Susie McCabe on her reluctant respect for some Tories, sharing her life on stage, and sexism and homophobia in comedy

A former winner of the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award, Susie McCabe is performing three dates of her latest stand-up show, Coming Of Rage, at the King's Theatre in Glasgow as part of the city's international comedy festival, while still touring her last show, Best Behaviour. Here she talks to JAY RICHARDSON about the impact upon her of the Big Yin, Janey Godley and Margaret Thatcher, trading gags with Michael Gove and boycotting the US.

You're currently juggling two tour shows. How's that?

I tend to debut in Glasgow, then go to the Fringe, then tour. So there was always going to be a clash between last year's show, and this new one. 

It must be reassuring arriving at the Edinburgh Fringe, having run the show in with sizeable audiences already?

Yeah, I tend to get all my stress out January to March, then I'm sitting with this palette of a show. Some of it will have been quite specific to the King's because it's such a big gig and it's nice to have a connection with your local audience. But I still get absolute dread preparing for Edinburgh because you shouldn't go into a 500-seater without being as prepared as you can possibly be. You're not trying to work stuff out for a tour, you're showcasing your year's work for three and a bit weeks.

You've made some lifestyle changes after your heart attack in 2024. But did you change anything in your approach to stand-up?

I've learned to say no. To say that's too tight, I'm not prepared to put myself in a position of stress travelling to a certain place, then right after try to get to the other side of the country. And I've minimised my reliance on Britain's public transport infrastructure.

So then, Coming Of Rage. What's making you angry?

Everything. The world. I moved house and the local authority is not emptying my bins. I'm constantly at the tip. Everything from that to the Epstein Files. I watched [Louis Theroux's] manosphere documentary last night but it didn't even work me up. Because I thought, ‘well, of course we've got this. Because we've always had misogyny, sexism and homophobia. The people in charge of the world are homophobic, sexist and misogynistic’.

So I'm angry at everything. Not in a ‘poor me’, victimhood way. I'm in a very fortunate position. But I look at the world, I look at young people and think they have absolutely no chance. The world has changed so much and it's much more difficult for them. I believe it'll get better, though. If I didn't, I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning.

Do you enjoy seeing a comic get furious on stage? Are you trying to distract the crowd or whip them up?

Life is so hard right now for so many people, everyone's struggling a bit. I talk about my dad dying and that's a profoundly sad thing. But when you look at the little things that happened at his funeral, it's also very funny. You've got to present it in a way that makes people remember when their parents died, when they were organising funerals and the ridiculousness of those arrangements. 

So I don't want to whip people up because they're so tired. They can come out, we'll have a laugh together, they'll leave smiling. Coming Of Rage's premise is that there's nothing worse than a heart attack. Until, of course, my marriage ended and my father died. So maybe it's about perspective. My heart attack was very much just the opening ceremony for the next 18 months. I've lived a decade in that time, going through some major life events. We can have a wee laugh about them.

How do you feel about audiences being so intimately invested in you? I recall you alluding to the end of your second marriage, not so many months after your honeymoon routine, and hearing people audibly sigh.

Yeah, well, we live in a world now where people know so much more about you. You can't go out and be Tommy Cooper. Nobody knew anything about his wife. They see your life online and feel connected. 

There's a real balance to be struck between sharing little things, like my nephew's two sausage dogs acting funny, and being an absolute slave to the algorithm. I don't talk about the reasons for my divorce. I'll say it happened, make a joke about being a little lesbian Henry VIII, then move on.

That was a really difficult time for me. It wasn't my choice. But I moved in with my best mate of 30 years. And there's laughs in that. She's very happy in a long-term marriage and I'm just a Shambles living in her spare room. You've got to give a bit. 

I hold back on stage that I'm seeing someone. I very rarely post about them or us because that's not ready to go out into the world yet. That's protection for me and them. But you can allude to things, I suppose.

