From Billy Connolly to Rory Bremner, Harry Lauder to Gerry Sadowitz, Scotland boasts a strong track-record in contemporary comedy – even if aspects of the native humour aren’t always amenable to universal translation. It’s also home to one of the world’s most important international comedy festivals, within the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, an annual magnet for everyone who’s anyone in the field of leading or aspiring comedians, promoters, agents, TV executives, PR companies, publishers and the rest of the genre's boisterous caravan.

Until the last decade, a decent live comedy circuit in Scotland was conspicuously absent during the rest of the year, barring intermittent visits by comics touring the show they’d debuted at the previous year’s Festival. Led by the determined pioneering efforts of the Stand club organisation, however, a healthy network of independent local promoters now criss-crosses much of the country, albeit still square centred on Edinburgh and Glasgow.