STAND-UP

If you’ve only witnessed Raymond Mearns on roistering compering duty, then you’ve barely experienced the burly Glaswegian’s skill with a well-spun anecdote. ‘I feel I can get a lot better if I get the opportunity to do longer sets,’ he says of Shaggy Dog Stories, his first Scottish tour in a 15-year comedy career. ‘When I relax and fart about, it’s amazing, anything can happen. I might die on my hole occasionally but it’s great living in the moment.’

A brusquely articulate juggernaut on stage, the 41-year-old, whose first gig at Ed Byrne’s Comedy Cellar came just three weeks after he underwent open heart surgery, is endearingly vulnerable in conversation, dismissive of the self-justifying ‘pish’ of comics, yet ‘curious that I don’t enjoy that onstage rapport in real life. I’ve been with my wife 23 years and the other day she told me “I want that guy. I want what you give audiences”. I reckon crowds pick up on that dysfunction, thinking “Jesus, I thought I had problems until I saw him”.’

Roles in Ken Loach’s Ae Fond Kiss and It’s a Free World, plus sitcom appearances in Legit and the recent Rab C Nesbitt Christmas comeback ensure he ‘gets recognised sometimes. But I’ve one of those faces that suggests “do not approach”.’ Nevertheless, he turns cinematic leading man later this year, as a wannabe actor in Next Time Ned. ‘It’s a bit too real, to be honest,’ he confesses. ‘I am Ned to an extent, because I’m not the most emotionally intelligent guy. There’s some tremendously funny bits, but we really plunge him into darkness, make him suffer.’