When asked about his favourite places to eat and drink in Glasgow, notorious foodie Ed Gamble makes a surprising confession.

The co-host of the award-winning mega-hit podcast Off Menu with James Acaster, judge on Great British Menu and author of Glutton: The Multi-Course Life of a Very Greedy Boy has yet to experience it.

The 38-year-old comedian said: “People often assume that I’m checking out all the best restaurants in all the towns that I go to because my career is so synonymous with food now.

“But I’ll be honest, we’re there for such a short amount of time a lot of the time - and a lot of the time I can’t eat before I go onstage.

“If I have a big meal before I go on stage, the show is markedly worse.”

He’s made the mistake before, tucking into fajitas at a Tex Mex restaurant in Buxton and slogging through his set like a zombie.

Gamble adds: “I know Glasgow is amazing for food, amazing for drinks, amazing for nights out and culture.

“But quite often I just end up in the dressing room trying to eat something light before hand.”

So if not for the city’s hospitality scene, what keeps the Taskmaster champion (and host of Taskmaster the podcast) coming back?

He said: “Glasgow is one of my favourite cities to gig in. It’s difficult to describe why I enjoy the Glasgow crowd.

“It’s always got a bit more of an electric atmosphere and they just seem more on board with the show and more invested in you doing well.

“Certainly when I used to do shows at The Stand - that venue is amazing it’s just got something in the walls that feels special.

“And I think Glasgow occasionally has been unfairly called out as a heckler’s city or a rowdy crowd but I don’t think it’s that. They’re just ready for you to do well.”

Gamble is bringing his latest stand-up show, Ed Gamble: Hot Diggity Dog, to the King’s Theatre on March 24 as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

Comparing the festival to the comedy circuit at the Edinburgh Fringe, Gamble says the audiences are committed and unlikely to have been inundated with multiple shows a day.

He said: “Edinburgh is a wonderful festival. I spent a large amount of my career there.

“But by nature it’s an open application thing. There’s thousands of shows so the quality filter doesn’t feel that great. It’s amazing when you’re an audience member and you discover something brilliant in the sea of shows.

“But Glasgow Comedy Festival is curated and you get that programme and you know that the majority of things in there are going to be brilliant.”

Audiences can expect Gamble to bring his signature storytelling style to his set, including a great section about his honeymoon to Las Vegas.

Gamble’s comedy is a refreshing detour from the highly politicised sets that have come to dominate. He skews low-hanging culture war fruit in favour of anecdotal silliness.

“Sometimes you go to a comedy show and you come out feeling like you’ve learned something - You come out of mine feeling like you’re stupid,” he says.

As for the hecklers?

Gamble said: “Glasgow is probably the place where they’re best at it but I would rather no heckling.

“I’m happy to roll with it but I’d rather you just shut up and listen to me.”

Ed Gamble: Hot Diggity Dog, King’s Theatre, Sunday, March 24. To find out more, click here.