Preview: The Stand Comedy Club, 2012

Now one of the most respected names in Scottish comedy, The Stand started 16 years ago when a group of Edinburgh comedy fans got together to start a comedy club – The Stand was born in a tiny basement in the Old Town. Today, the venue is a city institution, the Capital’s home of live comedy.

Hence the forthcoming season finds the likes of Mark Thomas and Andrew O’Neill on the bill in January, Henning Wehn and Simon Munnery in February, and Phill Jupitus, Richard Herring and Alun Cochrane in March.

First up is Mark Thomas, who brings his Manifesto to Edinburgh the day before he is due to record another episode of his hit Radio 4 show of the same name. Have you any useful ideas for him to take to the country? He’s followed by Andrew O’Neill whose show includes a short play about gravy. February sees Henning Wehn, the self-appointed German Comedy Ambassador, star in No Surrender and, later in the month, Simon Munnery in Hats Off To The 101ers, And Other Material.

Appropriately, Stand Down is the title of the show Phill Jupitus brings to The Stand in March. Bizarrely, Jupitus quit working in a Job Centre in 1984 to become a ranting poet before, in 1996, becoming a familiar face on BBC2’s Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Richard Herring’s What Is Love Anyway? and Steve Hughes’ Big Issue’s also visit in March, while April sees Alun Cochrane in Moments Of Alun.

Open 360 days a year, the new season looks set to further cement The Stand’s reputation for presenting the very best of Scottish and international comedians.

The Stand, York Place: January 15 – Mark Thomas, 17 – Andrew O’Neill; February 22 – Henning Wehn, 28 – Simon Munnery; March 20 – Phil Jupitus, 21 – Richard Herring, 25 – Steve Hughes; April 10 – Alun Cochrane, 0131-558 7272