You meet some funny people at the Perth Fringe festival - Vladimir McTavish

It’s my second week at the Perth Fringe in Western Australia

I have visited many cities with Scottish connections but seldom met as many genuine Scots.

In 2015, I did shows in Dunedin in New Zealand’s South Island. It was founded by Scots Wee Free settlers in the mid-19th century, naming it from the Gaelic name for Edinburgh.

The city has a spire that looks like a miniature version of the Scott Monument. There is a statue of Robert Burns in The Octagon which is the heart of the city centre, linking George Street to Princes Street. Not far from Moray Place, Great King Street and York Place.

Aside from having all the same street names as Edinburgh and the locals all being aware of their city’s heritage, in modern-day Dunedin one seldom hears a Scottish accent on the street. Not so here in Perth. Many people from the West of Scotland have made their homes here in Western Australia. It really feels like the Glasgow of the Southern Hemisphere

The first time I came here for the Fringe was ten years ago to do a show with some other Scottish comedians. Our venue was the cabaret room in a large Irish pub which was home to the Perth Celtic Supporters Club. We had to move the time of our Sunday show, as it clashed with an Old Firm game which was going to be shown live.

It was a boiling day and the pub was full of Celtic fans getting tanked up all afternoon. It was a midday kick-off back home, so started at 8pm Perth time, when the temperature was still 40 degrees celsius.

I went outside at half-time to find a storm was blowing in off the Indian Ocean and the wind was scattering pub furniture down the street. By full-time, the wind had turned to torrential rain and the temperature had dropped considerably, to the low twenties.

Which felt really cold as I walked home in the pouring rain surrounded by drunk Glaswegians in Celtic tops. Just like any weekend in Glasgow.