Carlton Studios was host to a comedy ‘Prelude’ on Wednesday evening, showcasing a medley of fine talents each airing their new material to an enthusiastic audience before letting loose at this year’s fringe festival. The first colourful act to be pulled from this evening’s bag of delights was ballsy and razor sharp Govan comedian Jay Lafferty. Jay is a promising talent and a breath of fresh air, bagging laughs like fine fruits ripe for the picking, all squishy and colourful. With an air of confidence, she smoothly relaxes her audience with some excellent, upbeat improv, firmly stamping her professionalism and wit smack on the front cover of her act. Festival cringes and saucy holiday novels splash through her set as she engages and interacts with her audience who quickly fall in unison to adore her. A true breath of fresh air.
The second comedian to take to the stage was Perrier award winner Wil Hodgson who quenches a satirical thirst with his observational gripes. Pubs, pies, pickles and paranoia are all given his critical dissection as he meanders through his hilarious ramblings. It may take some focused determination to keep up as he rick-shays unapologetically from hernias to real ale and smashes awkwardly into some imaginary voices. His bizarre edges and punky views giving a fascinating glimpse into a genuinely bizarre and interesting dude whom you could easily see yourself sharing a few pork scratchings and a pint down the pub, as he crunches effortlessly through a crisp bag of ideas.
The penultimate act of the night is the ever-charismatic Bonnie Fairbrass, a 2006 ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ semi-finalist (banned for being needlessly crude and offensive) takes to the stage with boundless energy, fabulous bursts of charm and a massively infectious smile. Her confidence and perfect timing is impeccable as she delivers fast-paced, punchy lines and hilarious anecdotes. Dysfunctional families, relationships and baggage pepper throughout her set whilst charisma and wit roll from her tongue onto a spicy narrative platter. This is comedy at its best, served up with lashings of social insight, a smidgeon of philosophy and a wee dollop of politics thrown on top.
The final act, Jay Islaam, arrives in his turban with a burst of political satire and a rather unconvincing accent! Close to the bone and not for the faint hearted he fires off a tirade of cleverly controversial one-liners aimed at provoking the audience to think about racism in a new light. Humorous, intelligent one liners bring some poignant considerations to end his clever act.
Tonight’s four acts were hosted by a confident and entertaining compere Paul McDougall, who faultlessly worked the audience into a jubilant bubble of laughter and perfectly stitched these four unwritten acts together. Overall, a feast of eclectic humour and cracking narrative smashed this evening’s showcase of talent and these comedians will do Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival proud. Watch out for a second Prelude showcase in July, and all four of these acts performing over the festival in August.
Great news! Not only can we enjoy some of the best comedy from the Gilded Balloon during the The Edinburgh Fringe in August, now they are treating us to monthly comedy nights at The Festival Theatre’s, The Studio! Each month The Studio play host to four comedians for us Edinburghers to sample some well established and up and comers breaking into giggle scene.This Saturday night we saw Scott Agnew, Jimmy McGhie, Andrea Hubert and John Gavin take to the stage. Unlike some Gilded Balloon comedy nights I have been to, tonight’s gig was unfortunately only half-full so we had our pick of places to sit. We bravely selected one of the table-and-chair seats at the front to fully appreciate the evening’s entertainment. 6’5” Glaswegian Scott Agnew is a Comedian and Journalist with TV presenting credits and radio appearances to his name. As one of Scotland’s top comperes, he hosts tonight’s show. The former Scottish Comedian of the Year regularly comperes in established and esteemed venues such as Jongleurs, Highlight and The Stand.
Agnew creates a warm welcome for London-based Andrea Hubert. Comedian, TV writer and Arts Journalist. After only 20 gigs Hubert was awarded second place in a national competition. Talk about fast work! Since then she has made it to the final of several New Act contests, such as Boom-Tish New Act 2011 (winner), Finalist of Leicester Square New Comedian 2011 and with her writing partner, Bafta Rocliffe New Writing Award 2013 (winner). You will also see her work appear in publications and across media networks, including The Guardian, The Telegraph and Channel 4. It’s clear to see why she has done so well in such a short space of time. Her honest and hilariously self deprecating tales touch on subjects everyone can relate to, and the audience appreciation is evident in the warm applause at the end of her set.
