Glasgow International Comedy Festival (GICF) will be bringing 560 shows to 40 venues across Scotland’s largest city from 11 to 29 March. The lineup runs the gamut from familiar faces off the telly (think Rosie O’Donnell, Harry Enfield, Ruby Wax) and some of the most established standups working right now (Tim Key, Bridget Christie, Alan Davies) to social media sensations (Zara Gladman, Connor Burns, Kyla Cobbler) and many of the most exciting standups around.
The word international may be in the title, but one of the aims of GICF is to showcase local talent, and the 2026 lineup features plenty of Scottish comics. Daniel Sloss is one of the headline acts with his brand new show, Bitter (SEC Armadillo, 28 Mar). Rosco McClelland, last year’s winner of the festival’s Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award, returns with his Fringe hit How Could Hell Be Any Worse? (Òran Mór, 29 Mar). Christopher Macarthur-Boyd also brings his celebrated Fringe show Howling at the Moon (King’s Theatre, 19 Mar), while his Here Comes the Guillotine co-host Susie McCabe presents her new show, Coming of Rage (King’s Theatre, 27 & 28 Mar). Other Scottish acts to look out for include Marjolein Robertson, who’s bringing her two most recent Fringe shows, Lein and O (Òran Mór, 17 & 18 Mar), and Chewin’ the Fat legend Karen Dunbar, who takes to the Citizens Theatre stage with Glesga Special (25 Mar).
Glasgow International Comedy Festival is also a great chance to catch up with some of the best acts from last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. One of the most in-demand shows should be Sam Nicoresti’s brilliant Baby Doomer (Old Hairdresser’s, 13 Mar), which won the Best Show prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. There’s also the second standup hour from Jordan Gray, titled Is That a C*ck in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Here to Kill Me? (The Stand, 16 Mar); Kim Blythe‘s second Fringe hour Cowboy (Citizens Theatre, 20 Mar); John Tothill‘s much acclaimed This Must Be Heaven (Òran Mór, 20 Mar); Sam Lake with You’re Joking!? Not Another One! (Blackfriars, 18 Mar); and Ayo Adenekan with his celebrated Edinburgh Fringe debut, Black Mediocrity (The Stand, 18 Mar). If you missed any of those shows at Edinburgh last year, be sure to catch them in Glasgow.
Adenekan will also be putting on a work-in-progress show (Gael & Grind, 21 Mar) and he’s not the only performer using GICF as an opportunity to try out new material. Other performers with WIP shows to check out include Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Catherine Bohart, Jin Hao Li, Olga Koch, Josh Glanc, Rachel Fairburn, Celya AB, Milo Edwards, Sophie Duker and Jessie Cave to name just a few.
The above is only a taste of what’s on offer this year; to browse the full lineup, head to glasgowcomedyfestival.com