Reigning Scottish Comedian of the Year and through to the So You Think You’re Funny? competition semi-finals, Sean Grant only began performing stand-up last summer after a declaration of love. ‘I’d always enjoyed watching comedy, but it never occurred to me to try it,’ the 37-year-old Airdrieonian admits. ‘I’m not a gregarious person, but I gave a best man’s speech and really enjoyed the writing. I hadn’t been looking forward to delivering it but I ended up just loving the buzz of performance.’ Like his cousin, the cerebrally leftfield comic and writer Stephen Carlin, Grant has a measured, deadpan style that accentuates his ‘cynical and curmudgeonly’ side, so he’s been shrewdly paired to share his hour with the incessantly chatty and irrepressible bear-obsessive Tiernan Douieb.

The SCOTY title has already taken Grant to the Toronto Comedy Festival, but he acknowledges the spat it aroused when he was placed ahead of more experienced acts. ‘It was controversial, but I suppose that means people hold the competition in esteem. I’ve really been trying to earn the title since I won it, truly putting the work in. I do a joke at the start of my set to prick that balloon, just so the audience isn’t expecting Frankie Boyle or Billy Connolly.’

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 668 1633, 3–25 Aug (not 10, 18), 10pm, £8.50–£10 (£7.50–£9). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £5.