Scott Agnew returns with a brief story of his experiences in Glasgow karaoke haunt – The Horse Shoe Bar. He creates a vivid picture of some of the establishment’s more colourful characters, before welcoming the next guest. In a change to the advertised billing, 35 year old John Gavin from Hamilton takes to the stage. Winner of Ha Ha Comedy’s Scottish Comedian of the Year in 2009. The father of three girls with angry/confused eyebrows and tattoo clad arms chats about the differences between Edinburgh and Glasgow, warns never to go to St Andrews Aquarium and takes us through a few of the things in life that annoy him – all to great comic effect. He has an easy going delivery style that works well with the mainly Scottish punters. He could be your mate down the pub. You know? The funny one with the eyebrows…
After the interval Agnew returns with tales of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He makes light of the fact that the city became a friendly, sunny place for the duration of the games, but that it reverted to ‘normal’ as soon as the games were over! And so onto the headline act for this evening. Jimmy McGhie created instant hilarity by striding into the audience and tangling his microphone lead up with people as he walked among the tables and chairs. Spotting me as I was taking notes, he proceeded to snatch them from the table before reading them aloud to the now hysterical audience! Note to self – sit at the back next time! Londoner McGhie claims to be posh but not proper posh, and offers a simple yet amusing way to differentiate between the two. It’s all in how a person says yes apparently. His experiences at the gym produce tears of laughter. Despite a youthful appearance, thirty something McGhie is a self confessed technophobe and much of his material attacks the absurdities of modern life. Mobile Phones, Computers and Sarky Sales Assistants all come under fire. The physical comedy he displays when recreating the aforementioned assistant’s floppy designer haircut is brilliant. This guy is sharp witted and self-assured, and a perfect ending to a great evening’s comedy.
My last visit to The Stand Comedy Club was on a miserable November evening seven months ago, queued in a sedulous downpour that saturated the audience prior to Dylan Moran’s captivating performance. Mercifully, this evening’s Bank Holiday special at the venue was under drier conditions – and much drier wit – as another of Ireland’s favourite comics opened proceedings. As one of the stars of Father Ted, Michael Redmond’s cult status was already established, but as host of the club’s notorious weekly show ‘Sunday Sessions’, he has formed a church of faithful and devoted believers that attend this more relaxed, end-of-the-week, feel-good show.
In front of yet another packed out crowd, 64yr old Redmond welcomed a man more than half his age, Iain Stirling, to kick off proceedings. Research has provided that people are more health conscious at the start of each new week, so it was fitting, or perhaps contrary depending on when you consider the week commences, that Stirling broached the subject of gym-hungry, non-drinking friends. This was nothing more than a soft ice-breaker as the Edinburgh comic delivered philosophical, animated satire with bright witticisms about right wing group Britain First and political excuses for immigration issues. A confident delivery ensured that the audience were swift to respond enthusiastically to Stirling’s petitions and beguiling mannerisms prior to the second comedian of the evening, Jamie MacDonald.
MacDonald’s Edinburgh Fringe show “That funny blind guy” had already won favour in the east, and it was a short but highly funny set delivered by the ‘Caledonia Best’ voice (MacDonald provides a number of voice-overs and appears towards the conclusion of the advert). Although the comedian’s impaired vision was always going to be the core subject, it is a topic rarely broached and one with which the Stand crowd laughed heartily at through MacDonald’s wry opinions. Referring to blind sports as “blood sports”, an unorthodox examination of the visionless world created ludicrous, Mr Magooesque slapstick that beguiled the Glasgow audience from start to finish.
