COMEDY
JERRY SADOWITZ: MAKE COMEDY GRATE AGAIN SPIEGELTENT SATURDAY 19 OCTOBER 7.45pm
Well versed in whipping audiences up into a bewildered frenzy, comedian and magician Jerry Sadowitz is a revered agitator plying his trade in a sterilised era that he was never intended for. Forty-plus years into his career, this steadfast counterculture will go down a storm with anyone who’s unafraid to inspect the deepest, darkest parts of the human psyche. Over 18’s only.
COMEDY LATES SPIEGELTENT FRIDAY 11 & 18 OCTOBER 10.30pm
Hosted by Fred McCauley and Scott Gibson respectively, Comedy Lates at The Spree will provide a coterie of the nation’s wittiest minds. Spanning rising stars and perennial veterans, expect biting observations and expertly crafted witticisms from Christopher McArthur-Boyd, Susan Riddell, Rosco McLelland and more.
THE SPREE: A HISTORY OF DIVERSITY Where some of music’s biggest events have been criticised for remaining as disproportionate as ever, The Spree has always had its doors open to performers from across the spectrum. Since its inaugural edition in October 2012, The Spree has placed an emphasis on bringing eclecticism to Renfrewshire. At a time when many festivals have come under fire for focusing on one market to the detriment of others, its history is as richly woven as those brocades that made its host town famous the world over. With one foot in the traditional and the other embedded in the contemporary, performers have come from all genders, creeds and colours. Whether it was the poignant folk stylings of Rachel Sermanni & Capercaillie’s Karen Matheson or the Mercury Prize award-winning Young Fathers’ entrancing hybrid of hip-hop, gospel and electronic 30 MILL
dissonance, organisers have always placed inclusiveness high on the agenda. Capable of playing host to The Delgado’s Emma Pollock and the Afrobeat-indebted Francoise and The Atlas Mountains right alongside a show that celebrated their partnership with the Rajasthan International Folk Festival, this onus on incorporating a range of unique voices isn’t consigned to the music. Kicked off by the proudly gay and eternally kilted Craig Hill in 2012 (pictured), the comedy bill has featured everyone from Des Clarke and Susie McCabe to Glaswegian firebrand Janey Godley among others. Speaking in 2016, then-Paisley 2021 Bid Director Jean Cameron
epitomised exactly what the festival is and always will be about when she declared it to be “outward-looking and internationally-flavoured, yet also unmistakably Paisley.” A permanent fixture on the cultural calendar, The Spree shows no signs of deviating from that ethos anytime soon.