You're reopening King Tut's for comedy next month, an iconic Glasgow venue that led to Oasis being signed and for me, memorable gigs from the likes of Phil Kay and Ross Noble. How inspiring can a room be?

Yeah, I'm so lucky. The King's obviously has emotional connection for someone from Glasgow, it's where you went as kid with your gran. And King Tut's, as a massive Oasis fan, truly means a lot. But honestly, every room's important because people have paid money to see you. You can be in the least perfect room for comedy. But 100 people are there and they pay your bills. It's ridiculous but I really appreciate making a living this way. 

Having had a 'proper' job as an electrician, does it keep you grateful?

Yeah. It's interesting when you chat with comedians who haven't worked. Like, 'I'm so exhausted. It's Fringe day number five and I've done seven hours...'

Can I ask you about your podcast, Here Comes The Guillotine, with Frankie Boyle and Christopher MacArthur-Boyd? You were selling out live shows. But it ended because the dark content meant Global Media couldn't attract sponsors, right? 

There was certainly an element of that. But ultimately, the three of us are wiped out with our diaries. Frankie's working on projects, Christopher's on tour and I'm about to tour, we're all working on different things.

It was popular but sponsorship was thin on the ground because of the content. We had a great time and a great laugh but we all got so busy. Maybe it's something that gets picked up again in the future. It's not been written off. There certainly weren't any artistic differences.

Have you and Christopher wangled cameos in Sky's adaptation of Frankie's novel Meantime?

Well, not for lack of asking. But he needs a break from us. Actually, maybe I need a break from them.

Margaret Thatcher was a preoccupation for the podcast and your specialist subject when you won Celebrity Mastermind. What's the fascination?

It's funny, right? I was born in January 1980 and the first ten years of my life were pretty much defined by Margaret Thatcher. So many of the problems we have now, I firmly believe you can trace back to Thatcherism. 

I would never have voted for her, don't agree with her policies and certainly don't come from a Conservative household. But as a historical figure, it's fascinating how she got to the top of that party. How she brought in that nouveau riche kind of Tory and then small 'c' conservatism against the old school tie. What she had to battle against. She was no feminist by any stretch of the imagination. But you can kind of respect her achievements, no matter whether you agreed with them. 

Where I live has been so markedly affected by Thatcherism and deindustrialisation that I realised I needed to understand my enemies. That woman absolutely changed everything and we've never recovered as a country. 

Conservatism props up the class system. Baby Boomers had a chance to change the UK, take it slightly more to the Left but they didn't because they wanted to be part of something that they will never be part of. They wanted social mobility but not to pass it on. And Thatcherism is the absolute pinnacle of that. 

Think about the 1960s in this country, how Britain was the centre of the universe, not for empire but for art and culture. And then, within 20 years the country was broken. Growing up, I couldn't understand why Scotland was being run by someone that it didn't vote for. Which is still a question I ask myself today.

How do you feel when it's said that stand-up is a classic Thatcherite industry of the self-employed?

I mean, it absolutely is. I don't know if we have a Left anymore in this country, certainly not the Left that I grew up with. It's easier to be self-employed with iPads and wi-fi. But sometimes the Left need to check themselves a bit. 

You can be self-employed and an entrepreneur but not subscribe to the cult of individualism. You can still have a moral and social conscience. It's just that we've gone so far to the Right that the idea of caring for people as a society has left us.

I understand that you recently piloted a political comedy panel show with Michael Gove. How did it go?

Michael Gove is genuinely one of the most charming men I've ever met. Honestly, he had people in the palm of his hand. He's very witty, very quick and not afraid to laugh at himself. Would I ever vote for him? No. Would I vote for his party? Absolutely not. But if I was sat beside him at a dinner party would I have a good night? 100 per cent.

He said something fascinating to me and I thought 'this is exactly this country'. Keir Starmer was getting a hard time for something and I defended him for two or three of his mistakes. And Gove turned to me and went: 'Susie, the thing you need to realise is that the public hold Labour to a higher standard than the Conservatives because they know we're a bunch of shysters'. And I thought, well, at least he's honest. 