The third performer of the evening was the fantastic Loretta Maine; the wild and reckless American ball of frustration, created by British comedienne Pippa Evans. Maine’s embittered guitar songs and Absolutely Fabulous-style persona was the highlight of tonight’s show, engaging and alienating the crowd in an equally sublime and chaotic fashion. It was no surprise that a number of females in the crowd let their voices be known as Maine delivered her riotous ‘White Wine Witch’ song, drenched in tongue-in-cheek sour venom. As this was Maine’s fourth night at The Stand, it would have been understandable had she delivered a below-par performance, but this was ten minutes of uproarious piss-taking that sat easily with the Stand audience, and it was no surprise at the end of the show when she receives the largest acclamation – don’t miss her next time she’s performing near you.
After the final interval, it was the turn of long-standing comic Dave Johns. As a regular guest on comedy panel shows and having performed everywhere from Hong Kong to New York, it was disheartening that after Maine’s brilliant penultimate set that Johns didn’t live up to the expected hype as headline act. A number of the Newcastle comedian’s dated gags fell flat on the Stand’s cellar floor, with quips about lesbians penchants for Doc Marten boots, and archaic patter concerning Gary Glitter and Michael Jackson, failing to rouse the now-subdued crowd. At one point, Johns remarked “You are looking at me as if to ask is Dave funny or shit?” with one audience member towards the rear answering very much on behalf of the latter camp. As the Stand has always been known as a place that wills comedians to succeed, it was a pity that Johns was not perspicacious enough to gage that impersonating whale noises and ear-splitting karaoke-renditions of James Bond tunes would ever be enough to satisfy tonight’s public.
Not that this ruined the night, but first impressions last. Michael Redmond returned to thank each of tonight’s performers and, as always, The Stand had delivered another night of fantastic range and quality. Almost returning to his role as Father Stone in the highly popular afore-mentioned comedy series, Redmond stood at the back of the church (Ok, comedy club), shaking hands with all exiting – a huge delight for me as an ardent fan of the show. After eleven years or so compering his Sunday Service show, Redmond has lost none of his Irish charm and, in his own words, “Even though his hair is white, his eyebrows remain dark which mean they must not worry as much as the rest of him”. No need to lose any sleep over tonight’s excellent show, Michael.
Its been a busy time for Des Clarke, what with hosting the Common Wealth Games closing ceremony, carrying the Olympic Torch through Glasgow, wearing a white trackie and having a sell out show at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival last year. This current stand up tour is the full version of last years fringe show.
He arrives on stage and gets straight in to some audience interaction, telling how everyone he’s met in Inverness is delighted Caley have made it to next Saturdays Scottish Cup Final, and asking the crowd how the Scottish Cup, which was only up here for 2 days managed to get broken. Des tells some funny stories about growing up in a high rise in Glasgow’s Gorbels, where he had the nickname of Lemonade as he lived 7-Up and his unfortunate early growth of hair, he was the second to get a moustache in his class…the first being a girl named Fiona.
After getting the crowd loosened up he introduced support act Scott Gibson on stage and for the next 45 minutes we were exposed to his dark, twisted humour which was extremely funny with moments of pure cringe, but maybe not for the faint hearted or easily offended. Having recently done his début solo show “Life After Death” at Glasgow Comedy Festival I think he will be one to look out for!
Following a short break, Des Clarke returned to the stage for the next hour, with his face paced energetic comedy, hilarious personal accounts and impressions! Occasionaly it felt a bit rehearsed, but he was at his best when he was chatting, working the crowd and being spontaneous. This is when we got to see his quick clever wit and the room was filled with belly laughs. After a long, eventful week, laughter really is the best medicine and this was the perfect tonic.
The Stand’s Thursday Show allows you to see the club’s Saturday night show at a reduced price, £10 instead of £15. This Thursday’s was a proverbial mixed bag. Bruce Devlin compèred. An equal opportunities offender, he managed to insult a good chunk of the audience, but in good humour, much hilarity and in a way that keeps everyone on-side.
