The Ciaran Dorris Sunday Session guest ‘castaway’ on Sunday 6 April will be the stand-up comedian, poet and songwriter Ronnie McCorrisken.
Born and educated in Paisley, Ronnie continues a family tradition in writing both lyrical and humorous poetry. He is pictured with his son Struan.
His late uncle, Walter McCorrisken was well-known for having been crowned “Scotland’s Worst Poet”! In fact, such was his infamy at the peak of his declaim, that some people have gone as far as to say that Walter was the WORLD’s worst poet!
That proud family tradition is continued by Ronnie’s performance of his own and Walter’s poetry in local and international venues wherever possible.
Recently, Ronnie has performed stand-up comedy at the Glasgow Stand Comedy Club; The Halt Bar Pop-up Comedy Club in Woodlands Road, Glasgow; Tchai-Ovna’s Magic Carpet Cabaret; The Lochwinnoch Arts Festival in Renfrewshire plus The Roxy and The Ivory in Glasgow (During Scottish Comedian of the Year heats ). He most recently hosted a series of Variety Shows “Live at the Shed” in Glasgow’s south side.
His move from poetry into song-writing came about in 2005 when the now well-known local flautist and harpist, Pauline Vallance, took a poem which he had written for his son, set it to music and turned it into the song “Struan’s Magical Forest” on her debut album “Songs, Spells and Salsa Moves”. Thus began a musical collaboration which continues to this day.
Travel is one of Ronnie’s passions, and not just for pleasure. He has worked in Los Angeles, Florence, Paris, Prague, and Dinan in Brittany. He has a gift for languages, speaks French and Italian fluently and is currently refreshing his German at the Goethe institute in Glasgow. He admits that his Gaelic, Czech, Spanish, Japanese and Greek aren’t what they used to be! His experiences and observations in France led to the creation of the bilingual stage & comedy character “François McPherson – Half-man, Half-Baguette”.
Ciaran Dorris Sunday Session, 6 April, 6.00-8.00pm and Catch Up anytime.