list.co.uk/comedy
Footlights Comedy Edinburgh Footlights, 7 Spittal Street, 229 6466. 7.30–10pm. £3. See Sun 20. The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £1). End the week with this generally very chilled Sunday offering, with Siân Bevan and Reverend Obadiah Steppenwolfe III. Monday 28
Glasgow ✽Glenn Wool: The Jokes I’m Most Fond Of The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £12 (£10). Wool chooses a selection of different jokes each night from his outstanding career that’s spanned 20 years. See preview, page 51. Edinburgh Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2. See Mon 21, but with Julia Sutherland.
Tuesday 29
Glasgow Jeff Dunham: Disorderly Conduct SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. 7.30pm. £25. US ventriloquist and internet phenomenon Dunham brings his latest tour (and puppets) to the UK. FREE Pop-Up Comedy The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 353 6450. 8.30pm. See Tue 22. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £2. See Tue 22, but with Scott Gibson hosts Stu & Garry. Edinburgh Bright Club 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.
Wednesday 30
Glasgow New Material Night Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 8pm. £3. See Wed 23. Bright Club The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £5. See Tue 29. Edinburgh Fresh Mutton Comedy The Pear Tree House, 34 West Nicolson Street, 667 7533. 8pm. £2. Alt.comedy night featuring the underdogs of comedy in all their weird and wonderful glory. ✽Glenn Wool: The Jokes I’m Most Fond Of The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £12 (£10). See Mon 28. With support from Frankie Boyle.
Thursday 1
Glasgow Vespbar Virgins Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 8pm. £2. See Thu 17. The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £10 (£7; members £5). Raymond Mearns storms the weekend, with Josh Howie, Dana Alexander and Neil McFarlane. Edinburgh Absolute Improv The Tron, 9 Hunter Square, High Street, 225 3784. 7–8pm. £5 (£3). See Thu 17.
E N R O H T A L L U E V E T S
✽Craig Campbell’s Thrilling Mic Hunt Ladywell Way, Musselburgh, 665 2240. 8pm. £15 (£14). The livewire yet weirdly relaxed (how does he achieve that?) Canadian with deep Scottish roots returns for some energetic fun. See My Comedy Hero, page 54. Men with Coconuts The Canons’ Gait, 232 Canongate, 556 4481. 8.30–10pm. £5 (£4). See Thu 17. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£7; members £5). Joe Heenan takes on hosting duties, and this weekend it’s Gary Little, Caimh McDonnell, Angie McEvoy and Rosie Wilby.
Friday 2 Glasgow Laughter Eight Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 8–9.30pm. £8. Early stand-up show from a handful of comedians. The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £12 (£10; members £6). See Thu 1 for line-up. Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, The Glasshouse, 20 Glassford Street, 0870 011 1960. 8.30pm. £15. With Janey Godley, Johnny Kats and Will-E. Vespbar Comedy Club Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 10–11.45pm. £10. See Fri 18, but with John Gavin, Allan Park and Ben Fisher. MC Viv Gee.
Edinburgh ✽Rosie Wilby: Nineties Woman Summerhall, 1 Summerhall,
0845 874 3001. 7.30pm. £8 (£6). The comedian recounts her time as an early 90s feminist in this interactive, multimedia storytelling event. The Beehive Comedy Club Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £9. See Fri 18. The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £12 (£10; members £6). See Thu 1 for line-up.
Saturday 3
Glasgow Laughter Eight Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 8–9.30pm. £8. See Fri 2. Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, The Glasshouse, 20 Glassford Street, 0870 011 1960. 8.30pm. £16. See Fri 2. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 9pm. £15. See Thu 1 for line-up. Vespbar Comedy Club Vespbar, 14 Drury Street, 204 0060. 10–11.45pm. £10. See Fri 18, but with John Gavin, Neil MacFarlane and Paul McDougall. MC Viv Gee. Edinburgh The Beehive Comedy Club Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £9. See Fri 18. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £15. See Thu 1 for line-up.
