list.co.uk/comedy Events are listed by date, then by city. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication to comedy@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Kirstyn Smith. ✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
Thursday 18 Glasgow The Thursday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £8 (£7; members £5). Susan Morrison is hostess with the mostess along with Mark Nelson, Andy White, Kelly Kingham and Owen McGuire.
Edinburgh Thursday Notebook Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £3. Ben Verth steps up to introduce the new talent and new material night with the occasional old-timer dropping by to polish their act. See My Comedy Hero, page 56. The Thursday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £10 (£7; members £5). Chatty and camp, Bruce Devlin is a perfect host and tonight he’s doing his thing with John Moloney, Paul Pirie, Jojo Sutherland and Martin Bearne. Friday 19
Glasgow The Friday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £12 (£10; members £6). See Thu 18 for line-up. Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, The Glasshouse, 20 Glassford Street, 0870 011 1960. 8.30pm. £15–£16. Barry Dodds, Alan Anderson, Phil Walker and Stu Who? are primed to make you lot laugh. Edinburgh The Beehive Comedy Club Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £7. Ben Verth (see My Comedy Hero, page 56) presents a weekend packed full of top local and visiting comedians to tickle your funny bone in an entirely appropriate way. The Friday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £12 (£10; members £6). See Thu 18 for line-up.
Saturday 20
Glasgow ✽ Rubberbandits The Garage, 490 Sauchiehall Street, 0844 395 4005. 7.30pm. £12.50. The ‘Hib-hop’ guys, famed for YouTube smash ‘Horse Outside’, bring us some of their fresh madness. Russell Peters SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. 8pm. £36.50– £48.50. Canadian comic on his hugely popular Notorious World Tour. Jongleurs Comedy Club Jongleurs, The Glasshouse, 20 Glassford Street, 0870 011 1960. 8.30pm. £15–£16. See Fri 19. Comedy @ The State The State Bar, 148 Holland Street, 332 2159. 9pm. £7 (£5). The long-standing home of comedy in Glasgow, The State Bar continues to attract some of Scotland’s best comedians to its wee basement of joy. The Saturday Show The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 9pm. £15. See Thu 18 for line-up.
Edinburgh Jimeoin: What?! The Queen’s Hall, 87–89 Clerk Street, 668 2019. 8pm. £16. Comic with a delightful sense of the absurd and a uniquely low-key style. The Beehive Comedy Club Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, 225 7171. 8.30pm. £7. See Fri 19. The Saturday Show The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 9pm. £15. See Thu 18 for line-up.
STAND-UP GARY DELANEY The Stand, Edinburgh, Wed 8 May
While in front of a comedy crowd that could turn at any given minute, a stand-up needs to rely on a solid memory to make sure there are no juicy lulls for a heckler to bite into. When that comedian is a one-line/ punchline gagmeister, it’s even more crucial for them to be able to rattle off their material. Gary Delaney has been telling jokes for over a decade and has
created a strategy to make sure that he is never blocked. ‘The Greeks and the Romans didn’t have books to write things down in, so they created memory palaces, where you take the things you need to remember and put them in a place that you know. I’ve remembered my show as dotted around my house, so I get up and the first joke is on the bedside table and the second joke is on the toilet, and so on. I’ve had to remember a picture of my house with all my jokes in it. I just need to make sure I don’t move house or have a fire.’
Delaney is currently on the very final leg of touring his 2010 show, Purist, and will be back with a whole new set of gags for a full Edinburgh Fringe run in August. Aligning himself with several of his ilk, this quickfire style is mainly the kind of comedy he most likes to watch.
‘I like and love gag men, people like Stewart Francis, Milton Jones, Mitch Hedberg, Emo Philips, all the gaggy pack. But that’s not to say that I don’t love a really good storyteller, but you have to be really good at it. The likes of Kitson and Bill Cosby are great at that but I know it’s a skill I don’t have; quite frankly, you just do what you’re good at. Sometimes I’ve tried to do story bits, but the audience just look at me as if to say, “what are you doing?”’ (Brian Donaldson)
Sunday 21 Monday 22
Glasgow Michael Redmond’s Sunday Service The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £1). The moustachioed Michael Redmond (he was in Father Ted, don’t you know?) returns with his particular brand of lo-fi comedy and Andy White, Charlie Ross, Katia Kvinge and Richard Hunter. Edinburgh FREE Whose Lunch Is It Anyway? The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 1.30pm. Regular freestyle comedy wizards Paul Graham and Stuart Murphy fire up the imagination with another slice of improv action. Sunday Night Laugh-In The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £6 (£5; members £1). Pop your coat on over your PJs, brave the elements out there and head to The Stand for a super-chilled night of comedy with Paul Pirie, John McGoldrick, Robin Grainger, Natasha Yapp and host Rick Molland.
Edinburgh Improv Wars The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £4 (members £2). It’s a fight to the death between improv experts Garry Dobson, Stu Murphy and Billy Kirkwood. Red Raw The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £2. The Stand’s spankingly good new talent night, encouraging the latest comedy stars out of the woodwork. With Ro Campbell and Liam Williams.
Tuesday 23 Glasgow FREE Pop-Up Comedy The Halt Bar, 160 Woodlands Road, 353 6450. 8.30pm. Some of the Scottish comedy scene’s freshest talent. Red Raw The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £2. Weekly beginners’ showcase where the bright young things of Scotland’s comedy circuit strut their stuff for an entirely reasonable two whole pounds. With Liam Williams and Susie McCabe.
COMEDY
5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT . . . MICKY FLANAGAN 1 His first full-time job was as a stand boy in Billingsgate fish market where he boiled and measured various types of shellfish, earning the fairly serious sum of £250 a week. He later washed dishes in New York and went into teacher training but was quickly disillusioned when he decided that what was wrong with the education system when he was a kid hadn’t been properly addressed. 2 In the mid-90s, Flanagan took the first small step to selling out massive theatres by attending a comedy course at a London community centre. One of his earliest gigs was a bad one at the Comedy Store but fortunately that only hardened him for the fight ahead. 3 In 2007, at the age of 42, he became the oldest comic to be nominated for the Best Newcomer Award in Edinburgh. What Chance Change? featured many tales from his pre-comedy years including a story about his seduction techniques, with which he regaled us while dressed in a kimono. 4 Flanagan had a bit of a legal stooshie with the 118-118 guys when he claimed they had used some of his material, known as the ‘out-out’ routine. The Advertising Standards Authority concluded that the moustachioed runners were indeed in breach. 5 His mum once danced with the Kray Twins. (Brian Donaldson) ■ SECC, Glasgow, Sat 4 May.
Edinburgh 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.
Wednesday 24 Glasgow Best of Irish Comedy The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road, 0844 335 8879. 8.30pm. £7 (£6; members £3). Allow Stand resident Mr Michael Redmond to warmly introduce you to the funniest of his countrymen and women every single month. This time around, we have Totally Wired, Janice Phayre and Christian Talbot.
18 Apr–16 May 2013 THE LIST 55