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.

Marc Jennings, "Marc'sism", GICF, St Luke's, Glasgow. Monday 24th March 2025.

Before the gig, we went for dinner at the Winged Ox part of the venue, having booked a table in advance. The food was very good and not overly expensive. No desserts, though, so my wife and I had to kill time with conversation, additional drinks and much-needed trips to the loo.

With fifteen minutes before the doors were due to open, we made our way outside to find no queue. There were a few people hanging about the inside door, so we waited there. Slowly, the corridor filled to the point that no one else could enter. It was then that a rather sniffy steward informed us we should be queuing outside. Everyone decanted to join the four already there. It was no biggie, but perhaps an information sign or a team member could have sorted this out earlier. We still got good seats in the fourth row with an excellent sightline to the comedian. 

Monday nights are rarely good for comedy. The energy of the crowd can be low, so it needs a comedian at the top of their craft to make it work. I'd only ever seen Marc perform short routines online, so I was looking forward to seeing how good he was live. 

First up was Susan Riddell in the support slot. She peddled her familiar twenty-minute set about dating apps and relationships. She did well despite the audience's seeming muted reaction. It was funny when she couldn't find the exit door from the stage after her set. 

Headliner Marc, a Scottish comedian from Clydebank, has grown a large enough following to sell out the venue and add a second date at Blackfriars for the end of the Festival. He's also done well enough to have to pay tax on his earnings for the first time last year, he admits. He also comments on it being a Monday but hopes we still have a good time.

He was okay. There were no barnstorming routines, just funny jokes and observations, with perhaps a little too much reliance on the comic analogy. He covered topics like his desire to get on the property ladder, some bits on politics (with a nice Nicola Sturgeon joke), and some material about his family and what it means to be a man in today's society. Nothing overly deep, but still funny. 

Perhaps not his finest hour, but it was a Monday.

Ticket Price: £12.50 x 2
Service Fee £5.12
Delivery Fee £2.00
Total Payment £32.12 from TicketWeb.

Fern Brady "I Gave You Milk To Drink", King's Theatre, Glasgow. Friday 20th September, 2024

"Do you want to go see the Scottish lassie from Taskmaster? She's playing the Kings," I asked my wife. She thought about it and said, "Yes." I didn't reckon she'd be her cup of tea, but if she keeps insisting on answering 'Yes' when I propose something, she only has herself to blame.

On the day of the show, we went out for a proper lunch rather than having a big dinner later. She chose Dé Buddha, a Nepali/mixed-cuisine restaurant in Collier Street, Johnstone. The service was fantastic, and the food was divine. We both had the Chicken Kathmandu. I had a coke with mine. I hadn't slept well and thought the caffeine would give me a lift.

I still needed an afternoon snooze. I awoke on the bed with the dog pawing me as if reminding me I was going out soon. My stomach gurgled, and I let out the noisiest, smelliest fart I've delivered in a long time, so unpleasant the dog jumped off the bed. This was not good. I was due to sit in a cramped theatre for two hours. I couldn't inflict such smells on a Scottish comedy crowd. Imagine the embarrassment of pretending it was my wife. 

I dealt with the matter as best I could prior to departure, making sure I washed my hands afterwards. I then practised fart retention in the car with mixed success. I promised myself I'd try harder in the theatre.

Susan Riddell was Fern's support act. I recognised a lot of her material from the last time I saw her, but it is a testament to her quality that I still found her set funny. Her natural delivery does a great job of disguising the craft of her writing. She's still single, on the apps and missing the pleasure of a good argument with a partner. Tonight's set covered her top two arguments and her most embarrassing moment. Her twenty minutes flew by. Big tick.

After the interval, Fern opened by explaining why she wanted to do crowd work like every other comedian—to boost their Instagram profile - but she couldn't because, being autistic, she couldn't handle the randomness of audience interaction. Her Bathgate accent is thick but manageable if I concentrate. 

Her set included discussing her use of Botox, how her Scottish low esteem sabotaged her attempt to crack Hollywood, and how her Scottish sensibility insisted she down a forgotten thousand milligrams of MDMA before a flight rather than throw it away. Her Bake Off material rose well, relating her frustrations at not being allowed to bake due to the hosts' chattiness and her awkwardness talking to the camera about the cancer charity (inconveniently, none of her family had had cancer; instead, they'd been killed by proper Scottish diseases).

