list.co.uk/comedy
Improv Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1.30pm. See Sun 15. The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£2; members £1). See Sun 15, but with Rob Kane. Monday 13
Glasgow Alex Horne: Lies The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £15. Inventive and thought- provoking humour from the writer and leader of The Horne Section. Edinburgh Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2. See Mon 23, but with Ian Smith and host Jojo Sutherland.
Tuesday 14
Glasgow FREE Pop-Up Comedy The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 353 6450. 8.30pm. See Tue 17. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £2. See Tue 24, but with Ian Smith and host Susie McCabe.
Edinburgh ✽ Jo Caulfield Presents . . . The Speakeasy Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 8–10pm. £6. Musical comedy from the Martians, spoken word/ poetry from Jenny Lindsay, comedian Jane Walker, spoken word piece by Bernard O’Leary, comedian Stu Murphy, with MC Fiona Herbert plus special guests. Alex Horne: Lies The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £12. See Mon 13.
Wednesday 15
Glasgow New Material Night Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 8pm. £3. See Wed 18. Edinburgh Melting Pot The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5 (£2). Vote for the best of the new sketches and skits and revel in the fact that you’ve probably cheered up a writer’s night.
Stirling Alex Horne: Lies Macrobert, University of Stirling, 01786 466666. 8pm. £12. See Mon 13.
Thursday 16
Glasgow Vespbar Virgins Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 8pm. £2. See Thu 9. The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £10 (£5; members £2). There’s Billy Kirkwood leading the way this weekend, with Andrew Stanley, Phil Differ and John McGoldrick. Edinburgh The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£5; members £2). With Tony Burgess, Nish Kumar, Jim Park and Liam Withnail.
Friday 17
Glasgow The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £12 (£10; members £6). See Thu 16 for line-up. Vespbar Comedy Club Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 10pm. £8 (£6). Bruce Morton headlines with support from Andy Learmonth and Frazer Letham. MC Viv Gee. Edinburgh The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £12 (£10; members £6). See Thu 16 for line-up.
Saturday 18 Glasgow Comedy @ The State The State Bar, 148 Holland Street, 332 2159. 9pm. £7 (£5). See Sat 14. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 9pm. £15. See Thu 16 for line-up. Vespbar Comedy Club Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 10pm. £8 (£6). See Fri 17, but Graham Stirling replaces Frazer Letham.
Edinburgh The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £15. See Thu 16 for line-up.
Sunday 19 Glasgow Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £6 (£2; members £1). See Mon 15, but with Andrew Stanley.
Edinburgh FREE Stu and Garry’s Free Improv Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1.30pm. See Sun 15.
✽ Robert Newman’s New Theory Of Evolution The Stand, 5 York
Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £13 (£8). Chaotic stand-up based around the development of the human race. See preview, page 75.
Monday 20
Glasgow ✽Robert Newman’s New Theory Of Evolution The Stand, 333
Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £13 (£8). See Sun 19.
Edinburgh Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2. See Mon 23, but with Phil Wang.
Tuesday 21
Glasgow FREE Pop-Up Comedy The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 353 6450. 8.30pm. See Tue 17. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £2. See Tue 24, but with Phil Wang and host Liam Withnail.
Wednesday 22
Glasgow Chris Henry Stands Up The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 6pm. £4. Chris has lots to get off his chest: why he’d change drug laws, get rid of religion, Scottish independence and ‘gay’, all with plenty of energy, charm and laughs. New Material Night Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 8pm. £3. See Wed 18. Edinburgh Jo Caulfield Presents the Good, the Bad and the Unexpected The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5. Jo Caulfield hosts an evening of experimental stand-up, sketches, characters and even a rogue game show featuring some of Edinburgh’s finest.
Thursday 23
Glasgow The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £10 (£5; members £2). This weekend it’s all about Gary Little, Parrot, Ray Bradshaw, Stephen Halkett and superhost Susan Morrison. Edinburgh The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£5; members £2). Jojo Sutherland with this spunky line-up: Vladimir McTavish, Stu & Garry, Andrew Learmonth and Larry Dean.
COMEDY
LIVE COMEDY DVDS
Comedy man of the year is indisputably Russell Brand (●●●●●). Banned from South Africa, thrown out of the GQ awards party and discussing the rights and wrongs of voting were just three of his memorable off-stage larks. But when he actually got down to the bare bones of his new show Messiah Complex, he proved that he’s not just all mouth and no skin-tight trousers. The DVD version of Brand’s typically thoughtful musing on rebellious figureheads (Malcolm X, Che Guevara for two) allied to some wonderful self- mockery also has the added pleasure of him poking fun at a couple of celebs in his crowd: namely Gary Lineker and Morrissey. Spotting potential famous fans in the audience might prove to be a welcome distraction to the actual show put on by Seann Walsh (●●●●●). His observations about booze culture and mobile phones are banal and his slo-mo action segments merely prolong the agony. To give him some amount of credit, Walsh is more than capable of pulling off spot-on impersonations of fellow comedians, showing that there’s a possible future role for him as the new Bobby Davro. One of Walsh’s mimickees is his friend Josh Widdicombe (●●●●●)
who looks to have a surer path to glory ahead. Already he has engineered a solid, grumpy young man persona imbued with a 21st century Rigsby schtick. The Devon lad is confused by the world and while he offers lots of angst about the sort of domestic woes that Walsh dabbles in, Widdicombe’s is a decidedly fresher take (whether he’s discussing dark chocolate or Madame Tussauds). Jimmy Carr (●●●●●) is still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to writing a tight gag, but his latest show could actually be the beginnings of a mellower Jimmy (has the public outrage about his tax arrangements softened him up?). Despite still courting the offensive (rape, paedophilia, obesity, genocide), there are only two or three moments which result in sharp intakes of shocked disapproval.
A man who never heaps his audience in a slurry of controversy
is Adam Hills (●●●●●). The gentle Aussie really is the nice guy of stand-up whose sidekick is his regular sign interpreter, Glaswegian Catherine King. He takes much pleasure in making her sign some rude words, almost as much as he revels in chatting with his crowd. His actual set heavily mocks racism while conversely containing a fair amount of national generalisations, but Hills’ tale of messing things up royally on American TV is thoroughly enjoyable. When it comes to riffing off an audience, there really is no one like Ross Noble (●●●●●). His genial patter too often comes across as a wind-up toy repeatedly bashing itself against a brick wall, but much fun does lie in watching how far he will go before his risks pay off. Greg Davies (●●●●●) is finally reaping the rewards for hard comedy toil, and his show is a fun if lightweight trip through a seemingly very silly life. The two best bits revolve around car journeys: a holiday adventure as a child when he was convinced he and his family were about to be murdered and a more recent taxi ride with a surreally bigoted London cabbie. Comedy toil has also brought Sean Lock (●●●●●) to where he is now, and there’s no sign of his pin-sharp stand-up mind faltering as Purple Van Man has him pondering over binge drinking, Boris Johnson, evolution and the best celebrity to share a sleeping bag with, never letting an inventive twist pass him by. (Brian Donaldson)
12 Dec 2013–23 Jan 2014 THE LIST 77