Comedy

Limmy and Rab, welcomed onto TV

3 Feb 2010

Are we actually in the midst of a halcyon period for Scottish telly comedy? Or is it easy to get carried away when, to use the vernacular of their main figureheads, two current shows aren’t actually pish. Ringing in the new is Limmy’s Show (BBC2, Mon…

Sarah Millican

3 Feb 2010

The funniest woman in Britain? If you discount Iris Robinson, then surely there’s no contest. A couple of excellent Fringe shows under her Geordie belt, Ms Millican only started telling jokes in public when she split from her husband. And from there…

Huma Dressage - Russell Kane interview

1 Feb 2010

Now we don’t want to suggest that high energy Essex-based comic Russell Kane might be accident prone, but there’s worrying evidence floating around to back up such a theory. In July of last year, just prior to Kane’s latest Fringe show, Human Dressage…

Five Things You Might Not Know About: Dave Gorman

28 Jan 2010

1 Born in sunny Stafford in 1971, Dave Gorman dropped out of Manchester Uni while studying mathematics to get into stand-up. 2 He eventually became bored of the basic set-up/punchline joke form, so set himself projects to pursue and see if comedy…

Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival

American beauties

20 Jan 2010

IT’S been a busy old year for Stand Comedy chief Tommy Sheppard. As director he enjoyed his busiest and most successful Fringe to date, and this year he’s programmed a Glasgow International Comedy Festival that is bigger and better than ever before.

Comedy DVD roundup

19 Jan 2010

They might not quite be the small screen equivalent of The Broons or Oor Wullie annuals, but live DVDs from Jimmy Carr and Russell Brand are close to becoming a festive staple. Indeed, no Christmas morning seems complete nowadays without 75-odd minutes…

First Word - Count Arthur Strong

19 Jan 2010

Radio 4’s belligerent Yorkshire thesp, Count Arthur Strong, is on the warpath with his UK tour reaching Edinburgh this month. Here he talks trousers, Hendrix and offal First record you ever bought A Victor Sylvester 78. I can’t remember the title…

Five things you might not know about: Karen Dunbar

19 Jan 2010

1: Karen Dunbar’s previous jobs include being a part-time face-painter at Butlins in Ayr, a karaoke singer in a club called Bonkers, and a DJ on the Glasgow circuit. Her mum had only ever wanted her to work in the local post office. 2: She went to…

Janey Godley

19 Jan 2010

If the Scottish Bard was given the opportunity to chose a female comic from these shores to keep his flame burning, chances are he might have picked Janey Godley. They certainly share a love of the fruity, meaty side of our language, and Burns would…

Machan

19 Jan 2010

Comedies about immigration are pretty thin on the ground these days but The Full Monty producer Uberto Pasolini’s directorial debut is a sweet anomaly. Based on the true story of a group of Sri Lankans who fly to Bavaria pretending to be their country’s…

My Comedy Hero: Stephen K Amos on Richard Pryor

19 Jan 2010

The first time I stepped inside a comedy club was when I decided to do stand-up, so I didn’t have any comedy heroes and didn’t have a voice. But having done it for two or three years, I started looking at more and more comedy and got to know a few names…

The People’s Manifesto - Mark Thomas interview

18 Jan 2010

Political reform may sound like a task filled with difficult problems, but as Mark Thomas explains; we already have all the answers. While touring last year’s “it’s the stupid economy” show Mark asked audiences to suggest policies to sort out British…

2010 preview: Great expectations

7 Jan 2010

Favourite things are ending, exciting things are beginning and old things are coming back. 2010 is already shaping up to be a thrilling year and here are the 30 good reasons why we can’t wait

Jason Cook

7 Jan 2010

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as Geordie stand-up delivers the kind of honest-to-goodness material that makes you laugh out loud one minute then get all emotional and gooey the next. The discovery of the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe…

Mark Thomas set for gig at The Stand

7 Jan 2010

1 Mark Thomas was born in South London, to a midwife mother and a self-employed builder dad who was at one point a lay preacher at Clapham Junction’s Nazarene Church. Thomas declared himself to be an atheist at the age of 12. 2 While he was trying…

Stewart Francis hits the Stand

7 Jan 2010

Stewart Francis used to open his set with, ‘Don’t worry, I haven’t heard of you either.’ Between hosting schlocky gameshow You Bet Your Ass in his native Canada, then moving to Spain, his memorable one-liners were an itinerant treat on the UK circuit to…

Show me the funny - Limmy interview

7 Jan 2010

Limmy’s problem is that he just thinks too much. ‘I was walking through the Botanic Gardens and starting to just enjoy walking about, doing nothing. I’m not thinking about the past or holding any grudges or thinking should I have done that differently…

The Hot 100 2009

18 Dec 2009

Compiled by List staff through a painstaking process of review and debate, the Hot 100 is the comprehensive list of Scottish creative talent, covering both individuals and organisations who’ve made a standout contribution to culture in 2009. This year’s…

Jimmy Carr

17 Dec 2009

1 Growing up in the ‘nice bit’ of Slough, Carr graduated in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge but floated around aimlessly for a while, even training to be a psychotherapist for a bit. 2 Disenchanted with his eventual life in…

Scotland: An Eejit's Guide

9 Dec 2009

Less a reflection on its audience than a spoof of the sort of titles you’ll find in Waterstone’s clearance bins come January, Scotland: An Eejit’s Guide is a comedy homage to Caledonia from two of its most voluble amateur historians. Mixing grim…

5 Things You Might Not Know About... Rob Brydon

4 Dec 2009

1. Educated at a private school in Swansea which he described as ‘not posh’ but ‘quite English’, it seems Rob Brydon was not particularly sporty, given that he was stupendously last in the sack race, still hopping on while everyone else had moved on to…

Comedy On TV - Reunions, Oration and Urinations

4 Dec 2009

While Larry David may be genuine in his belief that reunion shows are lame, he knows how to spin the best out of a flimsy idea. Getting the key cast of Seinfeld back together for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm (More4, Thu 3 Dec, 10.40pm…

Tim Key dispels Wikipedia myths

4 Dec 2009

It’s been a whirlwind year for poet and stand-up Tim Key, what with him running off with the biggest prize in comedy. Brian Donaldson hears him nail a few internet myths

Unmade Beds

4 Dec 2009

Written and directed by Argentinean filmmaker Alexis Dos Santos, Unmade Beds unfolds against the backdrop of the East End of London’s modern day bohemian scene. It’s a world of rent-free accommodation in generously equipped warehouse squats, regular…

Al Murray

19 Nov 2009

Now, that’s a beautiful, British name. And upon the cover of Think Yourself British is Al Murray splayed. The supreme irony of the Pub Landlord may have bypassed the attentions of some of his more ITV-based fans, but Murray is not caring a jot as he…