Bridget Christie Guest Blog

I always get very emotional when I come home to Glasgow. I miss it. When I say "home", I wasn't born in Glasgow or grew up here or anything, I'm from Gloucester, which begins with the same two letters, so sometimes I get them mixed up. In fact, I've only ever been to Glasgow once and I was very heavily pregnant so I don't remember much about it, other than going into lots of pubs to use the ladies lavatory. I remember going to The Willow Tea Rooms and eating a cake, and seeing a lovely old Victorian museum thingy called The Tenement House. I love all that shit.

I also went to a great gig at the Stand Comedy Club which was compared by Michael Redmond. Michael Redmond played Father Stone in the classic C4 series Father Ted, and his portrayal of a boring priest is one of the funniest things I've ever seen on telly. I still think about it now, all these years later. And I saw him live. On stage. In Glasgow. What’s the saying? Home is where the heart is. I didn’t see Michael Redmond in Gloucester did I? And you’ve got Jerry Sadowitz, who should be the official face of The Glasgow Tourist Board. Who have we got in Gloucester? EMF and Fred West. So, what do you say Glasgow? Will you have me?

Find out more about Bridget Christie online at www.bridgetchristie.co.uk

Bridget will be performing her solo show My Daily Mail Hell at Blackfriars Basement on Sunday 14th March. Find out more here. You can also win tickets to the show by going to our Competitions page.

Michael Redmond and Jerry Sadowitz are also performing at the festival; to find out more about their shows and to view the full programme of events happening this year go to www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com

Paul Sinha Guest Blog

I have been doing gigs in Glasgow at least annually for the last ten years. Those who have never been to Glasgow may wonder how a public school educated, openly gay Asian comedian with extremely limited resources of personal courage would get on. These people would certainly not be shocked that I was once punched to the floor inside the Best Kebab House on Dundas Street. But that was only the once. And I prefer to remember the good times, rather than the time a feral child ran towards me with a lit firework in his hand.

I for one cannot fault a city that has more Chinese buffet restaurants than Beijing. Until you have gulped down your 28th duck-filled pancake of an evening, you cannot claim to have done Glasgow. Glasgow is still the only city where I have ever been offered a threesome by a mixed gender couple. I still don't know what possessed me to decline. Sobriety can be a curse at times.

That sense of adventure is reflected in the comedy audiences in Glasgow who have always been a pleasure. Ken Dodd famously said of Sigmund Freud that, "The trouble with Freud is that he never had to play the old Glasgow Empire on a Saturday night." Well nor have I, but if the crowds were anything like those that turn up to the Glasgow Comedy Festival every year I would loved to have taken my chances.

Find out more about Paul Sinha at www.paulsinha.com

Paul will be performing his solo show at the Stand Comedy Club on Sunday 14th March. Find out more here.