Scottish Comedy Highlights: December 2024

You’ve no excuse not to catch some comedy on Sunday 8 December. At Glasgow Stand, take your pick from Ray Bradshaw performing and recording a best-of from his past three solo shows (4pm, £12) or supremely daft longform improv from the Spontaneous Potter gang (8.30pm, £12), who donate a percentage of their profits to a trans charity every year. In Edinburgh, choose between a fundraiser in aid of Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home (The Stand, Edinburgh, 8pm, £15), headlined by Fred MacAulay; or pop to Monkey Barrel for some highly alternative entertainment: jester John-Luke Roberts presents Geoffrey Chaucer’s Mediaeval Christmas Festivitye! (8pm, £15) – a night of gleeful nonsense with (jingle) bells on.

Regular gigs gearing up for Festive specials include The Improv Show, run by Will Naameh (aka MC Hammersmith, who’s just supported Jason Manford on tour), which unleashes Christmas chaos at Monkey Barrel on 10 December (8pm, £6), while Glasgow Improv Theatre debuts a new format with Couch Surfs the Web (The Old Hairdresser’s, 17 Dec, 8.30pm, £6) – spontaneous scenes based on bad Trip Advisor reviews. Open Comedy’s last show of 2024, tentatively titled Mango-ho-ho!, showcases female, trans and non-binary acts on 17 December (Artisan Roast Leith Walk, 7pm, free) while Material, Girl fills Glasgow Stand with some Christmas-week chuckles (22 Dec, 3pm, £8). We’re also VERY excited to see the return of David Callaghan’s superb multimedia comedy night Progranimate (The Old Hairdresser’s, 11 Dec, 8pm, £5.50).

Finally, three nights of superb stand-up bring the year to a close. Dundee comedy fans should see Susie McCabe’s latest show, The Merchant of Menace, which comes to the Gardyne Theatre (11 Dec, 8pm, £16.75). In the same week, Liam Withnail records his first special across two shows on 14 December (Monkey Barrel, 6pm and 8pm, £10), with tickets left for the early performance only. Round it off with a HUGE lineup of some of the UK’s best-known stand-ups: Sara Pascoe is joined by Phil Wang, Rhys James, Jen Brister and Steen Raskopoulos at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall (15 Dec, 7.30pm, £28.50) and Glasgow O2 Academy (16 Dec, Doors 6.30pm, £30.20).