Glasgow International Comedy Festival

Glasgow International Comedy Festival is a comedy festival in Glasgow, Scotland. The comedy festival started in 2002 and is held annually in March in venues across the city. The festival is supported financially by Glasgow City Council and since 2018 has been sponsored by whisky manufacturer Whyte & Mackay.[1][2] The festival is billed as the largest of its type in Europe and often has acts from all over the world perform during the festival.[3]

In 2019 the European Commission named Glasgow as the top cultural and creative city in the United Kingdom. The report citied the Comedy Festival alongside other cultural events as being integral to this status.[4] The festival is recognised for playing host to a number of high-profile comedians alongside providing a platform for new acts.[5][6]

In 2014 the festival arranged for a comedy gig to be held on a Virgin Trains West Coast train service between London and Glasgow. Eight comedians including Patrick Monahan performed aboard a 'comedy carriage' of an afternoon service.[7] In the same year a number of comedians used the background of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum as the focus of their material.[8]

Comedy performances linked to charity fundraising have also been a common occurrence during the years of the festival. Most notably Kevin Bridges headlined an event to raise funds for MND Scotland in memory of campaigner Gordon Aikman raising £25,000.[9][10]

The festival organisers have aimed to widen the appeal of the festival to new audiences through accessibility improvements in recent years. In 2017 the festival hosted a show delivered in British sign language, understood to be the first of its kind in the UK and in 2020 a dementia friendly comedy gig will be held in the city's west end.[11]

References
  1. "'Acts love playing the festival because it is more relaxed'". The National. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  2. Glasgow, People Make. "Glasgow International Comedy Festival". People Make Glasgow. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  3. "Who knew it was Glasgow, not Edinburgh, which hosts the largest comedy festival in Europe?". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  4. O'Neill, Christina (7 November 2019). "Glasgow crowned the UK's top cultural and creative city by the European Commission". glasgowlive. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  5. Glencross, Nina (8 March 2016). "Rising Talent at Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2016". dailyrecord. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  6. Ferguson, Laura (9 January 2019). "Glasgow comedy festival has announced this year's full line up". glasgowlive. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  7. Lyons, Beverley (7 March 2014). "Train passengers treated to one-off stand-up show promoting the Glasgow International Comedy Festival". dailyrecord. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  8. "Comedy festival to tackle Scottish independence". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  9. "Kevin Bridges to host MND charity event". BBC News. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  10. Live, Glasgow (21 March 2017). "Comedian Kevin Bridges helped raise £25,000 for motor neurone disease". glasgowlive. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  11. "Glasgow Comedy Festival to host first dementia-friendly gig after elderly described Stand-Up as 'inaccessible'". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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