Homecoming Comedy Gala: The Preview

One of the highlights of the last few days of the festival will be The Homecoming Comedy Gala but the line up of Australian and Canadian comics will also play a special preview show.

Homecoming Comedy Gala: The Preview, 8.30pm, Glad Cafe, £8

Canadian and Australian comics visit the land of their forebears for Homecoming 2014 and play a special preview show at the Southside’s Glad Cafe.

From Australia – John Robertson. A comedian, writer and MC who is in a constant state of world tour. A comic and actor for nine years, his one-man shows, ‘Blood & Charm’ and ‘Dragon Punch’ drew rave reviews at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe. He has a Scottish grandmother.

From Canada – John Hastings. John has been performing stand up since 2006, and in 2012 he moved to London, since then he has been going from strength to strength entertaining audiences across the country engaging them with his sharp punchlines delivered through his observational storytelling style. He also has a Scottish granny.

From Canada - Christina Walkinshaw. Christina has performed at Gotham Comedy Club in New York, the Hollywood Improv, and has also toured overseas to entertain the troops. Currently living in Toronto, Christina tours across Canada with Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Clubs and she’s recently shot her own ‘Comedy Now’ TV special. Her grandfather hails from Scotland and she’s spotted the family name on an Edinburgh Castle memorial wall.

From Canada – Ted Morris. Ted’s intelligent, off-beat humour and wickedly charming smile have earned him a plethora of comedy credits. Born in Ottawa and now making his home in Toronto, Ted discovered his love of stand-up while getting his degree in veterinary medicine. While he still spends some time working as small animal vet, his comedy career is taking off and he has found that it's much more gratifying to "kill" on stage. His grandfather was born in Elgin and his mother is a proud Glaswegian – this will be Ted’s first time in Glasgow.

Top Five: Last Weekend Shows

Top Five: The Last Weekend.

Luke Toulson: Laid Back Grouch.

There's always time for more comedy! Here's some choice cuts from the last few days of the festival:

Commissioned,Tron Theatre, 3 April, 8.30pm, £5-£7

The brainchild of Glasgow-based, Northern Ireland born host Elaine Malcolmson, Commissioned is a night of new comedy commissioned by suggestions on Twitter and Facebook. The chosen subject will form the basis for a night of comedy, stand up, sketches, poetry, music, art, characters and more. 

Rhys James: Begins. Blackfriars Basement. 4 April 9pm. £9/7
"Rhys James is a sickeningly talented young stand-up. He's a super-sharp writer, with a ton of smart, intricately-written jokes and stories where you're never more than a few seconds away from another punchline." Ben Williams, Time Out. Rhys was also named one of the 30 funniest people to follow on twitter by The Telegraph.

Luke Toulson: Laid Back Grouch, The State Bar, 4 April 9pm. £6/£8

Laid Back Grouch is a brutally honest and hilariously funny examination of a life that only comes alive when in front of a microphone.  Luke Toulson is an award-winning, comedian whose 2013 show was selected as one of the Top 10 Comedy Shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Stephen Bailey: Work In Progress, The State Bar, 5 April, 8pm. £6/£8

Chatty comic from Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, “Northern, gay, ginger and sharp as a lemon”.

Elaine Malcolmson & Sian Bevan: Jotters, The Griffin, 5 April, 8.30pm. £5

Siân Bevan 'madwoman-come-genius.' (Skinny) and Elaine Malcolmson 'bone-dry and talented...exquisite material' (Edinburgh Evening News) would like to show you the contents of their jotters. Two twisted, funny stories; works in progress from the Glasgow-based comics. 

John Hastings, Blackfriars Basement, 5 April, 9pm. £9/£7

Canadian John moved to the UK and became a better person – hear all about it in his highly observant show. https://twitter.com/thejohnhastings

Mibbes Aye, Mibbes Naw: Referendum Debate

Mibbes Aye, Mibbes Naw, Saturday, 29th March, 3.30pm, Stand Comedy Club. Tickets £5.

Keir McAlister 

The comedy debate on the referendum is all systems go with a top line-up now in place for Saturday afternoon's discussion.

