5 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT . . .

1 He was the first ever Scottish compere at the Comedy Store. Which is a famous club in London apparently.

2 In 1998, The List interviewed him deep within the bowels of Ibrox Stadium for a feature on the BBC ‘variety show’ McCoist and MacAulay. This despite him hobbling in on crutches after a freak accident during a spot of tennis. McCoist took the piss out of him for the entire hour.

3 Despite being a native of Perth, he held the post of Rector at Dundee University. This is akin to Boy George joining Girls Aloud or Norman Tebbit reading the weather on Al-Jazeera.

4 His first serious job was in the early 80s as an Assistant Accountant for the Cairngrom Chairlift Company. It was round about this time that he decided to get into comedy.

5 Buy him a birthday card. He is a mere 50 years of age on 29 December.

The Stand, Glasgow, Thu 4 Jan.