Comedy

Edinburgh FREE Comedy Pow Wow The Illicit Still, 2 Brougham Street, Tollcross, 8.30pm. Replacing the comedy night at The Illicit Still comes a new and improved version featuring stand-up, sketches, songs, competitions and special guests. It features Ben Verth, Adam Mitchell, Phil O’Shea and Bob Graham. Wicked Wenches The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £3). June brings another selection of fresh- faced ladies shaking their comedy tail feathers with regular host Susan Calman, magic lass Mandy Muden, Carly Baker and Elaine Malcolmson.

Wednesday 2

Glasgow Wicked Wenches The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £3). See Tue 1. Edinburgh Fit O’ The Giggles Out with the Old Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £3 (£2). Experienced acts try out new material. It might be scratchy and raw, but somehow really satisfying. Like a rash. The Broken Windows Policy The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £4 (£2). Sketch-based fun continues at The Stand, with Ben Verth, Larah Bross, Caroline Robertson, Mike Walsh and Estoban MacGregor.

Perth ✽✽ Reginald D Hunter Perth Theatre, 185 High Street, 0845 612 6324. 8pm. SOLD OUT. Seeing as it’s sold out, would it be terrible to mention how good a comedian Reg is? It would? Ok. Don’t worry about it then.

Thursday 3

Glasgow Slumdog Stand Up Slumdog Bar & Kitchen, 410 Sauchiehall Street, 333 9933. 7.30pm. £19.95 (inc meal). See Thu 27. FREE Bratchy and The Wee Man’s Comedy Pub Quiz The Arches Café Bar, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1035. 8pm. A bouncy quiz show from brothers in comedy and blood, messrs Bratchy and The Wee Man. Prizes and stupidness drip from every wall. The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £8 (£7; members £4). A line-up really worth making the effort to see. Proper circuit comedy from Dougie Dunlop with Bethany Black, Rob Kane and the marvellous cabaret comedian The Boy With Tape on His Face. With MC Sandy Nelson.

Edinburgh ✽✽ The Comedy Circuit by Gilded Balloon The Voodoo Rooms, 19a

West Register Street, 556 7060. 8pm. £14 (£12). The June edition of the Comedy Circuit features the chipper trio of Tom Wrigglesworth, Patrick Monahan and Susan Calman; all bloomin’ good headliners in their own right and well worth the admission fee. Ghillie Gags Ghillie Dhu, 2 Rutland Place, 222 9930. 8.30pm. £15 inc dinner. See Thu 27. FREE Heresy The Jekyll & Hyde, 112 Hanover Street, 225 2022. 9pm. See Thu 27. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £8 (£7; members £4). Raymond Mearns hosts the weekend in his own special way, with the headline spot taken by the ever-reliable Paul Tonkinson. Support comes from the very magical Mandy Muden and Eddie O’Dwyer.

Got an opinion? You can now Comment on all our articles at list .co.uk 52 THE LIST 27 May–10 June 2010

5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT

KEVIN BRIDGES 1 Having served his apprenticeship as the class clown, Kevin Bridges was inspired by Frank Skinner’s autobiography to take the plunge and booked his first open spot by emailing The Stand at 2am during a restless night. A month later, he got the call while playing PlayStation with a mate, having concluded that no one had taken his application seriously. 2 He worked so hard on getting his material boiled down to the minutest detail that he wrote absolutely everything on paper, working on a script which began with the word ‘hello’. In the end, he got his first laugh by pointing out that he was a 17-year-old who had just been served a pint.

3 When he went to Glasgow Caledonian Uni to study social sciences (‘a cop-out purgatory degree passing the time between school and the real world’), he was still doing gigs across the country, recalling missing a class the morning after a night entertaining the people of Newcastle.

4 One of his toughest gigs to date was for the inmates at Shotts, where he made jokes about murder sentences and prison officers. While Bridges recalls some prisoners heading back to their cells rather than listening to his act, in the main his filthier material went down well. 5 A couple of weeks after his SECC date, Bridges will be headlining the RockNess comedy bill which takes place at Howard Marx’s boozer, the Howard’s End Pub. (Brian Donaldson) SECC, Glasgow, Fri 28 May.

See Tue 8.

Edinburgh Melting Pot The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). More sketchy performances of scripts sent in by aspiring local writers. Thursday 10 Glasgow ✽✽ The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £8 (£7; members £4). Yarns from Janey Godley, plus Sean Percival, Antony Murray and Danny Angelo, all under the watchful eye of host Joe Heenan.

Edinburgh Ghillie Gags Ghillie Dhu, 2 Rutland Place, 222 9930. 8.30pm. £15 inc dinner. See Thu 27. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £8 (£7; members £4). With Sandy Nelson, Kai Humphries and Heresy lord Rick Molland.

Andrew Lawrence ‘Ignore me’ may be his character’s catchphrase in the Johnny Vegas sitcom

Ideal, but with his star continuing to move in a vertical trajectory, it might be harder and harder and harder to cast Andrew Lawrence from your mind. The crazy hair may have been shorn but he thankfully hasn’t lost his gift for the mad and often dark side of life. Highlight, Edinburgh, Fri 4 & Sat 5 Jun.

Friday 4

Glasgow Famous for Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 8pm. From £12. Mat Reed, Steve Royle, Stuart Goldsmith and Roger Monkhouse. The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 3 Edinburgh FREE Comedy Club at The Station Station Tavern, 316 Gorgie Road, 347 8955. 7.30–9.30pm. See Fri 28. Famous for Comedy Highlight, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 6pm & 10pm. From £10. Enter the deeply dark world of Andrew Lawrence, who’ll be performing with Smug Roberts, Dan Evans and Curtis Walker. The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 3 for line-up.

Saturday 5

Glasgow Famous for Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 8pm. From £12. See Fri 4. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 9pm. £13. See Thu 3 for line-up. Edinburgh Famous for Comedy Highlight, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 6pm & 10pm. From £10. See Fri 4. Fit O’ The Giggles Upstairs Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 9pm. £5. See Sat 29. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £13. See Thu 3 for line-up.

members £1). Redmond is joined by local up-and-comers Michael Adams and Lucy Oldham, with another chance to catch The Boy With Tape on His Face. Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch is it Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1pm. See Sun 30. The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). Scott Agnew, Sandy Nelson, Mark Davies, Jason Murphy and Robert Parker.

Monday 7 Glasgow Improv Wars The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £4 (£2). With Garry Dobson, Stuart Murphy, Chris Forbes and host Billy Kirkwood.

Edinburgh Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2 (£1). All the fun of the comedy fair and dirt cheap with the chance to see some of the newest talent around. Tuesday 8 Glasgow FREE Comedy at the Halt Bar The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 352 9996. 8pm. See Tue 1. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £2 (£1). See Mon 7. Edinburgh Bob Doolally’s Comedy World Cup Countdown The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £8 (£7). They might not be accurate enough for placing bets on, but they’ll be far funnier than Match of the Day. See preview.

Sunday 6 Wednesday 9

Glasgow Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 3pm. £4. See Sun 30. FREE Ha Ha Raw Comedy Ivory Hotel, Langside Avenue, Shawlands, 8.30pm. See Sun 30. Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; Glasgow Take the Mic Competition Tiger Tiger, The Glasshouse, 20 Glassford Street, 553 4888. 7pm. £5. A new competition aiming to find the funniest talent in Scotland with a whopping £12,000 prize for the eventual winner. Bob Doolally’s Comedy World Cup Countdown The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £8 (£7).