Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2024

The Scotsman

Glasgow International Comedy Festival 13TH -31ST MARCH 2024  GICF has been bringing world-class comedy to Glasgow for two decades, and in 2024 we will be celebrating our 21st birthday.  On top of the established names that we always have, we pride ourselves on showcasing both Scottish talent and emerging comedians from around the world. We offer a diverse array of comedic styles, including stand-up, improv, sketch, and alternative comedy.  Our Aims  Our aim is to have the biggest impact of any comedy festival in the world. We believe and promote Glasgow as the funniest city in the world and look to celebrate comedy’s role in Scottish culture.  We want to use the festival as a vehicle to make comedy more accessible from a watching and participation perspective. We want to engage communities and groups that don’t have an obvious path into comedy and creative activity in Glasgow that removes barrier to entry.  We want to provide more pathways into a comedic arts programme for those that have an interest but not the means or know how to achieve this.  Our values and vision for the festival are:  We will foster a festival environment that enables comedy to break down barriers for all. We will provide a diverse and varied cultural programme of comedy shows and events. We will put Glasgow at the heart of the festival to the benefit of its economy, communities and citizens. We will be open, collaborative and inclusive. We will be environmentally, economically, socially and culturally sustainable and aware. There are three key pillars to achieve our vision for the festival.  Programming Community Industry

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 Hi, Sarah Gladman.

00:09 Welcome to the King's Theatre, the launch

00:10 of the Glasgow Comedy Festival.

00:12 You're in the festival this year for the first time, is that right?

00:14 I am, yeah.

00:15 I'm excited and terrified.

00:18 So yeah.

00:19 Was it your idea to go for it with a festival show?

00:22 I decided I was going to do a show,

00:25 and I actually did book a venue that was much smaller.

00:28 And then I reached out to the Comedy Festival

00:30 to just ask about logistics and stuff.

00:32 And then Krista was like, do you want to do the Oran More?

00:36 And I said yes.

00:38 And yeah, it's happening now.

00:40 So--

00:41 The first one sold out pretty quickly, yeah?

00:43 It did, which was unexpected but very welcome,

00:49 because I was a bit worried about the size of the venue.

00:51 It was a bit of an unknown with it being my first show.

00:54 But yeah, it sold out.

00:55 And then we put a second date on, and that sold out.

00:58 So yeah, I don't need to worry about the audience.

00:59 I just need to worry about the show actually being funny now.

01:02 I mean, I've been going to the Comedy Festival as a punter

01:05 for years, but it feels massive now.

01:09 And I think Scottish comedy is stronger than it's ever been.

01:14 And I'm just excited to be part of such a historical event now.

01:19 And they're an amazing team as well.

01:21 I think if you--

01:22 for somebody who's doing their first show,

01:24 they're super welcome and supported and encouraged by them.

01:28 And they're also doing things like running free comedy courses

01:30 for women.

01:31 So they genuinely care about supporting new acts

01:34 and diversifying who's doing comedy.

01:36 Are there any other comedians that you've come across

01:38 in the last couple of years in Scotland

01:41 that you think are stars to watch out for?

01:43 Well, Paul Black's an obvious one.

01:45 Everybody loves Paul Black.

01:47 And he is doing amazing things now.

01:50 So he's huge.

01:52 Sophie Rose McCabe, who I met via TikTok.

01:55 So that's the other amazing thing about online.

01:57 You make friends and collaborators

01:59 through being online.

02:01 She's an amazing character comedian.

02:03 She's got a show in the festival as well.

02:05 So does James Gardner, who I also met via the socials.

02:08 So it's a really exciting time.

02:09 OK, Krista, here we are.

02:10 It's the launch of the Glasgow Comedy Festival.

02:12 Tell us a bit about how the festival's evolved over 21

02:16 years, is that right?

02:17 21 years, yeah.

02:18 The first pilot of the festival was in 2002.

02:23 I remember being on the steering group of that.

02:25 It doesn't feel like that length of time ago.

02:28 And yeah, obviously over the years,

02:29 it's just grown exponentially.

02:31 And the city's really taken it on as its own festival.

02:34 And now, all these years later, here we are, over 500 events,

02:39 over 45 venues.

02:42 So yeah, it's just been continuous growth.

02:45 What did you want to do at this time of year?

02:47 In the spring?

02:50 Spring's for lots of different reasons.