The first act of the night was Harriet Dyer, who announced her arrival by claiming that she was “eccentric”, although erratic would be closer to the truth. She flitted from subject to subject. Unfortunately nerves seemed to get the better of her and it made for an uncomfortable largely laugh free fifteen minutes.
The next act was probably the best of the night, Wayne Mazadza, a young Zimbabwean comedian, whose low-key comedy centred hilariously around the cultural differences between his birth country and his adopted home. He was followed by the transatlantically renowned Graeme Thomas,who started with great energy which had be buzzing, which sadly fizzled out towards the end of his twenty minute set.
The night was capped off by the most confident and polished performer of the night, Jeff Innocent, who has been coming to Edinburgh ever since 2001, when he gushed;,
I’ve been in Edinburgh a week. In that time I’ve performed my solo show for five consecutive nights, appeared on a local TV program, been the subject of several features in the Scottish press, & had my first ever review – a glowing one. I’m pleased to say. All this & still only another 25 performances to go.
You could tell he was happy to be back, & his fresh material made sure the audience went home with smiles on their faces. Over all it was an entertaining night and excellent value for money.
A good night with some impressive improvisation and more than a few nights .On the stage the whimsical Paul merton was joined by Mike McShane ( of Robin Hood fame) , Lee Simpson, Richard Vranch and Suki Webster. The team immediately set about by making up a sherlock Holmes mystery about a silver spoon, each member had to keep the story going and if they stumbled the audience were encouraged to shout DIE! to indicate their elimination from the game. Paul Merton shows his talent for improvising as he works effortlessly with the four other comedians performing in the show. Between the 5 comedians there is a vast array of talent from singing, musical talents and dancing. The group work very well with each other getting audience participation for ideas for various games and sketches.
Another game involved Paul trying to guess his job of cats eye cleaner in Achiltibuie which caused much amusement mostly from the performers trying to pronounce it let alone give clues to Paul. Later we were treated to a very unusual Shakespeare play and a Gilbert and Sullivan song about sky diving. The group work very well with each other getting audience participation for ideas for various games and sketches. The talent for all the performing arts is impressive in particular the made up music (Richard) and perfect singing (Suki) along with funny one liners and lyrics from all the cast. Overall it was an excellent evening with more hits than misses. I would recommend this show for all ages.
Gary Little’s performance was both original and hilarious. With a very ‘at ease’ stage presence the audience all felt we could have been hanging out in the pub together. The burly Glaswegian shares openly his checkered past as an ex-con and his wild days, long behind him now. Handling the crowd well, Little reg-ailed the crowd with tales of dog walking social etiquette, girlfriends, drugs, sex parties and on-line dating. Pulling all his material from real – life experience hes definitely had an interesting one!
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His opening tales of dog walking and the daily problems that can occur could have only be made funny by wiegie banter. Dodging the neds in the park to carrying bags of ‘shite’ around are funny enough with out his social etiquette on varying greetings matched with dog breeds.
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Little lets us on some background history of growing up in a high-rise in Maryhill during the 70’s. Growing up with three sisters in a one room flat, he was always his Mammies boy. Developing life long toilet behaviours stemming from the traumas of a shared landing toilet….the far fetched lies his ‘wee mammie’ used to tell him….and hanging around with a big dug who constantly wanted to ride him,,,,are a few of his child-hood tales. There was no one in the audience not laughing after this!
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For sure this man has lived a colourful and wild life, all of which he can be thankful for as he has now found his calling in comedy. It was refreshing to see a performer stem laughs mainly about himself rather than others, and I get the feeling he has a lot more to tell! Not for the easily offended but I will be first in-line for tickets on his next visit to the Highlands.
