SCOTTISH comedian Rosco McClelland has revealed how winning the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award gave him the confidence to stop worrying about making his comedy more “commercially viable.”
The East Kilbride comic won the coveted award in 2025, and has now returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with his new show The Bones, which sees him explore human evolution, his own stubbornness and his desire for control.
Speaking to The National, McClelland said hearing Connolly repeat some of his jokes when announcing him as the award winner helped dispel doubts he had about his approach to comedy.
"Sometimes you get a wee bit in your head and you go, maybe I should do something differently," he said.
"Maybe I should write differently. Maybe I should do something a little bit more commercially viable.
"But then when Billy Connolly says it's good, you go, 'No, do you know what? I don't need to change. What I'm doing is good. If he says it's good, it's good and no-one else can change my mind on that.'"
That hard-headed approach is explored in The Bones, a show which began after one of McClelland's friends introduced him to the concept of "pathological demand avoidance".
It prompted the comedian to consider why his instinctive response to being given advice or told what to do is often simply "no".
"I guess the show is sort of about going, well, why am I like that?" he said.
"There's obvious things, you know, like being Scottish. I think we’re quite a rebellious people. We always have been.”
The show also touches on McClelland having Tourette's, which for him manifests through facial tics rather than vocalisations, and whether experiencing something outside of his control has influenced other parts of his personality.
He said: "Is there an element of, because you do this thing you can't control, is this whole pathological demand avoidance an element of trying to find control somewhere in life?"
Aside from being recognised by Connelly, McClelland has been nominated twice as The Scottish Comedy Awards Best Newcomer and was the Winner of Scottish Comedian of the Year in 2016. His 2024 Fringe show, Sudden Death, was one of the best reviewed shows of the Fringe and was one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 12 Shows.
Despite his growing profile, McClelland said abandoning the pressure to impress reviewers or the comedy industry has made this year's Fringe a healthier experience.
He added: "I'm not really caring about any other aspect of it than going on stage and having fun and people leaving the room having enjoyed it and laughed."
McClelland is part of a “golden generation” of Scottish comedians who have risen through the circuit together, something he believes helped push each of them forward.
"There were just quite a few of us that turned up at the same time," he said.
"We're all friends with each other but I could always tell we were silently pushing each other along.
"Someone would get something, someone would make a real step forward, and you'd go, ‘I want that', and then everyone else was pushing each other forward."
He remains optimistic about the next generation of Scottish comics coming through and believes Scotland itself provides fertile ground for comedy.
"This is a pretty miserable country, weather-wise," he joked.
"We are just constantly bombarded with wind and rain and harsh conditions.
"If you didn't laugh, you'd greet."
He added that Scotland, like Ireland, has a deeply embedded culture of storytelling and entertaining – while Scottish audiences will quickly expose anyone who is not as funny as they think they are.
McClelland's relationship with comedy has also been shaped by being diagnosed with a rare condition when he was young.
He suffers from Long QT syndrome, a life-threatening heart condition that gives an increased risk of an irregular heartbeat which can result in fainting, seizures, or, worst case scenario, sudden death.
The condition was the inspiration for his critically acclaimed 2024 Fringe show Sudden Death.
He believes it encouraged him to chase adrenaline rather than shy away from it, whether through playing football and drums, doing physical work as a plumber, performing in bands or eventually taking to the stage as a comedian.
"When you're told about this thing called sudden death syndrome when you're young, it changes your relationship with death and fear in a way," he said.
"You go, 'What's the point in being so serious and worried about things? You might as well have a laugh and just enjoy it while you're here.'"
That outlook may also explain McClelland's affection for the unpredictability of the Fringe.
Despite now being more than a decade into his comedy career, he said he remains surprised that audiences continue to turn up to watch him perform in Edinburgh basements on dreary weeknights.
"It still surprises me, 12, 13 years in, with nine Fringes on the bounce.
"I go, 'God, a Monday night. People are here in a basement in Edinburgh for me? That's crazy.'
"Well, I better put a good show on for you then."
Rosco McClelland is playing at the Monkey Barrel - CabVol until August 30. Tickets are available here.
