Susie McCabe talks comedy at Glasgow International Comedy Festival launch

Transcript

00:00This is my fourth consecutive year coming back to the Kings.

00:05It's a venue really steeped in heritage of Glasgow.

00:10It's a venue steeped in quality heritage of Glasgow, Scottish quality.

00:15And you know, it's a venue that you've sat in for quite large periods of your life.

00:21And now you're obviously, you know, you get...

00:25The fact that I get to come out here and do a show three times, it's just...

00:32It's mind-blowing.

00:33It's not massive on the stage, you know.

00:36It really comes right at the top of you, almost like a kind of high school football stadium, you know.

00:42It really comes down on you.

00:44And the wall of noise was like nothing I'd ever heard, you know.

00:48It's almost like a lot of comedians come through and want to miss out on the King's Theatre and just go straight to the arena.

00:53And you're like, listen, no, everybody can be the people, so relax.

00:57And I think they don't understand what this theatre is and how important it is that you need to go through all those levels to get here.

01:12And you know, I mean, if it's good enough for Frankie, and if it's good enough for Godwin, it's really good enough for them.

01:19I love the fact that a young guy in his 20s has come to see me because his dad's a fan.

01:25You know, his dad's, you know, maybe, what, late 50s or something like that.

01:29Very few female, gay colleagues have as broad an audience.

01:37And I don't know if it's just the way that I am, in the sense that the guys maybe go queer.

01:42She'd be a lad in the van on a Monday morning, when she'd be arguing with you about the football.

01:47I was an electrician, you know, and then I was an estimator.

01:50And then I took on comedy, and then I was eight and a half years before I went full-time.

01:54I've got the heart attack. I had a heart attack on the 24th of July, 2024, in Bristol.

02:00I discussed that, and the way that I look at it, the way in which my life has had to change.

02:07And then look at things like, it's the first time in my life that I've had to consider my own mortality.

02:15And then what that means for you, what that means for the people around you, your life.

02:22And then how you're then viewed, and the lens that you're viewed through.

02:28And then subsequently, how you're viewed, you know, by your people, by your city, and then by your country.

02:35And it's a very interesting thing when you start to kind of think about it, go through it.

02:40How these Scots react to these type of things compared to anybody else, any other country in the world.

02:48So, yeah, no, I'm very much looking forward to it.

02:51For example, I talk about having to go from a room on my own into a shared ward.

02:56And when you're a woman going into a shared ward, that's like going into a prison.

03:00You know, it's like, oh, you're in for, you know, within the first ten minutes.

03:04Whereas men don't speak to each other.

03:06You know, men could be in a hospital for six months together, and there'll be two questions they'll be asked.

03:10Are you done with that paper? And do you have Sky Sports on your phone?

03:15That's it, that's men, right? You never know each other's name.

03:18Woman, then what happens is your family start to visit, and they start to get announced into the hospital.

03:24Margaret, that's Tracy, your granddaughter. She must have got the afternoon off to come and see you.