Stand-up

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…

Janeane Garofalo makes a Fringe debut

Stand-up from a liberal-leaning political satirist

13 Jul 2009

Janeane Garofalo has been to Scotland once before when a former boyfriend appeared in Annie Griffin’s Glasgow-set comic-drama The Book Group in 2002. ‘It was a really beautiful place, but at the time, unfortunately, I had a bit of a drinking problem. I…

Crying with Laughter

25 Jun 2009

The hot ticket among the Scottish films screening at the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival is Justin Molotnikov’s Crying with Laughter, a thriller starring Scotland’s Stephen McCole. Familiar from roles in Wes Anderson’s high school comedy…

Seymour Mace

25 Jun 2009

In these serious times, comedy can be seen as a force of salvation for those finding life tough. Their choice of fun-seeking though may be informed by the exact feeling desired at the end of a show. If you want a comedy gig in which your political…

Will Andrews

11 Jun 2009

Although he first tried stand-up as a 17-year-old in Newcastle, Zimbabwe-born Will Andrews established his comedic reputation in Scotland. Performing live as his alter-ego Tony Carter, a dole-sponging Geordie on a government retraining scheme, he…

Bethany Black

28 May 2009

As the UK’s foremost goth, lesbian, post-op transsexual stand-up, Bethany Black worries about being pigeonholed. So it’s a ‘recovering alcoholic, drug addict and love addict too’ who will be showcasing material from her forthcoming Fringe show this…

Holly Walsh

16 Apr 2009

A self-confessed ‘comedy nerd’, writer and long-term, long-suffering temp Holly Walsh only began performing stand-up in 2006, because ‘I was coming up with jokes that nobody else wanted but which I thought were really funny. Turns out they weren’t but…

Jay Lafferty

19 Mar 2009

STAND-UP A competition where the participants are at the mercy of a set of judges is by its very nature a contentious entity. In local stand-up circles, the Scottish Comedian of the Year tournament of 2007 left many people aghast at how the top three…

Raymond Mearns

22 Jan 2009

STAND-UP If you’ve only witnessed Raymond Mearns on roistering compering duty, then you’ve barely experienced the burly Glaswegian’s skill with a well-spun anecdote. ‘I feel I can get a lot better if I get the opportunity to do longer sets,’ he says…

Appeal after Virgin Trains ban comedy club ads

27 Nov 2008

The List is perplexed to hear that Richard Branson has banned adverts for Scotland’s largest comedy club the Stand from his Virgin Trains onboard magazine, deeming their logo of a child in a cowboy outfit pointing a toy gun at his own head while…

Jason Cook

13 Nov 2008

Jason Cook is a happy man. Today, he cheerfully tells me, he has purchased a new Xbox game. But Cook has other reasons to feel upbeat; his 2007 début fringe show My Confessions was a critical hit and was successfully followed by a show about happiness…

Scott Agnew

16 Oct 2008

STAND-UP You’d imagine that when an act gets crowned the brand new Scottish Comedian of the Year that the offers would flood in. Well, they certainly have for Scott Agnew who scooped the award at the end of September in a closely fought tussle with…

Sarah Millican

2 Oct 2008

STAND-UP The last time The List had a chat with Geordie Sarah Millican she was looking forward to, but a little apprehensive about, taking her debut show to the Edinburgh Fringe. It was obvious she was going to do well though, and she went home with…

Scottish Comedian of the Year

18 Sep 2008

STAND-UP COMPETITION Approaching its third anniversary, the Scottish Comedian of the Year final looms ever more influentially in the stand-up calendar. Inspired by Manchester’s City Life contest – won by the likes of Peter Kay, Chris Addison and…

Floored genius

4 Sep 2008

Hula-hooping, burlesque and aerial acrobatics are all withinreach of your twinkle toes this autumn if you have the urge. The phenomenal success of the Strictly Come Dancing and recent Hollywood offerings including Shall We Dance? and Step Up seems to…

5 Questions - John Wheeler

21 Aug 2008

What five words best describe your stand-up show? Only the truth is funny. Which comics should be more famous than they are now? Just Jamie Kilstein. Here is a man that is not only funny but also likes ale. Can you tell me one strange thing…

Mark Watson

Lightning fast, likeable wit from not quite Welsh wizard

7 Aug 2008

Most 55-minute comedy shows, explains Mark Watson, use 50 minutes of material then allow five for laughter. But being a pessimist, the self-slagging, nervy wonderboy has prepared an hour. Based on audience reactions, the wiry, fake Welshman should have…

Gavin Webster

An innovative Viz-fuelled waxing

7 Aug 2008

Comedy Store regular Gavin Webster has decided to structure his Fringe show with an on-screen, computer-operated random topic wheel where he will wax on whatever subject comes up. As it happens, this doesn't constitute the main part of the show nor is…

Nick Doody

Merging satire with daftness

7 Aug 2008

A technical hitch during the previous show delays the returning Fringe comedian's show by 15 minutes, but soon the relatively substantial crowd sits in the dark watching Nick Doody's entree, a stereo slideshow of global news horror stories intercut with…

Rob Deering

Experienced comic avoids making a tit of himself

7 Aug 2008

Some musical comics mask a lack of gags with skill in their chosen instrument. Not Rob Deering. An all rounder, his is a sharp, slick wit and he's deft with the hecklers too; hefty experience on the circuit really shows. Despite the humongous jugs he's…

Teddy Bares

Making the leap with cheek and charm

7 Aug 2008

Stand-up comedy is an act of onanism. The trick is to make the audience feel like their satisfaction is the aim and Teddy observes this rule well in his rambling discourse on his travails in love. The Dunfermline-born 28-year-old with pinchable cheeks…

Tom Wrigglesworth

Robotic set from Kitson soundalike

7 Aug 2008

This nervously smiling beanpole from Sheffield laments that 'sometimes in life there's nothing comedic to report'. Unfortunately a good deal of his material homes right in on those less than hilarious moments: his credit card company mistakenly blocking…

Reginald D Hunter - Tall tales

31 Jul 2008

Reginald D Hunter is a giant of UK stand-up. But, as he tells Jay Richardson, he’s still trying to escape the sins of his father ‘I have always found Edinburgh intense, in my soul and in my belly. You can’t say there ain’t tension in my shows. It’s…

Stewart Lee

31 Jul 2008

He may be a mere 40 years of age, but there’s no question that Mr Lee is now one of the comics that all those young bucks look up to as a godfather of British stand-up. Proving thathe truly is an honourable man of art, Stewie is turning his back on the…

Wearing well - crazy clobber for comedic purposes

31 Jul 2008

The Pajama Men are not the only ones who are putting on crazy clobber for comedic purposes. Brian Donaldson reveals some other Fringe comics who’ve had a wardrobe malfunction. The show by Mark Allen is about his uneasy relationship with animals and…