I thought it was Glade that feels like a breath of fresh air. It's actually McGlade. Chris McGlade. The Middlesbrough stand-up has made a splash in the last year with a welcome brand of intense, passionate, political, personal comedy. You may not agree with everything he says about the state of the nation, but, boy, does he sell it well. McGlade cut his teeth in the northern working men's clubs – he also appeared onstage in Billy Elliot as boxing coach George – and is now crossing over into whatever you call the latterday alternative comedy scene. He did the Edinburgh Fringe this summer and while he didn't always get massive crowds, he certainly left his mark on the people that saw him. And not just those that wanted selfies because they thought he was James Nesbitt. Want to see someone different who might actually get you thinking about things? Go see Chris McGlade.
Chris McGlade is at the Leicester Square Theatre Lounge on Wednesday, November 29. Buy tickets here.
1. What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and/or check your knickers aren't sticking out of your skirt and check for spinach between your teeth)?
I always check that my pebble, which I drop into some water at the end of my act, is in my pocket and I say a little prayer...
2. What irritates you?
Political Correctness and identity politics, though they anger more than irritate. I'm irritated by things like reading, no I'm not, I hate reading. I'm irritated by sometimes having to do things conventionally.
3. What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
I fought a campaign in 2004 against Redcar and Cleveland Council and house builder Persimmon Homes and their Coatham Enclosure coastal housing estate. They absolutely dragged me through the shit for six years. However in 2010, I won in the House of Lords, changing the law in this country. Vive la revolucion!
4. What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
I once streaked at Wembley at Middlesbrough FC's Carling Cup appearance against Leicester in the late 1990s. I wore black seamed stockings and suspenders with doc marten boots and red and white ribbons round my cock and balls and carrying a yellow inflatable space hopper. I did it for charitable purposes. I entered a competition run by a national brewery. You had to get most publicity with the yellow, inflatable space hopper which I did. As a result, I won a holiday of a lifetime to Disneyland in Florida, which I gave to a lady in a wheelchair from Barnsley who I saw on Jim Davidson's "Big Break" programme and who said she wanted to take her son before her condition (lupus) worsened. What I hadn't realised was, that because I'd worn stockings and suspenders, the charge of streaking became gross indecency. I could've done time, but because I'd done it for charity, the judge dismissed the case..
5. What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?
Just how much of a middle class playground comedy has become. It's completely dominated by the middle classes...