Sunday 4
Glasgow Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 3pm. £4. Live comedy for younger fans, particularly those aged 8–12. Bank Holiday Special The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). With Josh Howie, Dana Alexander, Neil McFarlane and host Michael Redmond. Comedian Rap Battles The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £6 (£4). Unmissable combination of rap fantasies and big egos. With street cred on the line, who’ll choke and who’ll gain ‘nuff respect? Edinburgh FREE Stu and Garry’s Free Improv Show The Stand, 5 York
TV WARREN UNITED ITV4, Tue 22 Apr, 10pm ●●●●●
The big pitch for this new animated sitcom from Baby Cow about football and family is that it’s here just in time for the Champions League Semi-Finals and Brazil World Cup. My guess is that people looking forward to those particular events won’t need a lukewarm cartoon about a football-obsessed dad to get them any more juiced up than they probably are already.
Written by Simon Nye (How Do You Want Me?: hurrah! and Men Behaving Badly: boo!), the opening episode, ‘July’, is a virtually laugh- free torrent of silage about what it means to be an addict when the source of your dependency has been withdrawn. The actual football bits are so ludicrous that they make Escape to Victory feel like a slice of Loach-esque vérité.
Still, no one should seriously expect a comedic animation to fully tackle life as we know it, and Warren United has about as much to say about the politics of sport as Archer has anything remotely interesting to offer on the deeper machinations of America’s secret services. Thankfully, the second episode, ‘Mascot’, scores better with actual laughs, even if they are mainly provided by a couple of police horses and a story that tackles the perils of ageing and the lengths you might go to for your children’s happiness.
Cast-wise, it’s certainly a tasty line-up, with Darren Boyd as the titular dad, Morwenna Banks playing his faith-losing son, Nitin Ganatra as Warren’s work colleague and Johnny Vegas voicing the manager of Warren’s fairly useless team. Hopefully the series will up its game before the season is done. (Brian Donaldson)
COMEDY
5 THINGS . . .
YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT . . . MARK THOMAS
1 In 2015, Mark Thomas will celebrate 30 years since his first stand-up gig. But he went way past the point of being known as a mere ‘stand-up’ long ago. This is the man who got in a whole heap of trouble for putting a bounty of £4320 on the head of George W Bush, and who’s also the proud recipient of a Kurdish National Congress Medal of Honour. 2 As a natural rabble-rouser, he is fairly sure his own children will rebel against him at some point. All he asks of them is that they don’t work in the advertising industry and never vote Tory. 3 Although a political animal, he’s not so sure about comics entering the political realm. He feels that Eddie Izzard, for example, might make a good Mayor of London, despite (or because of?) his ‘attention span of a gnat’. On the flipside, he also wishes Russell Brand would stop telling people not to vote. 4 Thomas says he was an atheist at the age of eight, an anarchist at 15, and a Trotskyite at 19. These days, he reckons he’s an ‘angry and confused liberal’. 5 Piers Morgan is the only person he would invite to his dream dinner party. He would also like to be remembered as ‘the man who poisoned Piers Morgan’. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Óran Mòr, Glasgow, Mon 5 May.
Place, 558 7272. 1.30pm. See Sun 20. Footlights Comedy Edinburgh Footlights, 7 Spittal Street, 229 6466. 7.30–10pm. £3. See Sun 20. Bank Holiday Special The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £10 (£9). With Gary Little, Caimh McDonnell and Angie McEvoy.
Monday 5
Glasgow ✽The Great May Day Cabaret with Mark Thomas Óran Mòr, Byres Road, 357 6200. 6.30pm. £13. A socialist magician, some rousing folk tunes and comedy from the likes of the unrelated Mortons (Bruce and Eleanor) and headlining London boy Mark Thomas. See 5 Things, above. Edinburgh Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2. See Mon 21, but with Paul Pirie and host Jay Lafferty.
17 Apr–15 May 2014 THE LIST 53