02:52 Obviously, being such an important event

02:56 as it is now as part of Glasgow's cultural calendar,

03:00 it sits really nicely amongst events such as Celtic

03:04 Connections, Film Festival, all our other city festival

03:08 colleagues.

03:09 And so it gives a really nice flow to the year.

03:11 In terms of comedy, it works really well

03:14 with touring schedules and with programming

03:18 on an international scale as well as national and local.

03:22 And it's a really nice way to celebrate spring

03:25 and to laugh into a new season and shake off some

03:30 of the doldrums of the winter.

03:32 How have the people of Glasgow got behind the festival,

03:34 would you say, over the years, and particularly

03:36 coming out of the pandemic?

03:38 It's actually been quite emotional, to be honest,

03:40 the way that everybody has taken the festival on as their own.

03:45 And I'm talking about venues, smaller venues, bars,

03:49 restaurants, individuals, artists, the press.

03:54 Everyone has really championed the festival,

03:57 and especially since the pandemic.

04:00 And I think Glasgow really recognises its humour

04:04 as a significant part of its cultural identity.

04:08 And I would like to think the festival is the event that

04:11 allows them to shout about that and to display that,

04:14 as well as their excellent welcome that they're

04:17 more than famous for.

04:18 Where do you think Scottish comedy is at, at the moment?

04:20 I think it's an unbelievable time for Scottish comedy.

04:25 And certainly getting to even enjoy some comedy myself

04:29 over the fringe period, to see the Scottish talent there

04:33 and the work that they're doing and the success they're

04:35 having, both box office and artistically, is wild.

04:40 I mean, I think we're really at a real pinnacle point

04:42 for Scottish comedy.

04:44 And we just can't wait to support that and shine

04:47 a spotlight on it.

04:48 What's the reason for that, do you think?

04:51 I don't know if it's a bit of a perfect storm.

04:53 I mean, certainly, you know that creativity is always

04:59 kind of booms after a period of adversity, which

05:02 the pandemic definitely was for everyone.

05:04 But also, I think people have worked--

05:08 there's definitely more of a community feel, I think.

05:11 There feels like far more of a community

05:13 within the Scottish comedy scene.

05:15 And you look at even things like the Some Laugh podcast

05:20 that Mark Jennings, Stephen Buchanan, and Stuart

05:22 Macpherson do, and the community that they

05:25 are building around them.

05:26 It definitely feels like everyone's moving on together

05:30 and pulling everybody with them.

05:32 And it feels like a real sharing and a real collective

05:35 experience for everyone, which only strengthens it.

05:38 Things like social media, podcast,

05:40 that's really added to it as well.

05:41 Absolutely, yeah.

05:42 And I think, you know, we're like a blether,

05:44 the Glaswegians, you know?

05:45 So I think the podcasts are pretty well-designed for us.

05:49 But I have to say, you know, the work that the Some Laugh

05:52 boys are doing, as well as the other pod--

05:54 I mean, we have several podcasts, 10, 12 podcasts

05:58 in the festival program.

06:00 This year, we've got All Killer, No Filler, Old Firm Facts,

06:03 doing a live show for the first time.

06:06 And that sense of being part of the conversation, I think,

06:11 is important to a Glasgow audience,

06:14 and something that Glasgow acts are particularly good at.

06:17 Put you on the spot by asking, again,

06:19 by maybe some stars of the future to watch out for.

06:22 Who do you think--

06:23 Oh, wow, the acts that are coming through.

06:24 So Glasgow just now, you look at Christopher MacArthur-Boyd

06:27 and Roscoe McClelland.

06:29 And also people taking that step up, as well.

06:31 So even Mark being with us at the King, Mark Nelson

06:33 being with us at the King's, Jay Lafferty, Chris Forbes,

06:37 making strides up into bigger venues.

06:39 So it's happening at all levels, if you like.

06:42 But certainly, you know, there's a kind of group,

06:46 I would say, of Mark Jennings, Stuart MacPherson,

06:49 Stephen Buchanan, Amelia Baylor, Marjolaine Robertson,

06:55 CMB, like I've said, Roscoe McClelland.

06:58 They're all really, really taking a step up

07:05 and a step beyond.

07:06 We've also got people like Chris Thorburn, who I just

07:09 enjoy massively.

07:10 His show, Cine Man, is really something

07:13 to see that's in the GFT this year.