We were talking about his infamous night out in Aberdeen and everybody was slagging him for it. But I defended him because that's the state you need to be in to survive a night out in Aberdeen. He said that the worst bit was waking up the next morning, his mother phoning him to say 'we won't go out for lunch today dear, just come to the house'. He said 'but I've booked somewhere'. And she replied 'have you not seen the front pages?' I love the idea of Michael Gove getting in trouble with his mum.

I'm sure Boris would be the same. Great company at dinner party but you don't want him running the country. I don't think Michael Gove is a particularly bad man. He's just a man who really wants to be part of that club.

You're at a career stage where, five, ten years ago, you might have been in line for your own television vehicle. Broadcasting is more complicated now but do you still have ambitions in that regard?  

Yeah, I would love to do a sitcom. There are some projects floating about that I'm waiting for people to come back to me about. I enjoyed doing Have I Got News For You, but they don't put a lot of comedy on television now, which is a shame because the world needs it. You find yourself asking, how do we break through? Look at Saturday Night Live, a real mix of people. But not from this side of the border. Even Larry [Dean] doesn't live here and there are other parts of the UK that aren't particularly well represented.

But you can't think about that, you've no control over it. You've just got to keep doing what you do and appreciate that. There's not a lot of money in TV and commissioners are very risk-averse. They will go for middle-of-the-road comedy before they put their neck on the line, especially in the regions. And that's really sad, that there's a bit of a chokehold.

Do you agree with Christopher that Scottish comedians are largely overlooked?

Yeah, they continually get overlooked. They get overlooked in Edinburgh, overlooked on television and by their own licence funded network. They don't seek new talent. I couldn't tell you the last time I stood in a comedy club and saw a commissioner. Surely that's part of their job, to go to a comedy club once or twice a month. 

After covering the European Championships as a roving reporter for BBC Scotland, you must have been hopeful for some opportunities when Scotland qualified for this year's World Cup?

I'm realistic enough to know that their budgets are very small and America will take more money than Germany. And if you're the BBC, especially regional BBC, you just want the pros there, those you've got every weekend talking about the football. 

I booked flights to Boston the night the draw was made, had ten days around New England planned, back to Boston then down to Miami. A 17-day trip. But then [the ICE attacks in] Minneapolis happened. And as an LGBTQ person, going to America at this time? It has a wee bit of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games about it. Sometimes you have to think, maybe that's not the holiday this year.

You cancelled?

Yes. I got a voucher for the flights and will use it for trips to countries where there's not a psychotic president.

We were joking about whether I'd get past Homeland Security. My mate said I wouldn't get past security in Dublin, let alone America.

Do you worry about that? I've spoken to American comedians who've scrubbed their social media before trying to re-enter the US.

I'll be more worried about it if Reform win a general election. I'm worried about Robert Jenrick, Richard Tice. I'm not that bothered about Nigel [Farage], he's just the frontman making millions. There's a Boris element to him where it's all about the showmanship. There are people in Reform for whom gay people in the arts like me are their worst nightmare.

Do you feel a responsibility to represent the gay community as an artist with a platform?

Yeah, and as a woman. Because that's another thing isn't it? Women are just permanently under attack, quite literally, from men in power. And as a woman, and especially as a member of the LGBTQ community, I'll always fight for the wee person.

I was brought up by a grandmother who had compassion and kindness, who taught me to have social responsibility. I'm a patron for [the] Time For Inclusive Education [charity] and the work they do is so important, that's a big honour. But I see younger gay comics doing what I would call mildly homophobic material …

How do you mean?

Just like, 'I'll tell you what's gay … avocado'. Come on lads. You're not helping the situation. And then you see straight white men joking about the trans community. Why not do a joke about the manosphere? That's your community. Honestly, calling a fruit homosexual. What decade am I living in?

Do you think attitudes in comedy might be regressing?

