GICF Comedy Gala 2026, King's Theatre, Glasgow. Sunday 29th March, 2026

This was my third consecutive GICF Gala in a row, and it had probably the strongest line-up so far. 

As we were also seeing Alan Davies later on, we decided to make a day of it. We put the dogs into the kennels and arranged to have lunch with Colette and her hubby at The Griffen before the show. Graeme brought the car, not realising that on-street parking is no longer free on a Sunday, and ended up parking quite a distance away, on the other side of Charing Cross. He'll not do that again (they got soaked in the rain on the walk back after the show).

The lunch was good. We pencilled in doing it again next year.

The view from our seats.

The Gala opened with Almost Angelic, the musical double act of Karen Dunbar and Tom Urie, kicking the show off in absurd style. Afterwards, a stagehand pushed the platform, upon which Tom sat with his keyboard, across the stage the long way, much to Karen's mock despair. They'll be supporting Marti Pellow at the Bandstand in August.

Susie McCabe, as MC, wasted no time bringing on the first act, Des Clarke. My wife and I had heard his jokes just a few days ago, including one which I repeated at lunch, but they were still funny. 

Next up was Susan Riddell, using PowerPoint to illustrate the material relating to her arrest for (alleged) "Terrorism and Malicious Mischief". She's barred from Edinburgh because of this as part of her bail conditions and has to accept a 7 pm curfew. I'd love to hear the full story sometime.

Fred MacAulay referenced one of Susan's jokes at the start of his five minutes. A veteran of the circuit, Fred gave a quality set. I'm looking forward to seeing him on tour later in the year (though I'll probably skip his show with Ally McCoist at the Armadillo at those ticket prices).

Amanda Dwyer gave a funny but low-energy set, winning over the audience.

Likewise, the relatively unknown Ifrah Qureshi gave a fine set, demonstrating a good eye for comedy, especially at her family's expense.

Connor Burns closed the first half, giving a performance that ably demonstrated why he sold out five shows at the King's this festival. He is a comedy superstar in the making.

After the break, Susie gave us five minutes on why her life has been a struggle of late, with a heart attack being the least of her worries.  

Then, Karen Dunbar returned for a routine about when she and her sister (God rest her soul) went to the social club and got hammered on the new beverage, White Lightning.            

Another newcomer, Jack Brookmyre, looked uncomfortable in his sleeveless denim jacket patched with heavy metal band logos, but gave a confident performance. His voice work is great, especially his Gollum. One to look out for.

Stuart Mitchell's star is in the ascendant. He's always reliable for a laugh and today was no exception.

Mhairi Black was a more left-field choice, but she showed that her transition from politics to stand-up has gone well. She has always been a great speaker and knows how to be funny.

Rosco McClelland closed the stand-up element of the Gala, confident enough to throw in some new material which didn't hit the mark. 

After this, the Festival Director, Krista MacDonald, gave an impassioned speech about celebrating Scottish comedy, a flourishing circuit despite the lack of financial support it receives as an art form. She introduced a video highlighting each nominee for the Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award. They were:

Top Row:

Amanda Dwyer (Comedian) 
Chris Conway (Comedy promoter/owner of Blackfriars of Bell Street)
Kate Hammer (Comedian)

Second Row:

Kim Blythe (Comedian)
Susan Riddell (Comedian)
Zara Gladman (Writer, performer, and producer)

The winner was: Amanda Dwyer.

Accepting the award, she was speechless, never believing she would win, already assuming that her Material Girl partner, Susan Riddell, would take it.  The short video they showed of Billy Connolly praising Amanda was quite emotional. He looked unwell, with the moonface of a man possibly on long-term steroids. Lovely to hear his voice, though.

As we departed the room, the audience was treated to an airing of his 1974 song, "If It Wasnae for Your Wellies". Lovely to hear that again.

All the nominees were present, even those not performing (Chris Conway isn't a comedian). I know this because an old friend of mine managed to snatch selfies with each individual at the stage door. It's his thing.

Outside, we spotted Dave Flynn, producer of Breaking the News. My wife wouldn't let me take his picture. She didn't need to say it. She just gave me a look.

Ticket Price: £24.10 x2 + Transaction Fee £3.95 = £52.15 from ATG Tickets.