07:14 So that's exciting, as well, to be

07:16 working with our kind of festival partners in that way.

07:20 And then, Leigh-Anne Tew Smith, you're

07:21 back in the King's seat again, just after the Panto.

07:24 Yes, two days off.

07:25 And then a big event coming up in Glasgow.

07:28 Yeah, it's great that the Glasgow International Comedy

07:32 Festival-- giving it a full title--

07:35 is taking place.

07:36 You know, I've always said that Glasgow

07:39 is a city where a sense of humor is a necessity.

07:44 I think it's in our genetics, actually,

07:46 that you have to have a sense of humor.

07:47 And someone who doesn't have a sense of humor,

07:49 you know, you don't go down too well in Glasgow.

07:53 Everybody's cheeky.

07:54 Everybody's got something to say.

07:55 Everybody's-- some of the best lies I've ever heard

07:58 have been overheard at a bus stop, or in a cafe,

08:01 or somewhere like that.

08:03 Some of my favorite stories.

08:05 So it seems appropriate that there's

08:08 a comedy festival in this city.

08:10 It's interesting that I started out in the BBC Comedy Unit.

08:14 And the Comedy Unit was the brainchild

08:16 of Colin Gilbert, who had a whole thing of saying,

08:19 why are we not--

08:22 you know, as Glasgow, which is a very funny city,

08:25 people have a sense of humor, all of that--

08:28 why are we not basing the unit here?

08:30 It doesn't have to be in London.

08:32 And, you know, like BBC Bristol did all the zoo programs,

08:35 and David Attenborough and everything.

08:37 Why could-- and that was him in the early '80s,

08:42 setting that up here.

08:43 And out of that came Naked Video, City Lights,

08:45 Rab C Nesbitt, and Men In Black, Still Game, all these things.

08:50 But it was that belief that--

08:52 but maybe it's because everybody thinks

08:54 they're funny in Glasgow.

08:55 [LAUGHS]

08:56 That they're good.

08:58 The whole thing is a comedy festival.

09:00 I'm going out and doing some gigs for Glasgow Life

09:04 for nothing, you know, in community centers and going--

09:05 because a lot of people can't afford to come

09:07 to a theater like this.

09:09 So I think you have to make it more about the people who

09:13 live here as well.

09:14 What is it for you as a performer that you still want--

09:17 what is it that makes you want to still go on stage?

09:19 [LAUGHS]

09:20 Well, I didn't actually.

09:21 I didn't want to go on stage.

09:23 I think when the pandemic hit, I'd

09:27 been working so hard and so consistently

09:30 for a long, long time.

09:33 Initially, I just felt relief.

09:35 And then you go, well, I've no income,

09:38 because our business was decimated.

09:41 But I was one of the lucky ones that was able to survive.

09:44 A lot of people couldn't.

09:47 But also, how do you satirize a pandemic?

09:51 How do you make fun of a world at that point led

09:54 by Trump and Boris Johnson?

09:56 There's the comedy.

09:58 The comedy's in front of your eyes.

09:59 You can't make it any funnier.

10:01 And I did get to a point and think,

10:03 I know you'll not believe it.

10:05 Who wants to listen to me?

10:06 I've nothing to say.

10:08 I love doing panto.

10:10 We write a lot of ourselves.

10:12 We choose-- and that's creative.

10:14 Two doors down, I love doing as well.

10:17 But I had no desire to go out.

10:19 People kept saying, you should go out.

10:20 And it was my daughter who said to me, you should go and do it.

10:23 And I went, no, I don't want to do it, no.

10:25 And I turned 65 this year.

10:28 And in the world we live in, it's

10:29 so sort of misogynistic and dark at times.

10:34 I just thought, you know, well, I'm still here.

10:36 Most of the women I know who are doctors, lawyers, professors,

10:40 you know, run their own businesses, whatever,

10:43 they're still going.

10:45 And we've still got something relevant to say.

10:47 And it also made me have a retrospective

10:50 and look back and think, I've been doing this over 40 years

10:54 now, and to realize what a climb it's been.

10:59 Because people think, oh, she was always able--

11:01 no, I wasn't.

11:02 This has been a hard, hard slog.

11:05 You know, when I started out, women

11:07 had to do four jobs to even get noticed compared

11:10 to one that a guy would do.

11:12 You weren't paid the same.

