Raymond Mearns: Shaggy Dog Stories

It’s a bit tiring having to bear witness to all this arty-farty, innovative comedy. For a comic to keep their head above water in today’s Brave New World, they have to be different, have something to say, create their own genre and any other PR cliché you care to repeat.

Not Raymond Mearns. The Glaswegian is already an international comedian and he’s just fine thank you very much.

OK, so “international” is only a fair description if within that you include international waters, because Ray is a cruise ship comic and the only time he’s attempting to keep his head above water is when he’s in the 19th deck’s swimming pool.

Jetting out to meet ships in Dubrovnik—“Where the fuck’s that?”—Ray drinks heavily, attempts adultery and crashes emerging economies with his indulgent spending. Managing to commit himself to one hour’s work a week on board the floating retirement castles, this man has no pretensions to glamour.

Although the tales of drinking, wanking, eating and sweating are very much standard fare, this is men’s club humour at its most engaging. The Stand, famous for its concentration on home grown talent and more experienced comics, has found another winner here, certain to curry favour with Scottish audiences trying to call Edinburgh home.