IT’S been a busy old year for Stand Comedy chief Tommy Sheppard. As director he enjoyed his busiest and most successful Fringe to date, and this year he’s programmed a Glasgow International Comedy Festival that is bigger and better than ever before. Keen to be international in more than just name, Sheppard has cashed in on his growing credibility stateside to bring his biggest US contingent to date to Glasgow this March, with controversial US comic Bill Burr set to top the bill.

Burr, who recently appeared alongside Ricky Gervais and Tracy Morgan at the New York Comedy Festival, has become a hot topic in the US with his controversial mode of delivery, once famously abandoning his scripted material to launch a tireless tirade against an unsuspecting audience after they booed a fellow comedian.

While his Glasgow set will most definitely be scripted, Sheppard admits anything could happen. ‘He is quite simply one of the best, most exciting comedians working today, and will probably be one of my highlights of the festival.
‘I expect him to take no prisoners and leave controversy in his wake’.

Burr joins a host of American talent, including Todd Barry (who film buffs may remember as Mickey Rourke’s mean boss in The Wrestler), David Letterman regular Marc Maron, stand-up and radio host Danny Lobell, Stephen Lynch, Hailey Boyle and Rachel Feinstein.

Which is not to say that Sheppard has forgotten the talent closer to home: Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Rhod Gilbert, Lee Mack, Stewart Lee, Lucy Porter, Dara O’Briain and Chris Addison are just a handful of the names making an appearance.

The Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival runs from 11–28 Mar at various venues in Glasgow. See www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com for tickets and information