Former BBC Staff Writer and co-creator of the Tonbridge Comedy Festival, Jade Gebbie is making her Glasgow debut with ‘People Pleaser’, hoping to unite those with pushover tendencies but to bring something for everyone, with her high-energy insights into millennial anxiety.

You’ve named the show ‘People Pleaser’. Where did that come from and can you think of the worst case of this?

I was initially going to do a show about how I am quite scared of the concept of death. Quite deep, I know. Then I started to worry people would come to the show and… it would bring up bad feelings for them. I think, ‘Maybe I’ll change the theme of the show… And isn’t it funny that you’re not going to do the show that you initially set out to do, because you want to make sure everyone’s happy and you’re being a people pleaser. I’ll call it what it is, it does what it says on the tin.’ People who are people pleasers will see it and think, ‘Ah, that’s the show for me.’

What have you learned from your previous WIPs?

I’ve done it for about a year and I thought let’s go further afield and do more festivals. It’s changed a lot, I had never done that long on stage. [Last year] it ended up being about 45 minutes, so I felt like even though I didn’t do the hour, I’d given the audience what they’d paid for. Being a people pleaser, that was a big worry that I was going to do 35 minutes and then everyone afterwards would come up to be and say, ‘You owe us 25 minutes of comedy.’ The big thing is just being more comfortable talking on stage. But also learning I wanted to bring in other elements, not just someone talking on a mic for an hour.

(I am not allowed to reveal what those elements are. As Jade said: I can maybe tease them.)

Is this your first time performing in Glasgow? What are you looking forward to?

It is, actually! I’ve been up to Glasgow a few times but I’ve never done any performing… so that’s super exciting! I really love Glasgow, so I’m excited! I, sort of, assume they’ll be up for getting involved. I’m from the South East of England and where I’m from has a reputation of people being quite reserved… like ‘Oh, God, they all just stared at us and looked bemused.’ So I’m really excited for an audience that is up for it and wants to answer my questions… we can chat!

What do you want audiences to take away from your show?

What I’ve been liking about doing shows… is that people who relate to being a people pleaser have been coming along and I want them to take away that, ‘Oh, I’m not the only one who acts like this, feels like this, gets frustrated by not standing up for myself.’ Hopefully non-people pleasers take away that [the term] isn’t a brag. But ultimately, I hope people just laugh. That’s the main thing!

You’ve mentioned the millennial nature of your shows, what generational touchstones are you bringing?

I think people who are other generations will relate to it very well, but I think they’ll think, ‘Oh, she’s such a millennial.’ I think a Gen Z audience would clock straight away. I know people of any generation get anxious but I think there a specific millennial kind of overthinking-ness… we’re in this kind of arrested development. I think a lot of millennials relate to that. I do speak about current pop culture things but also just references to things like Furbies. [But] I also have the taste of an older person, so things like my love of cosy crime comes up, my love of the darts!

Who is one ‘Very Important Person’ you’d like to please?

I was going to say Bad Bunny, but that’s a different kind of please.

(That’s the pleasing that I meant, wink, wink.)

Oh, right! Well, people pleasers will know that the main people you want to please are just completely random people… that will never see you again and probably haven’t even clocked your existence. So just all of those people are who I want to please. And Bad Bunny.

Sum up your show in 5 words?

Millennial, high-energy, friendly, funny, warm

‘The People Pleaser‘ is at Gael & Grain on Thu 26 Mar 2026 at 19:00 as part of Glasgow International Comedy Festival