Raymond Mearns: Rock N' Roll Comedian - The Therapy Sessions

If you wander along the Grassmarket in the afternoon or early evening you may very well be offered some free therapy by Raymond Mearns. You’d do well to accept his offer. Part of the excellent line-up at the first Scottish Comedy Festival in The Beehive Inn, Mearns appears to go one step further than the run-of-the-mill stand-up comedy show; he’s baring his soul.

The small, refurbished room on the top floor of the Beehive is jam packed, so much so that people are actually turned away by Mearns himself as there’s quite literally no room left. He doesn’t break any new ground with the majority of his material – differences between men and women, religion, Scottish diet, booze – but when the writing’s this good he doesn’t need to.

It’s an intimate show in more ways than one. He forgoes the microphone to speak loudly and passionately about some very personal issues. Mearns commands attention and earns big laughs with well-observed and well-executed anecdotes, taking everything in his stride. At the close of the show he’s dripping with sweat, having put so much of himself into the performance. You’ll be hard pushed to find a more enjoyable or cathartic hour of comedy anywhere else this summer.