Des hails Perth’s taste for comedy

Comic back at The Venue

Comedian Des McLean will be performing at The Venue in Perth next month and he cannot wait to show them his greatest hits.

The Glasgow-born stand-up has performed all around the world, from New Zealand to Las Vegas, but when he has toured Scotland, Perth has always been out of reach – something he wants to rectify after a successful show in the Fair City last year.

McLean will return to perform at The Venue on Saturday, August 11, with some new material, with plans for his 2019 tour currently in the works.

He said: “Every time I played a tour in the past I’d miss Perth for some reason or another.

“But I played it last year and it was one of the best gigs of the year. I’m just looking forward to playing at The Venue again.

“There is going to be a lot of new stuff in the set I’m doing.

“Every two or three years you try and do a new show and I played in Perth and it was absolutely fantastic. It was just a great atmosphere.

“This venue is an absolute belter of a place and there were about 120 people last time. It’s a perfect venue for comedy.

“I played the Armadillo, which is 3000 people, and that is strange because you’re hearing different waves of laughter in such a big room.

“I was in New Zealand and I played a 5000-seater with all the Scots and expats. They all cheered like I was William Wallace. It was funny but crazy.

“But in a nice 100-seater they’re hanging on your every syllable. It’s great.”

Although McLean likes to keep his material fresh, he wants to make up for lost time and cites a Scottish comedy legend as his inspiration.

“There’s some material I’ve been doing lately that’s been going down a storm and I thought ‘I’m going to slot that in with a couple of bankers’.

“But the beauty of last year was that, doing Perth, people had not seen any of my material of the last 18 years.

“So I’m going in there with a giant selection box full of goodies for them that they’ve never heard.

“That’s great when you can go somewhere and they see your greatest hits.

“If your doing the Fringe you obviously need to freshen things up but it’s great to bring in the classic stuff that they have never heard before.

“Billy Connolly was the first guy to go out and not do jokes but just do observational comedy and just talk about his day or his week.

“It’s amazing because he just paints a picture.

“He was phenomenal. He was the man.

“Also he is from Glasgow and you just watched a guy that was incredibly funny all the time.

“I just kind of want the gig to come as quick as possible.

“But also if I go to a place I’ve not been for a while you buy a wee local paper and have a read and you definitely need to start off with a few things that have happened locally because people love that.

“I was doing it in New Zealand and Canada and they really, really appreciated that.

“You have that great feeling when the gig is finished and think ‘that went well.’ Then I can sit and have a couple drinks and enjoy myself.

“The Venue is excellent and it’s just one of those shows that flew by last year.

“They were fantastic last year and I can’t wait.”