"Not So Smart: Raising Money For Crisis In Memory Of Andy Smart." 10pm Gilded Balloon Teviot Debating Hall, Edinburgh. Saturday 12th August, 2023.

 

Blurb:

The comedy community is joining forces for a special Fringe show to raise money for charity Crisis in memory of comedian Andy Smart, who died in May.

Smart was a long-time member of improvisation troupe The Comedy Store Players, as well as The Impro All Stars, with whom he would have been appearing at this year's Fringe.

Smart was an Edinburgh Fringe stalwart for over forty years, from being one half of double act The Vicious Boys with Angelo Abela to performing in plays, impro shows and his last solo show in 2019.

Many of Smart's friends and colleagues from the world of improvisation are performing, including Paul Merton, Stephen Frost, Mike McShane, Richard Vranch, Suki Webster, Ian Coppinger, Sally Hodgkiss and Rufus Hound.

Comedians Stewart Lee, Jo Caulfield, Fred MacAulay and Simon Munnery are also on the bill for what promises to be an unmissable evening.

Ticket price: £15.

I remember seeing Andy Smart performing at The Comedy Store. He blew away the other performers with killer lines that had them in stitches. Such was the power of his comedy. 

He died earlier this year so his friends agreed to put on this show to celebrate his life and raise money for Crisis, a charity for the homeless for whom Andy not only fundraised but also gave up his time. 

It was an interesting night. I was unaware (or perhaps had forgotten), that show lengths don't mean from the billed start time. Gillian Cosgriff's one-hour show finished at 9.30 pm from a billed start time of 8.20 pm. Her show still lasted an hour but she didn't come on till 8.30pm. That was fine because I had factored in sufficient time to get from the Pleasance to this show at the Gilded Balloon Teviot. This one was billed as starting at 10pm but we were still queuing on the spiral staircase outside the Debating Hall at 10.30pm.  A few punters had to give up and go, citing other places to be. That was a shame because the sellout show was fantastic. (Richard Vranch apologised to everyone in the queue individually, constantly repeating, "Sorry we're late, sorry we're late" as we all shuffled in).

Despite the callers off, the room was packed. My wife spotted Marcus Brigstock in the audience and I noted Clive Anderson, longtime host of "Whose Line is it Anyway?", sitting across the aisle.

The show started with a video message from Steve Steen who not only paid tribute to Andy, one of his longtime collaborators at the Comedy Store, but also was very funny. Steve would have loved to have been there but (rubs arm)... I'm lazy.

The hosts for the evening, Stephen Frost and Ian Coppinger, then came on, revealing the reason for the delay citing problems with the microphones. They joked, "It's what Andy would have wanted."

The first act to perform was Fred MacAuley, followed by Jo Caulfield, Simon Munnery and Stewart Lee, each getting five minutes or so. They were all great but I especially loved Simon Munnery's deconstructed routine. The man has comedy bones and not just the ones with nerve damage.

We next got some improv sketches with Richard Vranch and Paul Merton, Suki Webster and Mike McShane, followed by a couple of group games involving everyone. The final game descended into chaos as the eight performers had to mouth and act out what the performer beside them was saying. 

We were then treated to an In Memorium song sung by Phil Jupitus (in his dressing gown), accompanied on keyboards and backing vocals by someone whose name I don't recall. Sorry. The screen showed slides of the comedy people we've lost recently, among them Paul Byrne, Barry Cryer, Sean Lock, Paul O'Grady and Gareth Richards. 

The show had started with the hosts recalling the last time they saw Andy, performing his party trick at the Latitude festival. They finished with that video clip: him setting fire to a length of toilet paper dangling from his butt cheeks then downing a pint in an attempt to finish it before the fire reached his bare arse. It wasn't a long clip but was a great way to raise a cheer to celebrate his life. 

    

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Kings Theatre, Glasgow. Monday 13th March, 2023

This popular, sold-out live show is an extended copy of the Radio 4 programme, which has been running for over fifty years. If you are not aware of its work, here is the official blurb:

"I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue has been delighting fans since 1972. Since its inception 'Clue' has seen its success blossom from the impish son of 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again' to the big daddy of all panel games. 

