“It blows me away sometimes,” Karen Dunbar says of how social media has introduced her work to new audiences.
One of Scotland’s best-known comedy actors, Karen will be bringing her stand-up show The Glesga Special to the Citizens Theatre on March 25 as part of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival (GICF).
The one-off show created for the festival comes off the back of her 80-date tour all around Scotland.
Karen told the Glasgow Times: "The first half of the show will be all new material, and the second half will be old favourites from television like Chewin’ the Fat and The Karen Dunbar Show.
"Hopefully, it will have enough of a mix between the nostalgic element for people that grew up with Chewin’ the Fat, but there’s new people coming to it all the time because of the resurgence on social media.
"And the new material will be current enough for any age in the audience."
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Karen says she has been amazed by the response to old clips from Chewin’ the Fat and The Karen Dunbar Show, which have been shared on Instagram and TikTok by her social media manager and how it has helped the shows reach new audiences.
She explained: "It blows me away sometimes.
"I'm really aware of how much that generates a new audience for me and feeds the audience that was already there.
“In the last two weeks, I had nearly 2million views on Instagram of clips of Almost Angelic, and an ‘I smell s***e’ Christmas one.”
Chewin’ the Fat, which Karen starred alongside Still Game’s Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, first aired in 1999, while The Karen Dunbar Show first aired in 2003.
Due to its popularity on social media, the shows have now become hits with people who weren’t even born when they first aired, something Karen says she could never have predicted.
Recalling a time she was DJ’ing in Ibiza, she said: "I went to get a coffee and there was a wee guy at the bar, and I said ‘coffee please’ and he went ‘are you Karen Dunbar’.
"I was like ‘how do you know that, what age are you’ and he said, ‘I watch you all the time, I’m never off your TikTok’.
"Chewin the Fat is 27 this year, and that aired nine years before he was born."
She continued: "I couldn't have seen the advent of social media and the internet, so there was no way to predict any of that.
“But I knew because when we were making things and gutting ourselves greeting, laughing at things, we were making something great.
“The first series of Chewin' the Fat didn’t really take off that much, it had a bit of a cult following and so I thought I was going to be instantly famous and I didn’t get that.
"When the second series came out, I had it in my head that if you’re on the TV, it doesn’t matter, and then it went nuclear.
“I was getting chased, it was mad, it was so strange.
“It was the weirdest thing to be recognised.
“It took about two years to get used to that.”
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Karen returned to stand-up with a series of Q&A shows, before embarking on a Scottish tour in 2024, and again in 2025/26.
She says she has a mixture of emotions about bringing the show to Glasgow but says she’s looking forward to getting in front of a local audience.
The 54-year-old said: "My intention wasn’t to go back into stand-up, it was just after the lock-down by intention was to get out of the house and do something.
"I’d not been on the circuit for decades, like 20 years.
"I’m a bit bemused, nervous, and that’s good because it means I’m attached to it.
"But it's a bit paradoxical because I’ve got a bit of confidence as well."
She continued: "There’s an honesty, there’s a real kind of rawness but merciless honesty about Glasgow audiences.
"I have died on my arse many times in Glasgow, and that’s alright, because see when it’s not dying then you’re like this really works."
And while Karen would encourage anyone to come to her show, she also wants audiences to enjoy some of the newer acts GICF has to offer.
She added: "If you’re only going to see one show, go and see new people and give them a chance like the chance I got when I was starting out.
"Go and support new comedy. You don’t need to laugh if it's not funny, but at least the newcomer will get a chance to try stuff out."
Karen Dunbar: The Glesga Special will be at the Citizens Theatre on Wednesday, March 25.
Tickets are on sale now.
Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2026 will take place from March 11-29.
You can find out more at www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com.
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