An Audience with Mick Miller, The Pavilion, Glasgow. Tuesday 24rd March, 2026

 

When I purchased tickets for this show, I selected seats in the front row of the Circle. I then got confused when Trafalgar Tickets sent me a second email with a different set of tickets attached. The bit the email didn't make clear was that they'd decided to close the Circle, and as such, move everyone downstairs to the Stalls. 

As you can see from the screenshot, taken an hour before the show, ticket sales were disappointing (the light blue dots represent unsold tickets).  

When we arrive at the venue, Mick is outside at the stage door, lighting a cigarette as he chats to a couple of fans. I don't stop. Horrible, stinky habit.  

The audience inside is predominantly that age group who can travel for free with their bus pass (I'm not talking schoolies). Any younger ones present remind me of unpaid carers taking an elderly relative to see the comedian from the telly, half a century ago, when telly only had three channels. They remember Mick being the bald one with the long hair and the youngest (he's seventy-six now).

Ryan Gleeson opens the show with a funny set, short enough to let us adjust to his facial hair and unusual clothing (brown trousers so wide they looked homemade). He then introduces Mick. 

Mick doesn't mention the audience size and instead delivers a professional set packed with gag after gag, many of which are just as clever as those of any modern comedian. Most are unthemed, though a few link together, such as working with a circus. "The incontinent trapeze artist got sent on first to warm up the audience; the apprentice lion tamer is offered advice on what to do if the lion doesn't behave as expected: "If all that fails, what you do is reach down into the sawdust and grab a turd to throw in its face." "What if there's no turd?" "Don't worry, son, there will be."  

I knew Mick could deliver modern-style material. I'd seen him do it twenty years ago on a reality TV show called Kings of Comedy, where older and younger comedians swapped venues to see if they could raise a laugh. The thing about Mick is that he understands how to be funny without resorting to inappropriate material (by today's standards). Tonight, only one gag stepped close to the line: "A Chinese man opened a crow's shop. He asked me if I wanted to buy anything. I said, "Okay, I'll have a rook." (You have to imagine the accent).

After the interval, two chairs and a table were added to the stage, with two pints of what looked like Guinness, one with a straw. Ryan obviously didn't want to get beerhead on his beard and moustache. 

This section of the show was more loose and less funny. He discussed his time as a youth footballer, before he moved into showbiz, working in Pontins as a bluecoat.  Some of Ryan's questions sounded like lobs for Mick to score a gag, while others led to anecdotes that didn't go anywhere. 

Mick does a fine Bernard Manning impression, capturing both the voice, the manner and the style of the seventies comedian. 

Somehow, Mick's microphone died twice during this section, despite being replaced after the first time. 

When a woman got up to go to the toilet, Ryan automatically kicked into MC mode, asking the audience if she was with someone, and discovering her name. He wanted to play a practical joke on her by having her partner swap seats with someone in another part of the theatre. He wouldn't, and she wasn't away long enough to push it further. When she returned, Mick commented about the short time she'd been away, asking if it was a pee or a poo. She replied it was nothing - she was constipated - to which Mick recommended she pop two Imodium and everyone stand right back. People laughed, but not me. The joke was incorrect. He should have said Senokot. Imodium would only make her more constipated. I can forgive him the gaffe, as it was off the cuff. At least he chose a product from the correct section of the pharmacy.     

Mick finished the night performing his Noddy gag. I'd forgotten how it went. I don't think he did it justice tonight. It seemed rushed. Maybe he was dying for a fag.

Overall, the night went better than I expected. I had been concerned that the small audience would kill the gig, the laughs disappearing into the Gods, but that didn't happen. The space felt more like a comedy club with everyone consistently laughing. 

Ticket Price 2 x £31.00 plus Service fee  £3.95 = £65.95 from Trafalgar Tickets

Blurb

His workload is as busy now as it has ever been, he never stops! His deadpan delivery and his unique hairstyle are what people remember, but he constantly works on his act and is forever adding new gags and stories to keep it fresh. He can’t leave a venue without performing his set piece, Noddy routine. The audience just wouldn’t let him!

In this show, Mick performs a full comedy set in the 1st half and in the 2nd half is interviewed by comedian and close friend, Ryan Gleeson. The interview is very funny and informative, and it’s never the same twice. Ryan is always trying to find out new things and Mick keeps trying to make Ryan laugh.

This show is a must for comedy fans.