LAUGHING & EATING AT THE GLASGOW COMEDY FESTIVAL

The Magners’ Glasgow International Comedy Festival  has announced plans to invade the Merchant City this month, with a bewilderingly huge programme of rib-ticklers and merry-makers. We’ve put together a little guide to the best of the fest, and organised some excellent discounts for Glasgow Comedy Festival ticket holders at some of the Merchant City’s best-loved restaurants. Read on!

This year’s lineup includes (deep breath, now) Fred Macaulay, Wendy Wason, Andrew Maxwell (and his Fullmooners), Patrick Monahan, John Hegley, Todd Barry, Marcus Brigstocke, Terry Alderton, German Comedy Ambassador Henning Wenn, David Kay Arnold Brown , Bridget Christie, John Byrne’s Slab Boys, Pappy’s, Jake O’Kane, Bob Doolally, David Kay, Carl Donnelly, Scott Agnew, Janey Godley, Zoe Lyons, Scott Capurro, Patrick Monahan, Noel  James , and a gentleman called Severe Malcolm (a Byres Road hardman. That’s just typical of the West End.)

Don’t know where to start? You need some Merchant City

RE-COMEDY-ATIONS

(oh, we crack ourselves up. We really do)

 

Want to be able to claim you saw them before they were famous? Comedy fans in the know will be queuing for tickets to Pappy’s World Record Attempt (Blackfriars, Thu 18 Mar), as the hotly-tipped, If.Comedy award nominated sketch troupe attempt 200 sketches in 60 minutes. If you prefer your comedy a little less frantic, try the hilariously bitchy Bridget Christie (also at Blackfriars, Sun 14 Mar), the multi-award winning slacker-comic Carl Donnelly (surprisingly, at Blackfriars, Thu 25 Mar)  or the very elegant ex-pat Scot Wendy Wason  (yup, Blackfriars again, Thu 11 Mar), all of whom are tipped for stardom.

 

Glasgow banter

It might be Glasgow’s International Comedy Festival, but the home team are still well represented. Easterhouse’s grande dame Janey Godley has taken a video camera round Los Angeles to document everyone from street people to movie agents (Tron Theatre, ). 2008 Scottish Comedian of the Year (and Merchant City dweller) Scott Agnew brings PRIDE back to Maggie May’s on Thu 25 Mar, and Radio Scotland’s loveable legend Fred Macaulay is getting the old gang back together again for a Funny Farm reunion (with Bruce Morton, Parrot and Stu Who) at the Old Fruitmarket on Thu 11 Mar.

Waaaay out there

Like your comedy sharp and shocking? You’d want to check out the acid tongued Mr Scott Capurro, really. He’s at the Tron on Fri 26 Mar. If even Mr Caustic California isn’t risqué enough for you, Irish comedian Jake O’Kane (Blackfriars, Fri 19 Mar) will be fearlessly attempting a ‘comedic journey through the Troubles’. Crikey. 

Cheeky charmer Andrew Maxwell (yes, he’s Irish. However did you guess?) is the undisputed king of the comedy heap this year; he’s fresh from Mock the Week triumph and so popular he can pack out the Old Fruitmarket, both on his own (Fri 12 Mar) and with his all-star Maxwell’s Fullmooners midnight cabaret (Sat 13 Mar). For more telegenic glamour, try: Marcus Brigstocke (you might know him from The Late Edition, QI, or Love, Actually); Old Fruitmarket, Sat 13 Mar.

 

 

Veteran Scots comic Arnold Brown was at the forefront of the early 1980s alternative comedy scene, and can still pack out houses today, so make sure you get your tickets early for his blissfully slow-mo sit-down stand up at the Tron (Sun 14 Mar). Also at the Tron (on Fri 12 Mar), and also approaching venerable legend status is John Hegley, bespectacled poet, scholar, gentleman, and able to make you laugh with only a handkerchief
 

 

GLASGOW COMEDY FESTIVAL DINING OFFERS

For the duration of the Glasgow Comedy Festival (Thursday 11^th – Sunday 28^th March), various excellent Merchant City hot spots are offering a variety of discounts to all Glasgow Comedy Festival ticket holders. To claim, please state ‘Glasgow Comedy Festival offer’ while booking, and bring either a valid Glasgow Comedy Festival ticket or ticket stub along to the restaurant.

Cafe India (29 Albion Street, bookings 0141 552 5115)

-       20% off food bill, Sunday-Friday

El Sabor (17 Bell Street, bookings: 0141 552 3400)

-       20% off food bill Sunday-Friday

Metropolitan (Merchant Square, 60 Candleriggs, bookings: 0141 553 1488)

-       20% off a la carte menu (food only), Sunday-Thursday

-       30% off bar menu (food only) Sunday-Friday