IT’S played host to some of the biggest names in comedy and kept Glaswegians laughing for generations. 

That was until Covid-19 hit, the world stopped turning, and the Stand Comedy Club was forced to close its doors for the foreseeable future. 

But the laughs are on their way back, thanks to a savvy new way to stream some of comedy’s biggest household names straight to your home. 

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Fred MacAulay will lead a host of acts in the first Saturday Night Live at The Stand to be shown directly from the West End venue since the outbreak of the virus.

He’ll headline the evening show, where he will be joined by Bruce Fummey, Rosco McLelland, Paul McDaniel and Rachel Jackson. 

Previous performances, filmed in Edinburgh and Newcastle, have reached more than 300,000 people, which organisers say is more than 450 times a sold-out show. 

Scottish stand-up stars such as Frankie Boyle and Daniel Sloss, whose careers have gone international since their early shows on The Stand’s stages, have helped draw in a global audience, with people joining in from India, Australia, the US and all across Europe to watch the exclusive material.

John Oliver, host of US TV hit Last Week Tonight, has also taken part, as have Elaine C Smith, Janey Godley, Omid Djalili and Jo Caulfield.

Glasgow Times: Frankie BoyleFrankie Boyle

A spokesman for The Stand said: “Since Covid-19 the comedy industry has changed. 

“No customers have walked through the doors to our three venues in more than four months. So we decided to bring some much-needed comedy to people direct to their homes via a free show on YouTube. 

“Since our first show on March 21 we have broadcast each Saturday and reached more than 300,000 viewers. 

“To put that in context, we would need to sell our full venue capacity out each Saturday night more than 450 times to reach those viewers – or eight years’ worth of sold-out Saturday shows in each of our venues. 

“Most of the previous shows have come from our Edinburgh club, two were streamed from Newcastle and now during August the shows will come from the Glasgow Stand for the first time.”

Glasgow Times: US tv host John OliverUS tv host John Oliver

Saturday Night Live at The Stand starts at 8.30pm on the club’s YouTube channel and is available until 10am the following morning.

You can also donate to support the venue during the show.