Graham Linehan stages gig outside the Scottish Parliament after venues cancel

Father Ted writer Graham Linehan appeared at a stand-up comedy gig outside the Scottish Parliament after it was cancelled twice by Edinburgh venues over his views on gender issues.

The Comedy Unleashed event was staged in the open air on Thursday evening with ticketholders given the location shortly before it took place.

Original venue Leith Arches took the decision to cancel their booking of Linehan earlier this week, saying the Irishman’s views did not “align” with their overall values, before a second venue followed yesterday.

Linehan, who also wrote TV sitcoms The IT Crowd and Black Books, is a vocal critic of the trans rights movement.

Speaking before performing, Linehan said: "I really didn't think this was going to happen this evening after what happened on Tuesday.

"My jokes are just observational comedy. I guess the idea of me existing is just offensive to people."

When asked to comment on why he was cancelled he answered: "I know exactly what they are doing, they are doing the same thing to me that they did to JK Rowling.

"They don't like anyone who doesn't have their belief system."

Caroline McAllister, a spokesperson for the Women Won't Weesht group, who attended the show, said: "We are just horrified his show has been cancelled.

"The Edinburgh Fringe used to be edgy. Now it's just Edinburgh Cringe."

Two audience members on picnic chairs in the front row of the makeshift performance said they were “furious” the show, which included a line up of other comedians, was cancelled.

The performance saw about 150 people gathered outside the Scottish Parliament building from about 7.30pm.

The controversy began when the Leith Arches venue cancelled the gig earlier in the week.

It said: “We work very closely with the LGBT+ community, it is a considerable part of our revenue, we believe hosting this one-off show would have a negative effect on future bookings.”

It insisted its decision to cancel was not influenced by activists.It said: “The decision was not influenced by the pressure of online activists, but by our regular community who use this space on a daily, weekly and [monthly] basis.”

Comedy Unleashed said it had found a second venue to host Linehan’s scheduled performance but it too reportedly decided to pull the show.

Earlier this week, Linehan told TalkTV’s Julia Hartley-Brewer he would consider suing Leith Arches for cancelling his gig if it refused to take him back.

He said: “It was a sell-out. But you do get used to this kind of thing after a while. It never really makes you feel good. If they apologise and put the gig on, I’ll say no more about it, but otherwise I’ll be looking at legal action.”

Comedian Andrew Doyle, who is due to appear alongside Linehan at another scheduled Comedy Unleashed show in London next month, said: “It is astonishing that a comedy night at the largest arts festival in the world should be prevented from going ahead.

“The comedy industry is in a dire state. It’s about time that promoters, venues, comedy critics and comedians made a concerted effort to support free expression in the arts.”