pm. See Sun 27. Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £1). Jeff Innocent, Stephen Carlin and Keara Patricia Murphy.
Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch Is It Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1.30pm. See Sun 27.
✽✽ Frankie Boyle: Work in Progress The Stand, 5 York Place,
558 7272. 5pm. £10. See Mon 28. Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £1). See Sun 27, but with Eleanor Morton.
Monday 11
Glasgow ✽✽ Frankie Boyle: Work in Progress The Stand, 333 Woodlands
Road, 0844 335 8879. 6pm. £10. See Mon 28. Improv Wars The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £4 (£2). See Mon 28. Edinburgh Comedy Variety Show City Café, 19 Blair Street, 220 0125. 8–10.30pm. £3 (£2; £1 if booked in advance through lastminute.com). See Mon 28. The Beehive Comedy Club Newbees Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8pm. £2. See Mon 4. Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2. See Mon 28, but with Tommy Rawson.
Tuesday 12
Glasgow FREE Pop-Up Comedy The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 353 6450. 8.30pm. See Tue 29. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £2. See Tue 29, but with Tommy Rowson. Edinburgh The Beehive Comedy Club Newbees Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8pm. £2. See Mon 4. Bright Club: Edinburgh The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5. The hardworking staff at Edinburgh’s universities are let out for the night to share their tales about the weird, wonderful, and often very funny, world of research.