Comedian David McKinlay can deliver a punchline – just don’t ask him to knock out the audience. The 44-year-old has swapped cage fighting for stand-up and the tattoo artist reckons his time battling in the ring helped prepare him for getting on stage.
Ex-brawler David, who has had a string of gigs during the Edinburgh Fringe, said: “I’ve not had any hecklers yet but I’ll need to remember I’m not at a fight show. I’ll still take no prisoners but I’ll use a microphone instead of boxing gloves.” The dad of two trained at Glasgow’s Griphouse and still drops in to see his old pals at the fighting gym.
However, he has no plans to juggle mixed martial arts, comedy and running his business, Archangel 1608 tattoo studio in the city’s Maryhill. He added: “There’s some comparisons between stand-up comedy and combat sports. You have to throw yourself in fully.
“There’s a mix of excitement and nerves backstage just before you walk out, then a rush of adrenaline because it’s show time. If you don’t get things right you can end up having a really bad night. Things going wrong in the ring can be physically and emotionally painful.
“A bad night on stage might leave me a bit upset but at least I won’t have cracked ribs.” David – known as Tattoo Dave – only had his first gig in May when he appeared at The Stand. But he managed to fight his way into the Edinburgh Festival and his next big gig is at the Tennent’s Laughter Lounge on Glasgow’s Byres Road.
He said: “I was fortunate to have comedian and promoter Paddy Linton see me perform and offer me a spot on one of the top shows in the city.” David, of Bearsden, near Glasgow, also makes his big-screen debut this month alongside Alan Cumming and Lulu in My Old School, made by David’s former classmate Jono McLeod.
The documentary film recounts the astonishing tale of how 30-year-old Brian McKinnon posed as 17-year-old Brandon Lee and enrolled at his former school, Bearsden Academy, in 1993. He wanted to resit his Highers and follow his dream of being a doctor. McKinnon fooled teachers and pupils into thinking he was a teenager who had moved to the area from Canada.
David said: “We all knew he looked older. The rumour was that he had been in a car accident in Canada and that was the reason he looked different.
“The real story didn’t emerge until after he spent the year in our class and passed his exams. I remember first hearing about the story on the radio news, and thinking ‘What idiots fell for that?’ Brian wasn’t named but I immediately knew it was him.
“Jono’s movie is great and it’s been amazing to reconnect with old school friends.”
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