If you fancy a Monday night that's a cut above the usual, comedian Eric Rushton rolls into The Stand Comedy Club on 18 May with his much-praised new hour, Innkeeper — and the early word from Edinburgh is that it's a bit of a treat.

Rushton is one of those quietly devastating stand-ups the circuit has been buzzing about for a couple of years now. He was the inaugural recipient of Channel 4's Sean Lock Comedy Award in 2023, a Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year winner, and a nominee at the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards for Best Show. The British Comedy Guide listed Innkeeper among the best-reviewed shows of the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe.

What's the show about?

In Rushton's own cheerfully bleak words on his tour page, it's "my new show about depression and the Nativity". The hook, as he tells it, is that he was cast in his primary school Nativity play as a child, absolutely smashed it, and promptly retired from acting — only to find his way back to a stage now that he's "found the correct antidepressants to get back in to show business".

Reviewers at last year's Fringe called the show "a little piece of magic" and "a well crafted piece, beautifully performed, that can be enjoyed by anyone", awarding it four stars. Expect a script that's both abstract and relatable, and a delivery that manages to be self-deprecating and quietly assured at the same time.

The practical bit

Who: Eric Rushton — Innkeeper
Where: The Stand Comedy Club, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6NG
When: Monday 18 May 2026 — doors 7pm, show 8pm
Tickets: Available via Ticketmaster, with The Stand as the box office. Resale listings suggest the room is filling up nicely, so it's worth booking sooner rather than later.

The Glasgow date is part of a UK and European run that takes Innkeeper from Leeds and Newcastle through to Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona and Prague, before wrapping with a special recording at London's MOTH Club in June. In other words: catch him in an intimate Glasgow basement now and you can feel smug about it later when the recording lands.

The Stand's Woodlands Road room is one of the best comedy spaces in the country for this kind of thoughtful, slow-burn material — close enough to see the comedian sweat, small enough that every pause lands. Innkeeper sounds tailor-made for it.

A warm, witty Monday night out — and a chance to say you saw him before everyone else did.