THE MUMBLE – Hi Rick, so where ya from & how did you end up in Edinburgh

RICK – I’m originally from Liverpool, but been in Edinburgh for 15yrs now. I came to Edinburgh for a work placement that was supposed to be 6 months, after 2 days here I decided I wanted to stay. I love this city.

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THE MUMBLE –What made you get into comedy into the first place?

RICK – There’s a few things that lead to it I’d guess…. I developed a genuine love of comedy as a kid, through things like Who’s Line is it Anyway, Have I got News for You, Drop the Dead Donkey and Black Adder. Skip forward a few years, I’d just drifted though life and I found myself post uni in a routine i hated, 40 hours a week, hitting targets, new relationship, Insurance penetration, company cars, company mortgage, one holiday a year, get pissed at the weekend, credit card debt, relationship fails, giving a shit about x-factor results and who said what to who on jungle program, Monday morning hits, another fucking 40 hours. I figured It’s probably not a good sign, when you’re walking to work and hoping to get knocked over by a car. Something had to change.

One day I snapped. I quit my job, sold my flat, cleared my debt, inadvertently ended a shitty relationship, went back to uni to to study film production and started doing stand-up comedy.

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THE MUMBLE – Whats your favorite corny joke by somebody else

RICK – Gary Delaney’s Joke – They’ve got a special on at Tesco’s; He’s doing the trolleys!

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THE MUMBLE – MonkeyBarrel is expanding this year, can you tell us the shpiel.

RICK – Monkey Barrel is no longer the little gig above a pup on the Grassmarket, thanks to hard work of Ben Verth, John Millar, David Bleese and Chris Griffin, Monkey Barrel Comedy now has its own purpose built venue open 6 days a week on Blair Street. We opened at the beginning of December and since then the shows have just been going from strength to strength. It’s comedy by night whilst the cafe serves great food during the day. The beer is pretty cheap as well!

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THE MUMBLE – Who are we to look out for in 2017 at Monkey Barrel nights.

RICK – New Acts – Will Naameh is definitely one to watch this year. Personally I want to see more of Ben, Chris and John back on stage! Looking further ahead a the line ups, Matt Price, Jamali Maddix and Patrick Monahan are ones that I’m really looking forward to seeing.

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THE MUMBLE – Whats the best joke you’ve ever written yourself.

RICK – Tough one. I don’t really do short gags, and I compere so much that I’ve not written a new Joke down in years, I sort of just wing it. Glasgow Comedy Festival is fast approaching so most of my writing these days goes to the “Freedom of Speech” double act I do with Sully Sullivan. It’s difficult to lift jokes directly from it due to it’s format, but It’s the best show we’ve ever written. We get to talk about Issues of Freedom of Speech along with Fake News, Trump, Putin, Boris, Britain First and Sponge Bob Square Pants. We’re at Yesbar, on Sunday 12 March 4.45pm.

THE MUMBLE – What does 2017 have in store for Rick Molland

RICK –This year is looking pretty busy. There’s always a lot of Monkey Barrel stuff on the go and the Freedom of Speech Show in development for the Fringe 2017. This year, as well as show commitments, I’ve taken over the running of the Scottish Comedy Festival at the Beehive which is going to make for an interesting August! Sitting iu the background of all this is a longer term documentary feature film project that I’m directing. So creatively, things are looking pretty rich! Monetarily not so much!!