The Glasgow Comedy Festival runs from 11th to 28th March this year. It's certainly an event on a much smaller scale than its big brother in Edinburgh but that doesn't mean it hasn't attracted a lot of the big names - and I was delighted when I found out Chris Addison was one of those names. I first saw Chris live last year at Fat Tuesday (a lovely little gig in London) where he was properly, tummy-hurtingly funny. I'd also seen Chris do 10 minute slots in a couple of shows at Christmas, so having seen him live a few times, and being a big fan of The Thick of It and In The Loop I was very much looking forward to being entertained for a whole evening.

The show was at the Citizen's Theatre which is a lovely venue, despite being in a slightly unsalubrious area of Glasgow. I  eventually navigated my way there through Glasgow's maze of one way streets and collected my front row ticket from the box office. I did try and take a picture of the theatre auditorium - I was one of those theatres I love that are quite grand and ornate but ragged round the edges, and also it looks like it should be much bigger than it is - but I got immediately got jumped on by an usher. I can understand photography not being allowed during the show but taking a picture of the auditorium before the show starts? 

Anyway, Mr Addison appeared on stage just after 8pm wearing one of his trademark flowery shirts and gave us a 40 minute first half filled with tales of his inadequacies; both as a teenager in a Manchester boys school, where he was relegated to playing a made up sport with the other 'broken' children as they weren't deemed capable of wielding a cricket bat, and more recently the humiliation of being asked to spot for weightlifters at his local council gym. 

Addison's show covers everything from these sporting failures to accidentally buying sex toys, via sex tips for married couples taken from women's magazines. The second act took on a slightly more political bent, with references to the Catholic Church and the BNP, but not without taking time out to talk out the passive aggressive nature of the internet and why we shouldn't fear artificial intelligence. Chris also gave the Glasgow crowd a fair amount of local material which went down well with the audience - even when he went so far as to insult what is arguably Scotland's national sport, golf.

I wasn't disappointed by the evening - my tummy was suitably hurty when Chris returned to the stage at the end of the show, not for a traditional encore, but to see if the audience had any questions to ask him. Unfortunately, this prompted an idiot on about the third row of the stalls shouting as if he was competing in a town crier competition to share the highly intelligent comment 'I thought I was coming to see Peter Capaldi' - that isn't even a question! Chris swiftly shot him down, and the girl sat with him who felt the need to contribute with 'do you want a jam doughnut?'. Seriously, some people just shouldn't be allowed out. After the children had decided to pipe down somebody managed to ask as sensible and interesting question - inquiring who Chris thought was going to win the election. Someone asked if he remembered his first gig (at the Frog & Bucket in Manchester if you're interested), and I asked whether he saw himself more as an actor or a comedian, which is a bit of a rubbish question but the audience weren't coming up with much and I wanted to say something. The answer is 'whichever one I'm not doing at the time' - or more seriously, as a comedian because he's been doing it for 15 years, and only acting for a little bit of that. The last question of the evening was, not necessarily a great question but provided a great response. Someone asked what was Chris' favourite Malcolm Tucker line from The Thick of It or In the Loop. The answer was something that never actually made it to the screen but it was 'Tucker's Law'. It didn't make the cut but as Mr Addison kindly informed us, it is 'available to view' and I strongly suggest you make your way to Google and have a look – and you'll soon realise why I left the show still laughing.

Chris Addison is on tour around the UK until November 2010. Check http://www.chrisaddison.co.uk for details.