Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2011

Sometimes it feels like every festival launch you go to these days promises 'More Shows Than Ever Before!'. But, as we all know, it's how good the shows are that really matters. The excellent thing about the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival, then, is not just the impressive number of shows, but the fact that it maintains that quality throughout. Last night's programme launch revealed 400 shows, nearly every one of which would be a highlight in many other programmes.

Get me drunk and I'll tell you the two or three shows you could probably skip, but you'll have to sit through a truckload of recommendations first. There’s a whole host of Yanks over, for one thing, ranging from bright observationalism from Caroline Rhea to more angry politicising in Lee Camp’s Taking the Piss Out of America. But Glasgow isn’t a place to forget its locals and there are some great solo shows coming from folk you might have seen gigging year-round, like Mark Nelson, Billy Kirkwood and Susan Calman. Look out on our site and in the March edition for interviews with Paul Sinha, Mike Wozniak, Imran Yusuf, Keith Farnan and more.

Of course, it's not all straight standup. Watch experimental sketches at The Stockholm Syndrome, mix comedy with cabaret at Cabaret Noir or get all cerebral at Scottish Comedy: The Best Kept Secret In The World?, a discussion hosted by the Comedy Unit with support from Creative Scotland.