The new Festival Theatre Studio is a parallel modern building with a glass frontage built for maximum space. Clearly its in a prime location for the Fringe and the treading feet of the festival as well as multi-purpose use. It feels like being in a new school building but it’ll be different in appearance when its littered with flyers and art work. The bar is makeshift so the space can be used for other things. The bar staff are a giggle, always good to have a bit of that going on. The theatre itself is big, some tables at the front which are fully occupied. The rooms not packed but there’s easily as many people in attendance as you would find on a really busy night at the Stand.
To open and compare the gig we had Ray Bradshaw a 24 year old Glaswegian comic who seizes the opportunity to create a ruck between two lads in the front row via the medium of top trumps….starting with nationality and gradually debasing it into penis size. Obviously holding onto the notion that its always a winner to attempt to embarrass people for laughs. His style of patter is non aggressive and friendly. There’s a hen party in the front row and frequent jibes about how our bride-to-be hates her mother in law gradually produced hilarity. Particular because we all knew this wasn’t true. It was obvious and these lovely Geordie ladies told me this in the toilets a break time. Really it was gentle inoffensive offenses….and that included when he asked the ladies what they were doing later. ‘Are you gonna throw a dildo out of the roof of your limo?’ was his thoughts. Dare him on his web page here.
Next up was Grainne Maquire. From the outset it was hard to tell whether she is playing a character or not. Shes dowdy and plain and a little mad. Obsessive about politics, T.V., and the Pussy Cat Dolls! Although she is Irish she tells us shes a Londoner and some of the political chat is lost on the Northerners in the crowd. The T.V. referencing was lost on me a couple of times as I dont watch much but this didnt stop her demeanor on stage from being very funny. I didn’t know who Kirsty Alsop was by name so it took a while to realize which program she was referring to. She identifies herself as a feminist and her way of portraying how to deal with feminist issues is surreal, clever and facinating. Particularly when its never obvious whether she is serious of not! She tells women they should poo in the street for feminism and how porn could be transformed into a stage for radical feminism. You don’t see how to begin with but then her words explain it, your laughing and although you know her idea is ridiculous you are left wondering whether it would work. Confusion reigned in this act as did her laughable perfomative stage presence.
After being broken up by some great travel holiday gags involving tipex sunblock and pissed Aussies drying they’re hands under condom machines enters Chris MacArthur Boyd. Hes small (he has to lower the mic stand) but dapper. Describing himself as a cross over between Gok Wan and Ronnie Corbett we are back to more T.V. referencing. He plays on his geeky personality, living with mum and dad, failed relationships and harmless perversions. “22 but a feotus” as he describes himself. Sometimes its as if he talking to himself in the mirror in the bathroom. He declares to a ex girlfriend who’s sent her bazookas to him on tinder that hes harder than it is to find a job. She doesn’t get this so he explains how hard it actually is to find a job….including government policy. Major nerd alert and she didn’t get back to him.
Headline act is Tom Stade. He adorns the stage with his brash Canadian accent and husky voice. Here again T.V. referencing plays a part but he parody’s this, he knows none of the programs he talks about would make sense in other countries. He shouts and swears about everything, he hates his kids. He doesn’t care about sweat shops, hes abusive to his wife. He doesn’t care if a man has 19 kids and has to carry her vagina around in a bucket. He doesn’t care about Monsanto or pesticides….na he don’t care about nothing. He is hilarious and informed, best of all he is lying. He’s appears like a man on the edge, who, if he doesn’t behave is going to get smacked round the head (by his wife) with a Jack Daniels bottle. I was really glad to see someone up on stage who was just cutting lose. Hes done some massive gigs so to him this must have been relatively small potatoes and to be honest its the first time I’ve seen a comedian performing drunk in a long time and I was impressed, this guy held it together. There was a lack of uniformity about it but that just made it all the funnier.
All in all there was a good mix of age and experience. Bradshaw kept the crowd going throughout out and most of all was friendly. We were welcomed warmly in and out and the crowd was buzzing as we left the building. It was fun when Stade appeared from the building and drifted off round the corner still ranting. You got the impression that his act that night had only just started.