Once her hour was up, Fern thanked us and left the stage. It was unlikely we'd see her at a merch stall (there wasn't one), so we headed home.

My wife did enjoy the show, much to my surprise. I found Fern a breath of fresh air - a quality hour of Scottish standup.  

Pleased that I'd managed to retain all involuntary gas movement, I suffered from a stomach ache all the way home. Standing in the back garden, I set them all free just as the sirens of multiple emergency vehicles erupted, heading up the main road. You can always trust Paisley to kick off a Friday night rammy when one of their own needs to hide the sound of his farting. The smell, well, that's just Paisley all over.

Ticket Price: 2 x £26 plus £3.95 Transaction Fee = £55.95 from ATG Tickets.

Fin Taylor "Ask Your Mother" Tour. The Stand, Glasgow. Thursday 2nd May, 2024.

I didn't get my favoured seat at The Stand tonight. Traffic woes on Byres Road delayed our arrival, so we ended up joining the queue around the corner of the building. I could still see the comedian clearly, so no biggie. 

He's not on stage yet.

Susan Riddell opened the show. I'd forgotten entirely that I'd seen her perform at the GICF Gala until I checked this blog site. The material was fresh. She talked about being single; the problem with dating apps; and got a warm response for a punchline where she yodelled. An assured performer, she won the room. 

Fin is not a comedian who appeals to everyone. He is transgressive (I don't mean that he's aggressive toward trans people) in that he draws his own line for topic acceptability. It's dark. He opened with paedophilia, discussed the confusion about what constitutes grooming, swirled around the plug hole of all forms of mental health and related how he'd take a bullet for his kids, with him firing the gun. Then he related some thoughts about modern-day Auschwitz (which oven does the cafe use?) and finished with some 'Dad' jokes. 

Sometimes, I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to laugh. Was he punching down or finding laughs from the situation? Most in the room didn't seem to care, generating big laughs. 

I admit I found him funny. I laughed, even when I shouldn't. Not many comedians are prepared to venture into those dark areas, so I commend him for doing so. Definitely an acquired taste.

Ticket Price £14.00 plus 80p booking fee direct from The Stand

GICF Comedy Gala. King's Theatre, Glasgow. Saturday 30th March, 2024

Another solo gig for me, with my wife still recuperating from Covid. When I arrived, the auditorium was not yet open, so I made for the upstairs bar. Looking around, I noticed the walls had framed photos of famous actors and signs indicating the year they performed at the venue. For example, Michael Caine trod the boards there in 1959. Not a lot of people know that. I meant to snap a few of them to post here, but it was too busy. 

I had plenty of legroom on the front row of the Grand Circle, not just because of my missing wife. There was one seat free on my right and two more on my left. I must have appeared like a right Jonny No Mates, which was why it felt so good to notice a former colleague also on the Grand Circle. At the interval, I texted to confirm it was her, and then we chatted at the back. It's always nice to see a friendly face.

Susie McCabe was the gala's host. In the first half, she introduced Billy Kirkwood, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Stuart McPherson, Jin-Hao Li, Susan Riddell, and Craig Hill. They each received five-minute slots, and all performed well (although many of them opened with How are you doing, Glasgow? - Were they not listening to our previous answer?). I was most impressed by Jin-Hao Li, who has a great delivery and a unique style. One to watch (and listen to, obviously).  

The second half featured Luisa Omielan, Zara Gladman, Rosco McClelland, Raymond Mearns, and Janey Godley (last year's recipient of the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award). Luisa came across well, with some excellent material. It was harder to get into Zara Gladman as she is a character act, and I didn't know her work. Janey has always been a force of nature, but now, with her cancer diagnosis, she is totally unleashed and terrifyingly funny. The top act of the afternoon, in my opinion. 

The afternoon finished with the presentation of this year's Spirit of Glasgow Award. After an introduction by the festival organiser, Elaine C Smith announced the winner, with Janey Godley handing the award to Susie McCabe. There was a touching video from Sir Billy, which made Susie quite emotional. We left the gala with the PA system playing If It Wisnae fur yer Wellies, which brought another smile to the crowd's faces. 

Susie, with the other nominees.

I was surprised to learn that the festival is run by a core team of just five people. Maybe once I retire, I should investigate how to get involved. With a staff discount, I could save a fortune on tickets.

Ticket Price: £24.10 each plus £3.95 transaction fee from ATG.