We had a fairly long absence from the Stand Comedy Club until the recent visit to Wicked Wenches last week but boy are we making up for lost time with this the second of eight planned visits before Christmas (Oh no the dreaded ‘C’ word!)

The compere of the gig was the unique David Kay. I first saw him during the Fringe on one of The Stand’s Best of Scottish gigs and wondered if he was dynamic enough to handle the different job of warming up the slightly smaller than usual audience. Kay brought his own inimitable style to this and his laid back somewhat surreal material was a refreshing change.

First act was London based Scot Wendy Wason. I saw her in Fringe 2005 as part of The Amused Moose Comedy Starlets and was keen to see how she had progressed. Given that the audience was not the most responsive I thought she did very well, She had some wicked material and a delivery style all of her own. I really would like to see a longer set from her before too long.

Following the first interval, David Kay introduced ‘The Wee Man’ a ‘Glesga in-your-face-Ned’, the Scottish equivalent of ‘The Chav’. His character work was excellent, his material was pithy and funny and his set was over all too soon.

Hot on his heels came the Fife born, Glasgow based comedian by name of Teddy. This was my first experience of this very funny if rather dark humoured young man, and hopefully it won’t be my last. His twenty minutes had the crowd in hoots of laughter at times even if occasionally one wondered if they should find some bits funny.

One final interval and then it was on to the main act, Geordie actor comedian Dave Johns. I have previously only seen him on television but Sheila was a veteran of his Fringe performances over the years in plays such as The Unattended (2006), The Odd Couple (2005) and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (2004). Dave soon established a rapport with the audience and his wide-ranging material was clever and funny. I would really have loved to see him with a packed house, as I feel hw could really riff off the audience and the less than full Thursday night show possibly were not responsive enough to get the very best out of him.