Yeah. Me and another comic, who shall remain nameless, have noticed a correlation between trucker hats and bigotry. These comics will let you know about the trans community and they've never met a trans person in their life. Or they'll say their dad said it. Which they'll then say to 1,700 people and put it on social media. And that's shifting tickets.

But do you want that audience? That homophobia, laughing at mild misogyny. I saw one comic do a joke that was transphobic and misogynist in one punchline, a remarkable hit rate. Why don't we start using racial slurs while we're at it?

Well, you hear a few of those too ...

And that's really sad. So I think when you've got a platform, you have to use it in a positive manner. It's not often that working-class people get them.

Someone who put their name to something positive was Billy Connolly with the award that you won. How did it feel to be recognised by him?

Well, I'll show you something. That's a Ross Muir print [points at the wall and a painting of Billy Connolly with a traffic cone on his head]. So I sit at the bottom of this table writing, Billy's there and his award sits there. If I'm struggling, I look up and he looks so mischievous in that. I don't leave without looking at him. 

Winning that award was genuinely one of the best moments of my life. Every now and then, I'll go back and watch the video of Billy laughing at one of my jokes. I went into the Fringe that year thinking ‘well, I made him laugh, I think this is going to be all right’. It was a ridiculous but amazing moment. Real kudos came with it.

Even today, I put a reel up on Instagram. And my mate sent me a picture showing that Alan Carr had laughed at it. Now, I've been on Alan's podcast. But to make the people laugh who make you laugh, that's a head explosion emoji, a really lovely part of the job.

Janey Godley passed not so long ago. What did she mean to you?

The first time Janey saw me she told me I was great. Then I gave her a lift through to Edinburgh one night and she asked if I was getting on at The Stand. And I told her I couldn't get a gig. She sent them an email the next day and I got a call offering me two gigs. But she also made sure that [the club's founder] Tommy Sheppard was in and watched me. And that was it, the rest is history. 

She was always there with advice. If I had any kind of bother, there would always be an encouraging text. She warned me about the sexism I would face from really nice, middle-class men in green rooms. And she was right. She told me people would like my voice but not my look and this is how you combat it. She never gave me any bad advice.

I was up and down to the hospice to see her and it was really sad, for her to be taken away just as she was approaching the absolute peak of her powers. It just doesn't seem right. Another comedian sent me a memory. And it was Janey messaging him, saying 'pick up your phone cunty baws!' 

The two of us were laughing and crying at the same because you could hear her cackling in your head. What a woman.

Janey Godley

You started stand-up by doing a course run by Viv Gee. Do you think such courses are worthwhile?

Absolutely. Viv wasn't teaching you to be funny. She was teaching you to write, encouraging you and showing you where the joke is. But you need to be able to deliver it. 

I don't know why people get so upset about comedy courses. Whatever you need to get into it, it's fine. It's just a safe space to keep trying. Because this is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm always conscious that if I ever speak to a comedy class, I instil in them how much hard work is involved. 

For eight-and-a-half years I was getting up on stage late at night then up at half six in the morning for my work. If you want to do it as a hobby, that's fine. But if you want a career, it's hard graft. The only comics who get upset about comedy courses are deeply insecure about their own ability.

What are you planning after Coming Of Rage?

I don't have time for anything else. There are a couple of projects floating about the ether, waiting for decisions to be made. I'll say I'm not going to do a show next year. But then I'll get an idea around June and we'll be sitting having this same chat. This game will retire me rather than the other way around. Life has leathered me over the last 18 months. But we can laugh about it.

• Susie McCabe is at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, on March 27 and 28 before wrapping up her tour, then bringing her new show to Assembly George Square during the Edinburgh Fringe. Susie ​McCabe tour dates

• In-depth features like this take time and effort. If you’d like us to do more, please consider supporting Chortle with& a monthly or one-off ko-fi donation. The more you support us, the more we can cover.

Published: 20 Mar 2026