The people of Shawlands unite

The southside comedy group will hope the audience at The Stand comedy club in Woodlands will see the funny side when they make the trip across the river.

Tomorrow night, the show which has risen to popularity during its residence at The Bungo, will open the Glasgow International Comedy Festival with their cabaret show.

Acclaimed comedian Bruce Morton is the leader of the group, which used to charge westenders an additional pound “tourist tariff” for entry when performing in Strathbungo.

Bruce, who started the group with fellow comedian Andrew Learmonth, told The Extra: “We will hoist the southside banner in the west end and extend the hand of friendship to the people of Partick and beyond.”

During a trip back from a gig in the North-East Newlands man Bruce entered a heated discussion bout the referendum and began to envisage how he could distil the issues to a local level, and thus, The Greater Shawlands republic was born.

He continued: “It’s such an important issue. The amount of misinformation that is coming out which has to be refuted is ripe for parody.

“I have nothing against the Westend, it’s all just a bit of a joke, but The Bungo shows have given southsiders a chance to see high quality stand-ups without having to travel.

“There has been a real buzz of creative types in southside recently. You just have to look at the artist studios, while the live music scene is the most dense in Glasgow.

“There’s definitely something happening, there’s a funky regeneration in Strathbungo which I am happy to be part of.

“There are a lot of artists coming out of the woodwork”.

The comedy group has welcomed guest performances from stars such as Ford Kiernan of Still Game and Chewin’ The Fat fame, as well as BBC radio star Fred MacAuley

.Tickets for the Bruce Morton and The Greater Shawlands Republic show are available from www.ticketsoup.com.