Comedy, Henry Northmore

The Hot 100 2010 - Mark Millar, Kevin Bridges and Alasdair Gray take top 3 spots

Our annual chart of the top creatives in Scotland

The Hot 100 is a list of Scots who’ve made a sizeable creative splash in 2010. It includes musicians, artists, writers, actors, fashion designers, technological innovators, shop owners, festival directors, record label heads and one mad cyclist.

The Hot 100 2008

It’s been a helluva year. 2008 has been a time of significant global change, socially, politically and culturally, with Scotland no exception. So here, for your delectation, is The List’s pick of the 100 people, places and things that rocked our world…

Hot 100 2012: 29-20

Chvrches, Cora Bissett and Grant Morrison among Scotland's hottest cultural contributors in 2012

The Hot 100 is our list of Scotland’s 100 hottest individuals and groups who’ve made a splash this year, from comic book writers to comedians, artists to actors. If they've contributed to Scotland's cultural landscape in 2012, you'll find them here.

Asher Treleaven: Troubadour

The Aussie comedian amiably breaks his life down into six parts

It’s a question you wish more stand ups would ask before embarking on a 30 date Festival run: ‘is my life actually interesting enough to talk about for a whole hour?’. Of course by posing this query at the start of his show Asher Treleaven sets himself…

Scary Movie 5

Lazy, limp and humourless addition to the series

Blame Airplane! It was a fast, funny and inventive piss take of disaster movies. Unfortunately everyone who has tried to rip off the formula in the modern era shoots so low. Admittedly the first Scary Movie (2000) had a few ‘I can’t believe they did…

The Last Circus

Spanish black comedy/horror takes in clowns, circus life, love and madness

The latest film from writer/director Alex de la Iglesia is almost unclassifiable, a love story, a black comedy and horror all apply and as fans of his Accion Mutante (1992) will know it’s this glorious mess of ideas and themes that makes for such a…

Will Ferrell interview

Land of the Lost star talk us through time

With the DVD release of Land of the Lost imminent, Will Ferrell explains his role in this fast-paced, action adventure comedy.

Hot 100 2012: 10-2

John Tiffany, Andy Murray and Luke Fowler among Scotland's hottest cultural contributors in 2012

The Hot 100 is our list of Scotland’s 100 hottest individuals and groups who’ve made a splash this year, from comic book writers to comedians, artists to actors. If they've contributed to Scotland's cultural landscape in 2012, you'll find them here.

RockNess 2013 comedy line-up announced

Dylan Moran, Jim Jeffries and Daniel Sloss lead this year’s stand-up bill at Scottish music festival

Following 2012’s year’s killer set from Tim Minchin, music festival RockNess once more prove their commitment to laughs as well as dance beats. Foul mouthed comic Jim Jeffries will be reaching out over the taste barrier with his only Scottish appearance…

Wil Hodgson: Kidnapped by Catwoman

A personal history of sexual turn ons

With The Dark Knight Rises ruling the box office this summer, Wil Hodgson has chosen a timely crush for the title of his new confessional comedy show on kinks, turn-ons and fantasies. As it turns out, he’s more interested in the 60s Adam West-era feline…

Sound & Fury's Doc Faustus

Comedy troupe deliver a low-quality western pastiche of the famous morality tale

When you first read, or saw an adaptation of, Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, was your first thought: ‘it’s okay but what it really needs is more cowboys’? If you did Sound and Fury have answered your prayers with a country and western take on the…

Darkness Rising

Comedy-horror mash-up is generally great entertainment

Comedy and horror might seem like unlikely bedfellows but when you get it right it can be an inspired mix of pitch black humour and creeping dread. The shocks heighten the relief the gags offer, just witness the gore soaked laughs of Shaun of the Dead…

Men in Black III

Silly, lightweight, completely unnecessary but surprisingly fun

In these times of austerity Hollywood seems scared of originals ideas. Studios demand ‘brand recognition’ before they’ll stump up the multi-million dollar budgets blockbusters require. And they seem willing to latch onto almost any brand, from comics to…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

Beckett & Smith

A genuinely funny 60 minutes

There are some real gems on the free festival circuit, but picking the wheat from the chaff can be a daunting prospect. Split into two halves, Ian Smith launches this hour of stand up with some freewheeling rambling that at times cuts close to the bone…

Terry Alderton

Hour of clever nonsense with surreal twist

Taking many of the conventions of old-school stand-up – observational comedy, sound effects, impressions – Alderton gives them a surreal twist before cramming them all together. Some punchlines get lost in the chaos of songs, dancing and vocal mimicry…

Isy Suttie

Cute, clever music-based comedy from the Peep Show comedian

Best known as geek love interest Dobby from Peep Show, Suttie’s an incredibly likeable comedian. Mixing stand-up and music, her humour has a real warmth and the stuttering love story of Pearl and Dave that runs through the show is instantly engaging and…

Sink or Spin

It’s gym life, but not as we know it

A site-specific comedy set in the working environs of Bannatyne’s Health Club (you even need to fill in a fitness form as you enter), you’ll spend most of Sink or Spin on an exercise bike in a distinctly unusual class taught by Clement (Donal Coonan).

Axis of Awesome

Spoof songs and inter-band bickering aplenty

Rock comedy, spoof songs and inter-band bickering aplenty here from this Aussie trio. Some of it is dumb fun and some is pretty sharp, particularly their destruction of the ‘four chords’ that make up so many pop songs. Unfortunately, the music itself…

One Man Lord of the Rings

Baffling speeded-up Middle Earth affair

The trend for cutting down and speeding up plays/films/text kicked off with the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and Charlie Ross is a veteran of the subgenre, having brought his One Man Star Wars to the Fringe in previous years. Dressed in a sturdy boiler…

Various: Wasted No. 2

More Scottish comic action this fortnight with the second issue of Wasted. Much like its predecessor Northern Lightz, it’s a cheeky selection of comedy shorts from names such as Alan Grant, John Wagner, Jamie Grant, Alan Kerr, Curt Sibling, Dave…

Lesbian Vampire Killers

HORROR/COMEDY Overexposure can shoot down even the most promising career. And while Mathew Horne and James Corden aren’t quite there yet, they need to be careful. A double act since their award-winning Gavin & Stacey, for their first big screen…

Bruce Campbell

Bruce Campbell is the unrepentant king of the Bs. He burst onto the world of underground cinema with the ultimate video nasty, The Evil Dead, its two sequels, and a string of unacknowledged classics such as Maniac Cop, Crimewave, Man With the Screaming…

Interview: Anvil - The Story of Anvil

You’ve probably never heard of Anvil, but bands like Slayer, Metallica and Anthrax all cite them as an influence. Formed by childhood friends Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow (on vocals and guitar) and drummer Robb Reiner in 1973, they tasted success in the 80s with…

Postal

(18) 99min Uwe Boll doesn’t have the best pedigree in movies; he’s an oft-reviled director with a penchant for videogame adaptations. But one thing you can’t dismiss is that the man has balls, and Postal is flat-out in-your-face nutzoid entertainment…