Have you heard? Not only can we enjoy some of the best comedy from the Gilded Balloon during the The Edinburgh Fringe in August, now they are spoiling us to monthly comedy nights at The Festival Theatre, The Studio! Each month The Studio play host to four comedians for us Edinburghers to sample some well established and up and coming newbie’s breaking out into giggle scene. This Saturday night we saw Aisling Bea, Ray Bradshaw, Chris Forbes and Joe Hart take the stage.
Our compare for the night (who had to provide his own backstage announcement) was a Mr Ray Bradshaw, a 25-year-old comedian from Glasgow. A likable guy who instantly started to get to know the audience through friendly chit chat. He ended up giving therapy to a daughter and mother, a Copenhagen patron openly marked himself 5 out of 10 in the bedroom department and instigated an uncomfortable engagement proposal between a young couple in the audience, but it was all in a light hearted nature. His warmth and engaging storytelling of a drunken Aussie trying dry his hands under the condom machine, skydiving with a small instructor with a limp who looked like a roll-on deodorant and early memories of an awkward sexual request, were all very amusing. Having made his comedy debut in September 2008, Bradshaw has rapidly established himself as exciting new act on the comedy realm. A two time Scottish Comedian of The Year finalist, Bradshaw been making a name himself and is much loved as an MC for several promoters. Easily one of the best comedians of the night, I would be definitely go to see a full show of his material. Although I found it somewhat odd that Bradshaw requested the audience not to heckle the other comedians, only himself, which took some of the interactive enjoyment, which comes naturally with comedy. The three comedians who proceeded seemed staged and scripted in their delivery, preventing the much loved (but sometimes loathed) rapport between audience and comedian.
First up was Chris Forbes a stand up comedian, actor and writer from North Scotland. Forbes has starred in and written various TV, radio and stage productions. As a stand up comedian, Chris covers the UK circuit and has performed in Pint Sized Comedy and The Canadian Comedy Network within The Great International Laugh Off. In 2012 Chris supported Kevin Bridges on his UK tour and performed at festivals T in the Park and Rockness. Forbes regaled stories of his childhood in a heavily religious town and suggested religion should be made more fun by creating Top Trumps for religious characters. We hear stories from his travels and how he got a toe scar in “Vieeetnaaam”. Among his other travels, he follows the Tartan Amy and their various drunken exploits and hooliganism. Forbes has a down beat view of Scots and repeats well-rehearsed easy jokes at Scotland’s expense. He could do better by setting his sights higher instead of base line jokes. They are mildly funny, but also insulting at the same time. We have heard them all before. He redeems himself slightly by moving on to tales of his practical joker brother who pretends Forbes has been in a four-year comma after coming to from an appendix operation.
Penultimate act Joe Hart, was placed third in the So You Think You’re Funny? new talent hunt 2014 and semi-finalist in the Chortle Student Comedy Award the same year. A 22 year-old student at Goldsmith’s University, he self claims to be a nerd and gay, or a ‘gurd’ as he likes to call it. Hart and his fast track comical anecdotes were funny and loveable. He has a lot of offer with his cheerful delivery, stage presence and an idiosyncratic outlook that creates family relations out of Einstein’s relativity theory and his obsession with space and time. He yearns to be a gay activitist, but only from the security of his laptop. Hart is not your typical gay guy, but when people learn of his tendency it is often followed by a flurry of questions, he proclaims, which he amusingly answers afore us, and his reason for being gay? “Because my parents didn’t let me go melon hunting!” or maybe it was just his “lust for cock”! Hart is only at
the beginning of his comic career however he is one to be watched, he definitely has potential. He is growing into his own and I would like to see how he progresses over the next few years.
