Susan Calman goes to her Happy Place

Susan Calman has become somewhat the darling of Scottish comedy. Leaving behind a lucrative career in corporate law in 2005 in order to pursue her dreams as a stand-up comedian, Calman swiftly rose to stardom, featuring in the Scottish Bafta Award-winning sketch show Blow Out, winning the ‘Best New Comedian’ title at the Real Radio Scottish Variety Awards and becoming the resident compère at The Stand, Glasgow.

Her show at last year’s Fringe Festival – Constantly Seeking Susan – was a hilarious and excessively bleak slant on Calman’s own life as she dissected a self-written obituary, an unusual yet effective comedic device that left the entirety of the Underbelly venue in stitches.

With her new show Happy Place, premiering at this year’s upcoming Glasgow Comedy Festival, Calman plans to strike a slightly less morbid tone. She hopes the show "will cheer people up as we come through the dark days of winter! It's all about the small things that make you smile and the strange things that make you laugh. The only thing I want is for people to leave happier than they came in!"

Calman has managed to stand apart from the crowd and play all of her attributes as strengths. As a lesbian comedian she gives off an air of supreme confidence which is incredibly endearing, something which female comedians often lack. She strikes a happy balance between good-natured anecdotes and darker themes making her show versatile and human. In terms of her sexual orientation she is pragmatic in her response to criticism saying: "I'm sure some people don't like it but that's life. You can feel sorry for yourself or you can just carry on. I've always been a 'carry on regardless' type of person."

It is this determination that has seen her rise to the lofty heights she enjoys today. During Constantly Seeking Susan she often referred to her past flops at smaller Scottish venues, as well as a disastrous first run at the Edinburgh Fringe: the nature of the Scottish comedy circuit means that "we all tend to know exactly what everyone is doing. As a result it is very supportive but can be a tad pressured. If you die at a gig everyone will know about it the next day! I do think it's friendly though, which is something the London circuit lacks because it is so big."

Nevertheless Calman has used this to her advantage, something which she believes is crucial to the continued growth of the Scottish circuit saying: "More gigs outside of Glasgow and Edinburgh would enable more comics to get stage time and give audiences more exposure of live comedy. Unfortunately many gigs in smaller towns succeed for a month or so and then die out. But if you don't support live comedy when comics are starting out you might miss out on helping the new Frankie Boyle, Kevin Bridges or Jo Brand develop."

For both established names such as Calman and up-and-coming comedians, the forthcoming Glasgow Comedy Festival is an invaluable chance to perform their material to a wider audience. The festival runs from 17 March until 20 April and boasts 400 shows in 51 venues across the city, with many performances from the regular comedians at Edinburgh’s Stand venue and the Pleasance Cabaret Bar.

When asked for a personal highlight of the festival, Calman decides to go with female solidarity, proffering: "Apart from my show at the Citizens Theatre I am a great fan of Caroline Rhea who I met at the Edinburgh Festival last year. She is an American comic who people might recognise from Sabrina the Teenage Witch and I think her show will be amazing." However, when it comes to her own tip for the next big thing on the Scottish circuit Calman isn’t giving the game away, suggesting we come and sample the festival, and decide for ourselves. If the standards of her previous performances are anything to go by, Happy Place is sure to be a big success and, for those who cast a sceptical eye over female comedians as a collective, it will be an enlightening experience.