The format of the game is very simple: four players are given silly things to do by the Chairman, with Colin Sell setting some of them to music. It has always been billed as 'the antidote to panel games', although the panel games to which it was originally an antidote are now long gone."

The poster inside the venue displayed Jack Dee with four guest players but, on the night, there was no sign of Marcus Brigstock, with Tony Hawks sitting in instead. He was teamed with Rory, while Pippa joined Fred. Unfortunately, Samantha and Sven couldn't make it either, offering hilarious innuendo excuses for their absence. Colin Sell, as always, was at the back tinkling on his grand piano.

Rory Bremner, Pippa Evans,
Jack Dee,
Marcus Bristock (absent), Fred MacAulay

John Naismith, the show's producer for the last thirty years, acted as the audience warm-up man telling us jokes from the show's back catalogue. As he introduced the players, they each had the opportunity to tell their favourite joke too, choosing ones by either Barry Cryer or Jeremy Hardie, two alumnae of the show who are no longer with us. 

Jack's opening monologues, filled with local references, one in each half, went on a bit too long for my liking but you've got to give him something to do to justify his appearance fee. As chairman, he brings his own style of grumpiness to proceedings but he's no Humphrey Lyttleton (nor is he trying to be). 

It wasn't being recorded for the radio so the players did occasionally drop an F-bomb but mostly this was good, clean fun with only occasional deliberate slips into smut. All the performers delivered the sharp script with superb timing. Some of the rounds felt indulgent but overall it worked. I think the extended length of the show made it feel more like a tribute rather than the real thing. I noted afterwards you can't currently get any of the shows on the BBC Sounds app. 

No, it's not for smoking crack. It's a kazoo.

We all got a kazoo for the audience participation round. Ours were purple but there was a range of colours used. When the whole audience was playing together, you would never have known the tune was meant to be Bohemium Rhapsody. Fortunately, Jack narrowed it down to just the green kazoos, of which there were only three, all in the front row, much to their embarrassment and our entertainment.     

I enjoyed the night, despite the lady on my left bringing out a pack of Strepsils as her interval treat. Whenever she laughed, she finished with a catarrhy cough, which I could almost taste. I now have a scratchy throat. Hopefully, it won't last. I have more comedy lined up for later in the week.

Ticket price £33.50 

  

Fred Macaulay and Bruce Morton Comedy Night, The Bungalow, Paisley. Sunday 20th November, 2022

I had tickets to see this pair at The Bungalow in 2020, a gig that got postponed because of the first lockdown. I took a refund then and didn't even realise that gig had been rescheduled to last year. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see on Friday a Facebook ad promoting the pair at the Bungalow tonight and for there still to be tickets available (at the bargain price of £12 no less, plus fees of £1.52).

Another surprise was to see Parrot, a comedian from Greenock I first saw back in the nineties, jump on stage to introduce them. I think it was a surprise to him too because he'd only made the journey along the M8 to see his old pals perform, not expecting to compere the evening. It showed too. He was not so much a warm-up man as a let's kill this gig stone dead man. I think Monty Python might have been inspired by his performance. To be fair though, he hadn't been on a stage in nine years and was as rusty as an iron nail left exposed to the elements for that length of time. 

The same could be said of the first act, Bruce Morton. He admitted he also hadn't been on stage since last year's Bungalow gig. His material came across like a work-in-progress, especially as he kept referring to his two pages of scribbled notes.  Some jokes landed, others died. He salvaged the set by throwing in some old material I recognised from the nineties. Given the circumstances, I'll forgive him for the unevenness of his performance.  

Fred has been touring so his material flowed well, although, given he opened with his COP 26 material, he might have been using it for a while now. His set was good, despite the interruptions of Helena, a forty-year-old woman from Falkirk, who'd come through with her family and friends to see him, even offering to drive him home if he performed for longer (there's a joke in there somewhere but, as a male of a certain age, I'd never be able to find it).  

This was my first time in The Bungalow since it has been refurbished and I liked it. The raised stage provided good visibility and the sound was good, despite Parrot suggesting the 'music' microphone turned down the funny. My only complaint was that the LED spotlights pointing at the audience were kept on during the show causing me eye strain. Comedy gigs work better when the audience isn't illuminated. Just saying.

The offending spotlight