Aisling Bea is an Irish actor, award winning stand-up and writer. In 2012, Bea became the first woman in 20 years to win the esteemed So You Think You’re Funny? competition for new comedians. A year later, her debut solo show, C’est La Bea, sold out in three days at the Edinburgh Fringe and she was nominated for the Foster’s Best Newcomer Award (formerly The Perrier Award). In December 2014, she was awarded the British Comedy Award for Best Female TV Comedian. Since then she has performed at Live At The Apollo (BBC1) and Channel 4’s Comedy Gala. Bea also has a few TV appearances in panelist shows under her belt such as 8 Out of Ten Cats (Ch4), Qi (BBC1) with Stephen Fry, Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC2) and Would I Lie To You? (BBC1). She supported Ardal O’Hanlon on his UK tour at the end of 2013 and in February 2014 performed at the renowned Improv Comedy Club in Los Angeles.
Aisling’s name is pronounced Ash-leeing Bee. She lives in London but is originally from Ireland.
Being Irish supplies the much of the meat for Bea’s set. Her rural upbringing meant that any one passing by a car or tractor would be met by fast-passed banter, which would explain the way he delivers her routine, in lightning quick patter, that and the fact her mother is a professional jockey. Bea is blessed with the gift of the gab, she races through stories of her mothers confusion between diabetics, vegetarians, gluten intolerance and lesbians, claiming they are all fussy about what they put in their mouth! Discussing the nature of confidence and body language in Hollywood and the similarities between actors and rats. Not every punch line sails, but her charisma and charm means the lost jokes are soon forgotten. The velocity and high energy of her delivery, and the multiplicity of her accents lends to the polished performance.
Overall an entertaining night, however the compare, Ray Bradshaw, stole the show with his friendly open demeanor.
It should be safe to assume that Iranian-born, British comedian Shappi Khorsandi is filling a token niche for Iranian comics at the moment, where only Omid Djalili perhaps succeeds in filling this Middle Eastern opening within the UK comedy circuit. However, Khorsandi’s multi-cultural vibe would play a secondary role in tonight’s performance at the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow. The show entitled “Because I’m Shappi” (presumably a play on Pharrell Williams’ annoyingly catchy hit ‘Happy’ from last year) was a welcome return for the comedienne who never performed a single gig during 2013. It would be unfair to criticise Khorsandi for this absence after relentlessly exhibiting her blend of absurdity on various tours since the late nineties, coupled with the paltry matter that she was detained from our viewing pleasure, giving birth. The role of the single mother and the way that families interact were central themes which flowed throughout the evening, and one which the audience would lap up.
The opening segment of Khorsandi’s performance was executed witty reflections of Hen nights and the competitive cliques that materialise between friends from childhood, employment, and academic backgrounds. After a slow start to the second half considering personal issues ranging from flirting in supermarkets to family disorder, Khorsandi began to find her stride. No longer relying on audience responses to fill in small gaps, the comic’s musing of sex after divorce, during pregnancy, and other methods of gratification, had the audience savouring every anecdote and quip about her very personal encounters. Few names were censored; even fewer stories were spared.
After the love-in, attention was drawn towards social networking trolls and the hypocrisy of far right supporters living in the UK. Khorsandi’s intelligent knack for broaching ugly subjects and then slaying them with her sparkling wit is a remarkable lesson in comedic timing and demonstrated exactly why she has become a regular face on our screens. This stroll into shady territory continued in astute opinions concerning immigration and hostilities, using her father as the focal point for both the targeting of, and solution to, racism. Although our entertainer for the evening portrays herself as a screwy aunt teaching herself how to “talk to young people again”, it becomes apparent that there are depths that she has still to absorb – and strengths which led to an increased response from the audience as the night moved to a close.
With another gig across town at The Stand Comedy Club awaiting her, Khorsandi thanked the generous Glasgow crowd for their good spirits before departing. The Magners Comedy Festival may perhaps see better comics across the city tonight, but very few will endear themselves throughout the course of the evening as well as Shappi Khorsandi managed to.
Mumble Comedy 