Darren Connell prepares to play the King’s Theatre at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival

National World - LocalTV

The Glasgow International Comedy Festival returns for 2025 with Darren Connell set for a headline show at the King’s.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, I'm quite nervous, but it's a good nervous.

00:02A lot of misery and awful gigs have led up to The Kings.

00:09And you know, I'm getting to a point now in my life that I'm 37,

00:14I refuse to be too nervous, I'm going to enjoy it.

00:18I have worked really hard for this.

00:22Apart from, I know that lockdown happened,

00:25but I was very much part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival

00:29since I started.

00:30Essentially sold out every show that I've done at Glasgow

00:34and it feels really nice to get a chance to do The Kings.

00:38The history behind it and all that stuff is just unbelievable

00:42and I'm looking forward to it.

00:44What was your starting point for coming up with this show?

00:48What was your initial idea that became

00:50what you're going to deliver on stage?

00:53Well, I think I got asked this earlier on.

00:57Lockdown happened and I, like everyone else,

01:02lost a lot of things in my life.

01:04Lost my flat, work and all that stuff.

01:10And I found myself teetering around being quite bitter

01:14and getting jealous and I've never been that person.

01:19So instead of kind of sitting back

01:21and just becoming bitter and jealous,

01:22I just made my own work by creating gigs,

01:26doing a podcast and when you're an actor,

01:30they do these things called self-tapes now

01:32and self-tapes can be pretty horrible.

01:35You have to film your own edition in your house essentially.

01:40So I kind of want to treat it like it's a self-tape edition,

01:46going through different stages of my kind of life.

01:50I'll talk about how I first started,

01:53how my first gig, to how I got to The Kings.

01:57Obviously I talk about my family quite a lot,

01:59that's a big thing.

02:00And yeah, so it'll be like my own self-tape edition

02:06with stand-up as well.

02:08I don't want to give too much away,

02:09but there might be songs and stuff in that as well,

02:13and dancing.

02:14Right, well I think you'll have to update

02:15your actor CV as well to include musical ready.

02:20Yeah.

02:22What about in terms of taking inspiration

02:25from everyday life and stuff?

02:27Is it, you know, something happens

02:29and it's a fully formed bit of the show

02:31or do you have to kind of work through it

02:33and try and get some angles on it

02:35and that kind of stuff?

02:36How do you do your writing?

02:38I don't, I know a lot of comedians sit down

02:41and they treat it like a nine to five.

02:43I don't feel like I do well under those circumstances.

02:47I like to go out walking

02:48and when I go out to clear my head

02:50and find myself daydreaming

02:52or the moment when I'm just about to fall asleep,

02:57ideas will pop into my head

02:59and then I'll, it could be a word.

03:02I'm like, I find that phrase or word really funny

03:05and then I'll go to my Wednesday night gig

03:07and kind of figure it out on stage.

03:10But that's how I write.

03:11I keep it really loose, real life stuff.

03:14I joke about family, being working class,

03:18being sober back in the day,

03:21mental health issues and seeking help

03:23and getting help

03:24and getting out the other end of that

03:26and just being able to joke about it

03:28and then realising that essentially

03:30you can actually make a joke about anything.

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