WHEN the world first came across Gary Meikle, we met his eyebrows before his face.

That was because it was his 'Eyebrow Video' that punted him to stratospheric comedy fame, gathering a global audience all from a wee video of a Glasgow dad taking the mickey out of his teenage daughters eyebrows.

Now, Gary Meikle is a touring comedy star - one who is stuck indoors, like the rest of us, to help protect the NHS from Coronavirus.

"I'm loving it" Gary tells The Glasgow Times."We're eleven days in now and it's become normality.

"I'm missing being on stage, of course, but I'm loving being with the girls."

Read more: Glasgow comedian Larry Dean on how to self-isolate in style

Gary has kept up his public entertainment by making videos from his home featuring his now infamous daughter, Ainsley, and his three year old Granddaughter, Gracie.

His 'work-out' video, which involved using wee Gracie as weights has almost 300,000 views on Facebook. "I am so glad that Gracie is not at the age where she is at school yet" says Gary.

"A 6 year old has more intellect than I have - I haven't got the patience to be a teacher at home. Everything would be a free period.

"Gracie is loving staying indoors - at first I thought it would be difficult, with her missing the kids, but I've realised as long as she gets attention she's happy."

So far, Gracie ruling the roost has involved Gary playing kitchens, dolly's and even donning an apron, rather than embarking on his multi-date tour.

Instead, Gary has been using this time to post clips of his stand-up routines to keep his fans spirits up.

Glasgow Times:

"My Facebook reach has exploded, so I'm trying to keep posting regularly for people to enjoy.

"My tour was meant to be starting at the end of this month, and we had twelve shows between May and June. But there are a lot more people worse off than me, so I'm keeping that in mind.

"We still need humour, regardless of how bad the situation is. It's nice speaking to people in comments and keeping people amused".

As a self-admitted king of social media, Gary has been engaging more than ever with his fans.

"It's down to the public with social media, which I love. I have a lot to thank it for because the eyebrow video started with social media. I'm not even that funny a guy, it's the girls that are funny around me" laughs Gary.

Amidst making funny videos with his grand-daughter, Gary has been finding his own way of keeping amused during the lockdown - watching Netflix and kicking about a football, which according to Gary isn't much different to what he normally does without a lockdown.

Read more: Coronavirus: Diary of a lockdown by 9 year old daughter of NHS worker

Some of his viewing has even made it to his own social media, including a hilarious video rant about Netflix documentary The Tiger King, following the crazy life of American big-cat keeper, Joe Exotic.

"I've been making wee rants and discussions on videos and I made one the other day about the Tiger King... I couldn't believe the staff member who got their arm bit off by a Tiger.. and then went back to work five days later. It's insane. I'm going to watch it again, I'm loving it."

Gary says one of the most important things he has been doing during the lockdown is using the allowed time to go out and exercise on Glasgow Green.

"I'm getting up at 6 O'clock and going to Glasgow Green to kick a ball about.

"I can't just run on the street because I get too bored but keep a ball at my feet and I'm happy.

"It's good to see the empty streets because it means people are taking the lockdown seriously."

But as for community spirit, Gary's area has had some mixed reviews: "I came back from Australis to find that my green wheelie bin had been stolen!

"Apart from that, the community spirit is amazing. Everyone was out on the street to clap for the NHS the other night, every single person on the street."

After it's all over, we will thank the NHS and the other frontline workers who protected us and kept us safe. But we should also spare a thanks for those funny people that give us all a wee chuckle amidst the gloom.

You can watch some of Gary's videos here. 

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