11:13 You weren't come at all those sort of things

11:15 that women in all walks of life then experienced.

11:19 And there were so few women there as well

11:22 that you did get the attitude, hey, she

11:24 tell me what's funny.

11:26 Because my attitude was, who's he to tell me what's funny?

11:29 I'm supposed to just--

11:30 because he's a guy, he's immediately able to do that.

11:33 And there still is a level of that.

11:35 But I just thought, no, I'm not away yet.

11:38 And maybe I have something to say.

11:41 And maybe it's about legacy, about saying to young women--

11:44 I try all the time.

11:45 I never want to be one of those women who goes, no, this is me.

11:49 I'm not unique.

11:50 It's saying to other women, come on.

11:52 You can do this.

11:54 There's a path here.

11:55 Is it easier for young women to get into industry now

11:57 than it was for comedians?

11:59 I'd like to say it is.

12:01 I'd like to.

12:02 But I think it's still pretty tough.

12:07 You know, comedy generally is still run very much by men.

12:11 Ask Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

12:13 Ask even Frances Saunders.

12:16 Ask a lot of the young women in the sign-up circuit.

12:19 But unless you're doing live at the Apollo--

12:22 and that's really difficult for young Scots women,

12:25 or women from Ireland, or women from other areas that

12:29 aren't London, because they want you in London.

12:32 And you have to give up everything.

12:34 I've been really fortunate in that I made a decision

12:37 not to do that.

12:38 If I worked in London, I still was based here.

12:41 But I'd like to say it was easier.

12:44 But, you know, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

12:47 couldn't get arrested until she suddenly does Fleabag,

12:52 and someone commissions it.

12:54 And she goes mega.

12:55 And everybody's like, oh, she's marvelous.

12:57 Well, yeah, when she was sitting in your office

12:59 pitching an idea.

13:01 And I don't think I've ever in 40 years pitched an idea to--

13:10 I think one, when I did my chat show.

13:13 And even then, that was really difficult to get commissioned.

13:17 And I set up my own company with my husband.

13:19 And we're all, who is she?

13:21 Who does she think she is?

13:23 Of course, Kirsty Wark can set up her own company.

13:25 But she's proper.

13:27 So there was still a real bias about--

13:31 Kirsty's wonderful and great.

13:32 But there was still a real bias about women in comedy,

13:36 particularly.

13:38 So no one's ever crawled across hot coals until very recently,

13:43 when Two Doors Down came along.

13:47 Steve Carney and Gregor Sharp and people like that going,

13:50 oh, no, get her.

13:52 And other opportunities, or opportu-chances,

13:55 as Ricky Fulton would say, have come along in my later years.

14:00 But that was happening 20 years ago.

14:01 I had to set up a company and go out.

14:03 All my one-woman shows, I produced myself.

14:06 So nobody was going, oh, yes, let's commission that.

14:09 Because one, there isn't enough money here to do it.

14:13 And two, if you didn't live in London,

14:15 then it was very difficult to get noticed.

14:17 So the fact that Two Doors Down came along

14:20 was a real blessing in my life.

14:22 And I feel I've been one of the lucky ones as well.

14:25 A real blessing.

14:27 And also to be working with Arabella

14:28 and doing Sharon Joy.

14:31 All these women allowed to be funny in their comedy.

14:35 That felt very fresh and new and wonderful

14:39 that it's caught on in a way.

14:40 But I'd love to say it was easier, but I don't think it is.

14:45 Mark Nelson, here we are at the King's Theatre

14:47 for the launch of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

14:50 How big a deal, an event, is this for Scottish comedians

14:54 these days?

14:56 It's massive.

14:57 Because it's the biggest.

14:58 It's the biggest pure comedy festival in the world.

15:01 So in terms of being a comedian, this is huge.

15:05 In terms of being a Scottish comedian,

15:08 and being a Scottish comedian that lives in Glasgow,

15:10 to have this on your doorstep, and to have

15:12 this size of a festival in the venues

15:15 that you would play year in, year out, it's brilliant.

15:19 Is it allowing comedians to be a bit more ambitious

15:21 in the types of shows you're doing

15:23 or the venues you're playing?

15:24 I think it does.

15:25 It certainly allows, because the Glasgow audiences are

15:27 so supportive, it certainly allows you to do--

15:31 when you're more experienced, it allows

15:33 you to do bigger venues than you would normally think about doing.

