Breaking The News, Drygate, Glasgow. Thursday 4th December, 2025

Host: Des Clarke

Panellists:
Elaine Malcolmson

Susie Mccabe

Ahir Shah

Chris Thorburn

This week's audience question: "What is your favourite Scottish Word and why?" Examples: stooshie, eejit, blootered, stramash.

Mashed-up question: Fallout from the Budget: Scots and Gaelic become recognised official languages.

Also discussed: Your Party, Scottish words, Kiefer Sutherland bringing panto to the US, and the entire village of Dull being offered a publicity stunt holiday to Vienna. 

Ahir's English accent is so plummy; his attempts at speaking Scottish words sounded so wrong. Elaine Malcomson often killed with her deadpan responses. Susie is, nowadays, ostensibly a national comic treasure. 

We were guided to seats near the front and had a camera pointed at us regularly, so there's every chance we'll make it onto the TV recording at some point. 

Ticket Price: Free from BBC Shows and Tours  

Addendum:

Looks like we made the cut.

Breaking The News Recording, Drygate, Glasgow. Thursday 31st July, 2025

Host: 

Des Clarke

Panellists:

Athena Kugblenu (the g is silent), 

Chris Thorburn (he's not gay, despite the moustache), 

Alasdair Beckett-King (he's not Scottish, despite being ginger)  

Kathleen Hughes (her nan thinks she has a lovely face, despite being registered blind)

It was a warm day. I'd been writing late. That's my excuse for twitching awake twice during the recording. I couldn't get away with pretending it was a back spasm, because I didn't yelp in pain.

Best thing about the day: a free lunch from Greggs as two of my app freebies kicked in at the same time. Result!

Ticket Price: Free

GICF Comedy Gala 2025. King's Theatre Glasgow. Sunday 30th March, 2025

The great thing about the GICF Comedy Gala is that it exposes you to comedians you wouldn't normally see. Each of the hand-picked comedians gets five minutes to show off their talents in a sampler of their work. And boy, what a feast it was.

On hosting duties was last year's recipient of the Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow award, Susie Mccabe. First up was Zoe Lyons, who was probably the most famous act on the bill. She was followed by Chris Thorburn, Viv Gee, Ayo Adenekan and Kim Blythe. Rounding off the first half with a beat-heavy, blistering impromptu rap involving objects from the pockets of the first two rows was MC Hammersmith. He was my favourite from this group. 

At this point, the event organisers surprised Viv Gee with a special one-off award issued by the Lord Provost of Glasgow in recognition of outstanding Glaswegians during its 850th year. She received a bespoke trophy (a plate) in recognition of her extraordinary contribution to the comedy community in Glasgow. 

After the interval, Susie introduced Kate Hammer, Stephen Buchanan, Alana Jackson and Connor Burns before finishing off the comedy with a set of her own. Connor was my fave from this half, even though I'd heard him deliver the material only a few weeks ago.

Then, all that remained was for Festival Director Krista MacDonald and Elaine C Smith to announce who had won this year's Billy Connolly award.  2025’s Shortlist included Craig Hill, Kim Blythe, Marjolein Robertson, Paul Black, Rosco McClelland, Scott Agnew and Viv Gee. I was surprised that only two of the acts performed, although my wife noticed Paul Black appearing from backstage at the interval. I wonder how many of the others were present to hear Rosco McClelland win the award. He seemed flabbergasted to have won, finding it difficult to express how much it meant to him to have Billy Connolly, his comedy hero, pick him. 

A friend and former colleague was also in the crowd. We both agreed it was a great afternoon and hoped to attend again next year. It's a great way to celebrate comedy in Glasgow.

Ticket Price: £24.10 x 2 plus £3.95 Transacton Fee from ATG Tickets.