Political comedy is back in Scotland after an independence referendum that forced politics into the national psyche.
The Glasgow international comedy festival began this week, and one venue, Yes Bar, is boasting more than 30 acts with a political twist.
Rory Bremner, the impressionist and comedian, said many had been surprised by the engagement with the referendum. “I think that early on in the referendum campaign, there seemed to be less political stand-up, it was considered off-limits, almost, and sometimes highly charged.
“But politics is buzzing in Scotland and comedy is back as an important part of that, which is where it should be.”
Tommy Sheppard, who set up the event and owns the Stand comedy clubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow, said: “It’s good to see there’s a renaissance of political satire — political comedy is alive and kicking. At one point everything in comedy was so dumbed down but now it’s OK to make a gag about politics or the news.”
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Mr Sheppard, who has been the deputy general secretary of the Scottish Labour party but is now standing to be an MP for the SNP in the Edinburgh East seat, said it was a consequence of the referendum, which was “all pervasive.”
“In the way that people would gather round the water-cooler or the photocopier at work to talk about X Factor or Coronation Street, last year they started talking about politics,” he said.
“A lot of the comedians got caught up in that. Some people went out of their way to produce political material but others found it just washed over them. It formed the backdrop for everything.”
Now in its 14th year, the festival will showcase more than 300 shows across 18 days in 40 venues across the city. The Yes Bar — which was named The Ves Bar until the Yes campaign — has been inundated with political comedy.
Keir McAllister, the comedian, said: “After the referendum the possibilities for political material became endless because it really permeated into the national consciousness and audiences became really well informed. Before the referendum, you’d have to take jokes about Danny Alexander or Johann Lamont out of your set because the audience didn’t know who they were.”
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Julia Sutherland, also a comic, said she had been dragged away from the personal, confessional material she usually wrote because the referendum made politics “unavoidable.”
“Everyone was talking about it. Even if you were compering, you still had to ask the audience how they were feeling and how they were going to vote.”