Like many comics, Susan Riddell finds watching stand-up a busman's holiday, 'when you cannae really enjoy it because you're analysing it, and it gets harder and harder to be impressed.' So the Glaswegian is looking forward to being part of Leith Social, a new variety night run by the Gilded Balloon at The Pitt Market featuring music and cabaret performers as well as comedians (Riddell appears on Thursday 16 December alongside Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Jesus L'Oreal, while Thursday 9 December features Fern Brady, Jay Lafferty and Rosco McClelland).

'I've got a terrible concentration span, so having something a bit different works for me,' she admits. 'Plus, my material's all gubbed now, so maybe I'll take up juggling or something anyway.' Unfortunately for Riddell, who made her name with routines about preferring to stay at home and lounging about in comfortable wear, the coronavirus pandemic has meant the world has rather caught up with her way of thinking and a USP that is no longer quite so unique.

A play she'd hoped to take to the Edinburgh Fringe with her regular collaborator Rachel Jackson, based on a night stuck in, 'is almost too relatable now'. And in her stand-up, 'no-one's going to want to hear about me cutting about in my jammies. It's not funny anymore!' Riddell broke up with her boyfriend shortly before lockdown: 'that's my Edinburgh accommodation gone for this year because he lived in Leith!' she jokes. 'We split up just as I was starting to talk about him on stage. So now I'm back to talking about being single.'

She continues to mine her previous relationships for material though, not least in a novel she's writing about a couple who split but retain co-custody of their dog, a storyline she also included in her series of BBC Scotland sitcom shorts Dregs, recalling when she was together with Kevin Bridges. Unsparing in their brutality towards her recently dumped character 'Tiff', the likes of Janey Godley and Karen Dunbar are among those appearing to tell her to sort her life out. 'I'm just using the funniest elements of my life from nearly ten years ago, smooshing them all together,' she explains. 'So maybe it does look a bit tragic. But I'm fine! Splitting up with someone under normal circumstances is bad enough. But when they're in the limelight and you're constantly reminded of them is kind of hilarious.'

Leith Social At The Pitt, Edinburgh, Thursday 9, 16 December.