Scotland is the hot bed of comedy for the next couple of weeks as the Magners Comedy Festival kicks off and that is on top of the normal programme of comedy at The Stand Edinburgh as well. Even if one doesn’t venture through to ‘The Weege’ for the festival, then take advantage of the fact that relatively close proximity to the capital means many of the names do gigs in Edinburgh as they are in Scotland anyway.

Thursday saw a bunch of us head on down for the beer, food and comedy on offer and as usual we were spoiled for choice, so fed and watered we settled down for the comedy feast.

Compere for the night was Stand stalwart Vladimir McTavish. This self described cross between Rod Stewart and a West Highland terrier soon had the packed house laughing as he gathered information setting the scene and laying the foundations for others to follow up.

The opening act was Anthony Murray, a native of Edinburgh now living in Glasgow. It has been a while since we have seen him perform and he handled the opening set really well. His material was wide ranging and funny, a little of which I had heard before, but as I have said many times quality stuff bears far more than one hearing, but his repertoire has definitely expanded. Certainly this is a name to look out for in the future.

The first act after the initial interval was YouTube favourite ‘The Wee Man’ . This comedy creation by one member of the Bratchpiece comedy dynasty certainly has got the Glasgow ‘Ned’ down to a fine art. We have seen him a few times over recent months and feel this young man can go far. Character comedy is not always the easiest to deliver live, but who knows, I wondered how much mileage Al Murray could get out of his Pub Landlord initially, and look where he has gone. Perhaps Neil could be headed for the same stratosphere.

The closing act of part two was a young Welshman building his reputation by name of Lloyd Langford. I had seen him a couple of Fringes ago as part of The Comedy Zone so was keen to see his development. I was not disappointed, he starts somewhat gently but as the set progresses his momentum grows accordingly. It was the first time the rest of our group had seen him and they all said how they enjoyed his 20 minutes. I hope Lloyd will be doing the Fringe this year ‘cause I would like to see him do a full hour. He has talent to spare and I’m sure a solid future in the business.

Following the second interval and prize draw, the headline act took to the stage. Already a TV and radio favourite, not to mention one of mine too, Jo Caulfield. This extremely talented and funny lady just oozes professionalism and class. Her set is certainly very funny and packed with superb material. She reacts and interacts with her audience and her performance just was not long enough, although she more than did her time. If there was a better-written or executed set around at the moment, then I haven’t seen it. Jo is just one on the many major names who chooses to play The Stand, when they could probably sell-out larger spaces, obviously they, like us, recognise a real comedy club. Jo will be back in August for the Fringe, but if you hurry she is playing both Friday and Saturday with most of the performers we saw. We have plans to attend at least three times more this month, so maybe we’ll see you then.

For all gigs at the Stand check out their website www.thestand.co.uk and for Glasgow Comedy Festival at www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com