Gary Little @ The Stand

A Little Bit of Personal offers some refreshingly straight-up stand-up from a local. Or close enough: Gary Little is from Glasgow, a regular on the live scene, and here delves into his personal life with great honesty. His hour of hilarious stories doesn’t contain anything conceptual, experimental, improvised or pretentious. This is solid storytelling humour from a seasoned raconteur and a great performer with unique life experience. The characters we’re introduced to are vivid and real, instantly putting us at ease.

Throughout the show, everyday matters are blown up to great comic effect, Little’s love for his friends and pets bursting through any hard-man preconceptions we may have had. Less familiar experiences, such as that of life in prison, are brought front and centre and boiled down to a set of stories we can all relate to. As a show there’s no real big finish, which might not suit some lovers of beautifully-sculpted shows, but for the rest of us it just feels like Little could keep going for hours if only the venue would let him.