Comedy
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 10
Glasgow Slumdog Stand Up Slumdog Bar & Kitchen, 410 Sauchiehall Street, 333 9933. 7.30pm. £19.95 (inc meal). Gorge yourself on an Indian banquet and then settle back and watch four top comedians.
✽✽ The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £8 (£7; members £4). Decorate your weekend with the yarns of Janey Godley, with Sean Percival, Antony Murray and Danny Angelo, plus host Joe Heenan.
5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT
ROB ROUSE 1 Having trained as a geography teacher, Rob Rouse decided that a career in education wasn’t really his bag and so tried his hand at stand- up, a profession that he describes as ‘easier’. 2 In 1998 he beat off competition from Alex Zane, Dan Antopolski and Reg D Hunter to scoop the prestigious So You Think You’re Funny award in Edinburgh.
3 He worked with Sean Lock on the final radio series of 15 Storeys High. Though he auditioned for the part of flatmate Errol (played in the TV show by Benedict Wong), he was overlooked on the wireless in favour of Peter Serafinowicz. But fate had its wicked way with Rouse when he gained another role after an actor was unable to make the recording due to horrendous weather conditions.
4 For Channel 4’s Comedy Lab episode ‘Pornorama’, Rouse, Lucy Porter and Phil Nichol presented an irreverent review of the world of adult entertainment. Rouse claims that research for his performance took a solid four weeks. 5 Rouse clearly has a thing about animals, though in a good way. He made some short films (for Baby Cow) with his pet duck Shaniqua in which he spoofed classic movies with Rain Duck, Ducky Dancing and The Good, the Bad and The Ugly Duckling. His current touring show is My Family . . . And the Dog that Scared Jesus featuring his permanently aroused pooch Ronnie who, he claims, has ‘astonishingly good timing’. (Brian Donaldson) ■ The Stand, Edinburgh, Wed 23 Jun.
50 THE LIST 10–24 Jun 2010
COMEDY DVD ROUND-UP Hans Teeuwen: The flying Dutchman saves the day
Edinburgh Ghillie Gags Ghillie Dhu, 2 Rutland Place, 222 9930. 8.30pm. £15 inc dinner. Calverto continues with the new kid on the Edinburgh scene. FREE Heresy The Jekyll & Hyde, 112 Hanover Street, 225 2022. 9pm. The Heresy machine spreads the dark and dirty material. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £8 (£7; members £4). More funny boys light up your weekend, with Sandy Nelson, Kai Humphries and Heresy lord Rick Molland. With hosting duties from Bruce Devlin. Friday 11
Glasgow Famous for Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 8pm. From £12. A chance to see a bunch of gents who know their comedy onions: Alex Boardman, John Scott, Steve Harris and Sinck. To be honest, we’ve never seen Sinck but he’s got a myspace page and a hat.
✽✽ The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 10 for line-up.
Edinburgh FREE Whores and Sores The Waterline Bar and Bistro, 58 The Shore, Leith, 555 5879. 7.30–9pm. Comedian and compere Susan Morrison leads these fun walks as she tackles the seedier side of Leith. FREE Comedy Club at The Station Station Tavern, 316 Gorgie Road, 347 8955. 7.30–9.30pm. Free night of comedy with a rolling roster of comics and a cracking compere. The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£9; members £5). See Thu 10 for line-up. Famous for Comedy Highlight, Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0844 844 0044. 8.30pm. From £10. If you haven’t encountered the gawky charm of James Dowdeswell, then now’s your chance. He’s on with Dave Williams, Damian Clark and Craig Hill. Saturday 12
Glasgow Severe Malcolm: Byres Road Hard Man G12 Studios, 37 Ruthven Lane, Byres Road, 0870 220 1116. 7pm. £5 (£3). Robin Cairns presents the life of hard man Malcolm, pounding the mean streets of Glasgow. Famous for Comedy Highlight, UGC Building, 11 Renfrew Street, 0844 844 0044. 8pm. From £12. See Fri 11.
