Comedy review: The Legendary Arnold Brown Comedy Interview, Tron Theatre, Glasgow

THE avuncular, softly-spoken trailblazer of UK alternative comedy returns with his chat show, in which he gently interrogates other comics.The night’s guests were veteran writer and producer-turned stand-up Phil Differ and Glaswegian queen of the variety hall Dorothy Paul.

Opening with a brief spot of stand-up from the host, and indeed, whenever he could crowbar it into the chat, Brown frequently relied upon some of the hoariest lines from his repertoire. But then he’ll suddenly surprise you with a cutting, up-to-the-minute snipe at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s family planning or the recent travails of Rangers FC.

And notwithstanding his slight trip over the microphone in his intro, a nasty, hospitalising bump to a young cameraman recording the event whose equipment fell on him and his outrageously slandering the Alexander Brothers, it was a smooth, understated affair.

Differ was a generous interviewee, allowing Brown detours up his own memory lane and paying tribute to former colleagues like Craig Ferguson and Robbie Coltrane, who’ve gone on to grander things. It was in the Tron that Differ’s writing career began, recording for Naked Radio, and he delivered some compelling insights into becoming a live performer later in life.

Paul’s showbusiness life also started in The Tron. Yet despite her varied career on stage and in broadcast, she was disarmingly modest, dismissing the notion of herself as a celebrity while she remains “provincial”. Defining her approach to comedy as “tragedy with hindsight”, she revealed that most of her routines have come from eavesdropping women in cafes.