15:36 But it also allows--

15:37 it's a great opportunity for newer comedians

15:40 to do that hour for the first time.

15:42 Because there's a huge step up from when you're normally

15:44 doing 20 minutes every weekend in clubs

15:47 to doing your first hour.

15:49 And that's what's great about this festival,

15:51 because it allows you to do it in what

15:52 is a friendly city and a friendly atmosphere.

15:56 So it allows newer comics to get that experience

15:59 of doing an hour.

16:00 So put together an hour-long show, and honing it,

16:04 and getting it to where you want to be,

16:05 how long a process can that be for a comedian,

16:08 or somebody like yourself?

16:09 It should probably be a longer process than I give it.

16:11 But I would certainly--

16:13 I wouldn't take my work ethic as a template to do it.

16:17 But I mean, everyone's different.

16:19 I mean, for me, it takes--

16:21 I like working under the pressure.

16:23 I need the deadline.

16:25 Because if I started in, say, the comedy festival in March,

16:29 if I started in October, very little stuff

16:31 would come out, because I knew it wasn't that pressing.

16:35 Whereas there's other people like that it needs to work for.

16:37 But it is-- it just depends.

16:41 Whoever you are and however you work is how long it takes.

16:45 I know people that will write it the week of.

16:47 I know folk that have done a show that

16:49 have written the day before.

16:50 So--

16:51 Is it important to you that your materials is

16:53 kind of bang up to date and topical as possible?

16:56 It is, aye.

16:57 And that's what kind of makes it a bit more difficult.

16:59 I kind of realized that years ago I did--

17:01 at the comedy festival, I did a show about Brexit.

17:04 And I think that week, something like three folk

17:07 had resigned two days before.

17:09 And so, I mean, the thing changed about four times

17:12 during that week.

17:13 So there's no doubt--

17:14 I mean, even though most of the stuff this year

17:16 is going to be kind of greatest hits that's already written,

17:19 there'll no doubt be something happens in the news

17:22 in the next couple of months that I'll

17:24 have to write a bit about.

17:25 Because I won't be able to help myself.

17:26 So--

17:27 My impression coming out of the pandemic

17:29 is that Scottish comedy seems to be doing incredibly well.

17:33 The homegrown comics have come through

17:35 and really built an audience in the last--

17:37 just in the last couple of years.

17:38 Is that your perception?

17:40 Oh, it's massive.

17:40 Yeah.

17:41 I mean, it's-- Scottish comedy has always

17:42 been really, really healthy.

17:44 But I think just now, you're right,

17:45 it is a particularly healthy period for it.

17:47 And it helps.

17:49 It helps with the fact that social media and online stuff

17:53 has helped people so much.

17:54 Because to find an audience, they

17:57 don't need to wait for TV to accept them in and allow them.

18:01 And for what they perceive to be allowed on television now,

18:05 people can quite happily get their sketches out,

18:09 get their stand-up out, get their sitcoms out

18:11 to hundreds and hundreds of thousands

18:13 of people through social media.

18:15 And largely, get out to an audience

18:19 that is far larger than they would get on television now,

18:22 anyway.

18:23 So I think that's what's allowed more people and the fact

18:27 that you can do it yourself.

18:28 And it's just made comedy a lot more accessible.

18:32 And I think we're seeing that in terms

18:33 of the quality and the number of people

18:35 that are starting to come through.

18:36 Has it made it a bit more interesting, as well,

18:38 that maybe not everyone's coming through the stand-up scene

18:40 now, that people maybe are coming through things

18:43 like social media?

18:44 Yeah.

18:44 I mean, it's very interesting.

18:46 I mean, I've never been--

18:48 I've always been purely stand-up.

18:51 But it's very interesting to see what

18:53 is going massive online now.

18:55 And I think what it has done is it's kind of revitalized

18:58 sketch comedy, which I think was kind of--

19:01 it's certainly been ignored by the mainstream media.

19:05 And you weren't seeing that huge amount of it live, either.

19:09 And what that has done is it has allowed people

19:12 that have wee sketch ideas to then film them.

19:15 I mean, because even someone with a phone,

19:17 you can film something that looks film quality

19:19 on your phone now.

19:20 So the quality's there, and certainly the writing quality

19:24 and how funny it is is there.

19:26 So yeah, it's opened that up massively.

19:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]

19:33 (upbeat music)

19:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended