Scottish powerhouse stand-up Susie McCabe is about to have a very busy year onstage with not one show, but two. From April she will be touring the UK with Best Behaviour, which had a sell-out run at last year's Edinburgh Fringe. But before the tour she will be premiering her band new show, Coming Of Rage, with three hometown gigs at Glasgow's King's Theatre, and then after her Best Behaviour tour she will be back with it at the Edinburgh Fringe.

 

Both shows are very personal as well as very funny. Best Behaviour is about what happened when McCabe had a heart attack in July 2024, Coming Of Rage picks up the story with updates about her eventful life since then.

 

McCabe is one of Scotland's sharpest stand-ups. She has supported Kevin Bridges, Jason Manford and John Bishop, as well as appearing on Have I Got News For You, Frankie Boyle's New World Order and radio shows including The News Quiz and Just A Minute. She can also be heard on the hit podcast Here Comes The Guillotine with Frankie Boyle and Christopher MacArthur Boyd.

 

For tickets and details of all live shows go to: https://susiemccabe.com

You are doing your new show Coming Of Rage at the Glasgow Comedy Festival, then touring with last year's show, Best Behaviour, then doing Coming Of Rage at the Edinburgh Fringe in August. Don't get them confused!

 

That's right. I'm doing Coming Of Rage and I've got Best Behaviour sitting there ready to go. The tour show is a very specific show. It's about one specific incident, my heart attack in July 2024. Coming of Age is a different show altogether.

 

 

It was funny because on Hogmanay I did a show in Princes Street Gardens and Pulp were on, so one of the first people I spoke to after midnight was Jarvis Cocker. He signed my Pulp LP and went "all the best for 2024." Then in April I won the Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award in April. Billy said "you made me laugh out loud with your joke" It was like Maradona saying you played well. And then the year took a nosedive...

 

 

Best Behaviour is about the heart attack. Coming Of Rage is about the aftermath, the grief, pain and then the logistics of life when these things happen.

 

 

Well, the fact that I was sent two lesbian paramedics was genuinely hilarious. What's the chances? I was texting my agent from the back of the ambulance to say that at least I'm going to have some show next year. I think it's important to talk about something that's real and make it funny and have a wee glint in your eye and a tongue in your cheek and just kind of say something and and let it just resonate.

 

 

I realised it was bad when I arrived at Bristol Royal Infirmary and there was a crash team of 20 people waiting outside for me. They were stripping me as I was still in the ambulance and did an angioplasty within two hours. There was no time to waste. But does it even count as a health scare if you are Scottish? Glasgow has the highest rate of cardiovascular disease mortality in the UK and the second place is Bristol and that's where I had my heart attack!

 

 

I do go to the gym 3-4 times a week and I do make sure that I try to eat well and I was never really a big drinker but I watch what I drink. i have to take 13 pills every day, you name it, I'm on it. I have to spend an hour sorting out all my medication every fortnight like a really shite pick 'n' mix.

 

But the Best Behaviour title is about my approach to life. Friends tell me off for having bacon fries in the pub and say 'you've got to be on your best behaviour now'. But do I want to have 20 years of not being on my best behaviour or 30 years of being on my best behaviour? That's the question.

 

 

That's about being 45 and all the stuff that comes with being 45. Like I had to organise my father's funeral. There's a good 20 minutes about me and the Catholic priest and the ridiculousness of what you've got to do. I had to choose a reading from the bible and I'm like 'you don't let women into the priesthood and you don't like homosexuals, but here I am, a gay woman doing half your job for you, right?' There was this constant battle I was having within myself while trying to be respectful to this man who represents things I don't agree with.

 

 

Yes, it's funny but it's also dark. I was angry about my dad dying and my mum losing him after 53 years. And I'm having to parent her in the digital age. Even getting the death certificates was done by emails. It was like having a four year old. And also I had a difficult relationship with my parents. I speak onstage about how I was put out of the house at 17 for being gay. And going through this old wounds start to open up again even though I was trying to do the right thing.

 

 

Yes, like one day mum wasn't sure whether she wanted to go for Chinese, Indian or Italian food, so we went for a pub lunch and she's having chicken pakora, Chinese chicken curry and affogato for pudding. And don't take you elderly mum to Marks & Spencer during the middle of the week as it's like a game of Where's Wally? They've all got the same haircut, the same clothes and the same stuff in their trolley.

 

 

I think marriage is a bit like skiing, if after two times you've nearly broken your neck and nearly killed yourself maybe you shouldn't go skiing again.

 

 

There's not a city like it, I love it so much because you know you're only ever one street away from a posh area. You could move round the corner and go from social housing into a half a million pound house. I love Glasgow, I love its honesty. It's real and vibrant. When I do a gig in Glasgow I just feel as if I'm in a room with my pals.

 

 

I do swear, but in Scotland swearing is more of an adjective isn't it? It's more like punctuation than an actual bad word.