Activism at Glasgow Comedy Festival

As comedian Keith Farnan puts it, echoing Hemingway, “Before you can become a comedian, you should have been something else. When you’ve formed opinions about the world and you have certain views, that will inform your comedy.” Whilst the likes of Daniel Sloss, Bo Burnham and Kevin Bridges may have proudly boasted sell-out audiences before they were out of nappies, something about today’s political climate is more reminiscent of the 1980s, where we saw the birthing of what was then alternative comedy.

In recent years, this uprising has turned into complacency and we’ve seen ‘political comedy’ put into an angry little box and roped off in the corner, sitting humourlessly alongside performance poetry and Private Eye. But the world is changing and comedy, ever at the forefront, is changing with it. There’s a new tide moving back towards comedy with substance, with something real behind it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a well-placed knob gag. It’s ill-placed, lowest-common-denominator knob gags that tire me. Frankie Boyle, for example, has arguably lost his way of late, battling the strictures of prime time panel shows. But it’s worth remembering that his shock and awe tactics originate from a need make a point, to question and highlight people’s behaviour. It’s great to see Frankie going back to his roots and using a rare live appearance to support the Palestinians in Stand Up for Palestine on the 21st.

In our MGICF coverage this year, both in print and online, we talk to acts who have lived their comedy: interviews with ex-lawyer Farnan and ex-doctors Paul Sinha and Mike Wozniak, reflections on his religious pilgrimage from Imran Yusuf and tales of activism and investigation from Mark Thomas and George Monbiot.

There’ll also be tweets and write-ups about all sorts of events on throughout the festival. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing what panelists have to say about the future of comedy in a discussion hosted by the Comedy Unit - Scottish Comedy: The Best Kept Secret in the World? The event is supported by Creative Scotland and I’m fascinated to see if our new culture body is going to step up to the plate and start to support comedy as an artform.