The Sunday Herald's Iain MacWhirter will play Dimbleby as comics and straight men from both Yes and No camps seek to win over the undecided.

Opening the batting for the No side is Scottish Journalist and union supporter David Richard Bateman. He'll be aided and abetted by US comic Erich McElroy whose Scottish parentage has inspired him to write a new show on the referendum from a pro-UK perspective.

Ranged against them will be Scottish Green Party leader and MSP Patrick Harvie. He will be supported by local comic Keir McAlister.

The debate kicks off at 3.30pm at the Stand Comedy Club in Woodlands Road, Glasgow and is intended as a light-hearted and somewhat tongue-in-cheek contribution to the nation's grand discussion. It will include lots of opportunities for comment and questions from the floor.


A few tickets are still available from The Stand's website.

Doug Segal Answers Our 'First and Last' Questions (magic included)

Doug Segal Answers Our 'First and Last' Questions (magic included)

We love Doug Segal's answers to our 'First and Last' questions - no one else has managed to fit a little of their act into them! All we have to say is read all of his answers all the way to the bottom and by the end you'll know exactly what you should do!

Award winning entertainer Doug Segal's new comedy mind reading show turns the audience into mind reading mentalists. Expect comedy, animation, interaction and mind blowing miracles performed by you, the audience at Tron Theatre, Friday 21 March, 8pm. Book tickets here.

First record you bought? 
Come on feel the noise by Slade 

First thing you do when you wake up in the morning? 
To tell you the truth I: Take off the costume, make breakfast for the supermodels and have my chauffeur drive them home. 

Last lie you told? 
The last lie I told was the “First thing you do when you wake up in the morning?” 

Last film you watched? 
Tron 

First Crush? 
On pain of death you could couldn't coax that out of me. 

Last meal you cooked yourself? 
Friday last I made toast, does that count as a meal? 

First great piece of advice you were given? 
You should never play cards with anyone who's first name is the same as an American city. 

Last book you read? 
Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? By Max Brallier 

First thing you would do if you knew the world was going to end? 
See if I can find my girlfriend 

Last thing you do before doing a show? 
My way of getting in the right frame of mind is to peek through the curtain at the audience and think “I love these people. Let's give them a good time”. 

First thing you do after a show? 
Show time over I think it's important to talk to the audience and thank them for coming 

Last time you were star struck? 
I had Neil Gaiman come to see my show in Edinburgh and hang out with me after. That was amazing 

First thing you’d do if you ran the country? 
Can I end the Bedroom Tax? 

Last meal on earth – what would it be? 
Make mine a humongous rare kobe beef fillet steak.

First song you’d sing at Karaoke? 
You Got The Love – Florence and The Machine. 

Last funny thing you saw online? 
A thing that made me laugh out loud was today's news that Max Clifford allegedly has a “freakishly small penis”. This is a man who always got his client a couple of inches in the tabloids. 

First comedian you ever saw live? 
Mentalist Les Bubb. He had an act that basically consisted of putting dozens of elastic bands round his face. 

Last thing you were doing before starting these questions? 
I think I was playing fetch with my dog. I've got really good at retrieving. 

First time you lived on your own? 
Honestly, I've never lived on my own. 

Last time you won something? 
Think it was a Three Weeks Editor's Choice Award for being one of their top ten things at the Edinburgh Fringe. 

First Holiday you ever went on? 
You'll be so jealous, it was Butlins Skegness with my mum. I've never quite managed to reach the same level of glamour since. 

Last time you made a fool of yourself? 
Really? You have read this right? 

First job you ever had? 
Like a Saturday job in the greengrocer's department of Tesco. I once found a huge spider in a box of bananas and we had to close the store while an “expert” found and trapped it.

Last Comedian you saw you that you thought was great?
It was a privilege to watch Nick Doody open for me on a recent tour of Switzerland – He's amazing. 

