Since Limmy proved it was possible to build on popular online material and achieve success beyond the internet, there have been a number of other Scottish comedians finding their way to the stage.

‘West End Mum’ Zara Gladman and the Some Laugh Podcast are among the social media stars performing in Glaswegian venues this month, and on Thursday night it was the turn of Mark Black, who brought his show ‘The Drink, The Drugs, The Scratchcairds’ to the city’s Pavilion Theatre. 

He first came to prominence as a scene-stealer in his brother Paul Black’s viral videos, and has since achieved virality himself with videos affectionately skewering various well-kent Scottish faces, from troubadour Gerry Cinnamon to football podcasters Open Goal. 

His stand-up career began in 2021, and the following year saw him finish runner-up in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s So You Think You’re Funny competition. 

Would Black’s material translate in the home of Mrs Brown’s Boys, Aladdin and Peter Powers? 

Would the faceless followers retweeting two-minute sketches from their living rooms pay their money and head into town for two hours of live performance?

It was clear from the outset that the answer to both those questions would be a resounding yes. 

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At a packed Pavilion, the night begins with Latvian comedian Gita Blaze, who impresses with a foreigner’s perspective on the Old Firm rivalry and expresses her bemusement as a taxi driver winds his window up and proclaims “f***ing baltic.”

Black then takes to the stage with a brief impression of one of Scottish comedy’s leading lights, Kevin Bridges. The show’s first half sees him deliver a stand-up set that Bridges himself would surely be happy with. 

There’s a streak of self-deprecation throughout his stand-up, during which he refers to himself as a ‘hipster Uncle Fester’. References to the drink and drugs of the show’s title - Black is eight months sober - add depth, but he is consistently amusing when detailing his experiences. One brush with ketamine is “like a lasagne on the waltzers in hell”. 

Black is particularly strong when it comes to observational comedy, from air hostesses who “love getting dressed up. Six-inch heels to serve me Pringles” to Scotrail workers for whom “the criteria for getting a job is wearing a rucksack over one shoulder and walking briskly.”

He adds: “They’re always in a hurry…and their trains are always late.”

For the show’s second half he is joined by Scottish comedy duo the Ewart Bros, who serve as foils for Black’s spoof of podcaster James English, whose stock-in-trade is conversations with supposedly reformed gangsters who revel in recounting tales of murder and prison life. 

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Anyone who has encountered English’s Anything Goes podcast will have appreciated the skill of Black’s impression and the accuracy of the Ewart Bros’ former hardmen, one of whom urges the crowd to “choose a scooter, not a shooter”. 

A quick costume change and Black becomes Tony Turmeric, his dead-on Gerrry Cinnamon pastiche. The crowd sing along with parody songs Randan and Summer Nights (‘We never had iPods or earpods or airpods/we used our noggins instead’), both of which nail Cinnamon’s very specific brand of Scottish folk music. 

While the humour is undoubtedly more potent if you’re familiar with those he’s spoofing, there is more than enough absurdity to keep everyone on board, no matter how familiar they are with Cinnamon and English. 

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Speaking to the Glasgow Times ahead of the show, Black said: “I’m not nervous but I’m nervously excited because it’s a massive crowd.”

The massive crowd went home more than happy, and on this evidence he can expect to pull similar numbers in future.

Or, as his James English would have it, ‘boom, we’re on.'