✽✽ The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600
6055. 9pm. £13. See Thu 10 for line-up. Edinburgh FREE Whores and Sores The Waterline Bar and Bistro, 58 The Shore, Leith, 555 5879. 7.30–9pm. See Fri 11. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £13. See Thu 10 for line-up. Fit O’ The Giggles Upstairs Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 9pm. £5. The Beehive’s comedy train continues. This is the more professional night, featuring proper stand-ups to jazz up your weekend.
Sunday 13 Glasgow Glasgow Kids Comedy Club The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 3pm. £4. More intrepid comedians entertain younger funny fans. No under 5s; all kids must be accompanied by an adult. Severe Malcolm: Byres Road Hard Man G12 Studios, 37 Ruthven Lane, Byres Road, 0870 220 1116. 7pm. £5 (£3). See Sat 12.
As the ‘fat fuck’ of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jeff Garlin’s character is the epitome of the lazy loser who is just about fooling the world that he’s achieving something. His stand-up persona isn’t too far away from that but has extra dollops of self-deprecation to go. In Jeff Garlin: Young and Handsome (●●●●●), he riffs about marriage, his guilt at having stolen stuff twice in his entire life (once when he was nine, the other shortly before filming this gig), being semi-recognised in the street and the perils and pitfalls of being overweight in modern America. Garlin seems to be going through the motions too often but his affability carries the day. Robert Schimmel: Life Since Then (●●●●●) features a man who was
diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2000 and given six months to live. He’s still here, a decade on, cracking jokes about those daft medics and that crazy illness. He also has photographs to prove it and an audience that will whoop and bellow at any mention of his brave journey and how he can make even the most depressed cancer sufferer fall off their chair with laughter. There seems little evidence of his unwavering brilliance here, though he can certainly shock with the crudest of them. Jim Breuer: Let’s Clear the Air (●●●●●) is less rude but still contains
material that will be cheered and hollered at for no good reason. He only needs to do his grunt laugh or namecheck Dave Chappelle to be drowned out by raucous bellylaughs. His constant Lee Evans-style mugging goes absolutely nowhere and trading on his permanent stoner expression is amusing for about ten seconds but is pretty much hammered away at for a third of this show. Did Bill Hicks and Mitch Hedberg really die for this?
For those of us who haven’t been entirely smitten with the Dutch absurdist’s neo-cabaret shtick, Hans Teeuwen Live in London! (●●●●●) still comes as a blessed relief from all this Stateside mawkishness. There’s nothing in his 70- odd (very odd) minutes which you are likely to see in any other contemporary comedy show, whether it’s finding ways to pronounce his name correctly, an ode (on bongos) to Nostradamus or his scatty opinions on genocide. Unique is one word. You may want to supply your own after viewing. (Brian Donaldson) ■ All DVDs are out now on PIAS.
FREE Ha Ha Raw Comedy Ivory Hotel, Langside Avenue, Shawlands, 8.30pm. A free night of stand-up, courtesy of Alan Anderson and chums.
✽✽ Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333 Woodlands
Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). Your Sunday Uncle, Michael Redmond, brings you chats from Janey Godley, Antony Murray, Graham Mackie and Alan Scott. Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch is it Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1pm. Everyone’s favourite improvisational duo, Stu and Garry, present their weekly
lunchtime show. Hot food’s available.
✽✽ The Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272.
8.30pm. £5 (£4; members £1). For five of your earth pounds, enjoy the talents of Kai Humphries, John Aggasild, Daniel Webster and reigning Scottish Comedian of the Year John Gavin.
Monday 14 Glasgow Dance Monkey Boy, Dance! The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0870 600 6055. 8.30pm. £4. Another dose of the all- improvising Monkey Boys, Raymond Mearns, John Ross and Allen Chalmers.