What do you do when a number of English based work colleagues visit Edinburgh for a training course? Well, the answer is obvious, take them to a pub, feed them haggis, neeps and tatties and then take them to The Stand Comedy Club for The Best of Scottish Comedy night. We did allow them a whisky or two as well so all the cultural bases were covered.

Mein host on the night was Billy Kirkwood, a favourite of mine, and as is usual with this Ayrshire based funny man he was on the top of his game. Kirkwood knows all the tricks of the trade as a compere, he warms up the crowd with gags, stories and interacts well with selected ‘victims’ including them in the nights entertainment, and setting up several for the following acts to profit from should they desire. He was very well received by my Sassenach visitors, in fact one was quoted as saying that he rocked!!

Anthony Murray was the opening act and he continued to keep the entertainment going at a good standard. It has been a while since I had seen him perform and I’m pleased to say he has lost none of his ability in that time. Not being known to our visitors, it was good to observe how they reacted to him, and their approval, together with the majority of the club was evident. Murray is not ‘in your face’ with his style but does deliver a rather nice line in material.

Following the first interval, and some more of Billy, still on fire, to get the show on the road once more, prior to introducing Michael ‘Mikey’ Adams, a young Glaswegian with surely a great future ahead of him. I had only seen him once before and was impressed, and following his all to brief set this time I  really want to see more. Adams has stage presence a plenty, an excellent delivery and a whole raft of funny material. The whole crowd were with him I felt as he ramped up the level of expectation. My gang gave him resounding thumbs up.

Mark Nelson had the task of closing out the second section and after Kirkwood and Adams had a task on his hands. However, he made such light work of the bar being raised so high it was scary. Although I have been attending comedy gigs for years and he has been building a great reputation over the same period, for some reason it was the first time I’d seem him perform. It won’t be the last, that is if I can help it. Like all class acts he was into his set, commanding the crowd with really funny material, and having gathered them in the palm of his had never let them go, He surely cannot be far away from being a major player in the comedy world, certainly the Gas Trainers from all corners of Englandshire  will be spreading the word.

A final interval and Kirkwood doing the prize draw, ably assisted by a posh student, and it was onto the headliner Parrot. Again I hadn’t seen him, but he was again a name I heard over the years.

Bounding onto the stage to a good ovation and was right into the swing of things, the comedy was flowing, but although I quite enjoyed his set, I felt he didn’t go down as well with the crowd as previous acts. Perhaps it was not his audience, perhaps he had an off night, but the gasmen were a little disappointed on the night I’m afraid.

So over all another very successful night at the Stand and it was certainly the usual good value for money. For their forthcoming gigs check out their website www.thestand.com 

So over all another very successful night at the Stand and it was certainly the usual good value for money. For their forthcoming gigs check out their website www.thestand.com