First thing you would do/recommend when you arrive in Glasgow? 
The first thing I'd do is read the hidden message I've placed in this interview (Hint. Read the first word of each answer) 

---

Doug Segal - I Can Make You a Mentalist
Friday 21st of March, 8pm
Tron Theatre
Book Tickets

Award-winning entertainer Doug Segal's new comedy mind reading show turns the audience into mind-reading mentalists. Expect comedy, animation, interaction and mind-blowing miracles performed by you, the audience.

There's nothing spooky or supernatural about this show, everything is achieved using one or more of the following skills from Doug's background in psychology and advertising: persuasion techniques, statistics, reading body language, subliminal influence and two key advertising skills, cheating and lying, all done with laughs and a rakish charm.

**** Sunday Mail
***** Scottish Sunday Express

Abigoliah Schamaun Talks About Making Her Audience Faint

Abigoliah Schamaun Talks About Making Her Audience Faint

Abigoliah Schamaun is one of New York's finest comics and at last years Edinburgh Fringe she made one of her audience members faint! Ahead of her GICF appearance at Blackfriars this Friday, 21 March 9pm, we asked her to tell us all about it and she did even better by providing us with a video (scroll down to watch it). Here's a little introduction from Abigoliah:

Last year on my Edinburgh flyer I wrote, “most everyone will laugh, but at least one person would faint.” It was supposed to be a joke, as most things I write are, but during the show someone fainted on stage; turning an hour of comedy into a bit of a drama.

As well as being a stand up comedian I also do sideshow stunts. I can eat fire and glass, and I shove needles thru my body, because my childhood went fine. And that’s the kind of thing I do in “Subtle”.

In Edinburgh, I brought the girl on stage, now it’s important to know I’m not a monster. I always give people the option to stay put. She came on stage on her volition! Once she was on stage she seemed a bit “off” but I coaxed her to pull the needle out of my hand. She was fine, she was, fine, and then she dropped.

Some lovely gentlemen took her out of the room she had some water and then she RETURNED TO WATCH the rest of the show. In true British fashion after the show she apologized to ME for being a distraction. And in true American fashion I bought her a pint in hopes that she wouldn’t sue me. It was a fun night, and I caught it on tape. I do feel bad for making her faint, but not bad enough to keep the footage a secret.

This will be my first time performing at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival and this time I promise most everyone will laugh, but for God’s sake please no one faint!

ABIGOLIAH SCHAMAUN

SUBTLE

FRIDAY 21 MARCH
21:00

BLACKFRIARS BASEMENT

£9 / £7 ||| Buy tickets

New York comic Abigoliah Schamaun comes to Glasgow with a set of dirty jokes and a selection side-show stunts. See a comedian stick a needle through her own hand for you (but mostly her) entertainment! It's all about the thighs and dick jokes, so most everyone will laugh but at least one person will faint.

'Unapologetically upfront, her shocking escapades and tales are guaranteed to draw shrieks of laughter from the whole audience' ***** Three Weeks

**** Skinny

Commonwealth Stands Up: Facebook Competition

Post by Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

Top Five: Stand Up Guys

Stand Up Guys

John Gordillo

Some gentlemen comedians who have honed their craft.

John Gordillo: Cheap Shots At The Defenceless, The State Bar, 15 March, 8pm. £6/£8

A real “comedian’s comedian”, with an examination of how love, marketing and showbusiness all start to feel like the same thing.

Fred MacAulay: The Very Best of Fred MacAulay, Kings’ Theatre, 26 March, 7.30pm. £16.50/£14.50

Classic routines and new material from the ‘Newsquiz’ and Radio Scotland regular as he celebrates 25 years in stand up.

Simon Evans: Leashed, Citizens Theatre, 1 April, 8pm, £14/£12

Enjoy beautifully crafted stand up from a craftsman of language.

Paul Chowdhry: PC’s World, Citizens Theatre, 4 April, 8pm. £14/£12

The relentless host of Channel 4’s ‘Stand Up For The Week’, tackles hard hitting subjects like why people find political correctness offensive.

Luke Toulson: Laid Back Grouch, The State Bar, 4 April 9pm. £6/£8

A show about what parents are really thinking.