Sign of the Times: Ray Bradshaw Is Making A Big Noise
By Fred Spanner
If you think your childhood was weird, wait ‘til you meet Ray Bradshaw, the Scottish comic who grew up in a house where sign language was the family soundtrack and Christmas Day ended in a charades massacre so one-sided it should’ve been televised. Now the award-winning stand-up, proud CODA, and football-nerd dad is gearing up for a massive 2026 UK tour, armed with a brand-new show, a stack of wild family stories, and the kind of confidence that comes from phoning your parents’ bank when you were seven.
Bradshaw’s already sold out theatres worldwide, supported arena-filling legends, and accidentally invented the English-speaking sign-language stand-up show while hungover, but CODA might just be his most personal, funniest and downright heart-warming chaos yet. From Inverness to Maidstone, he’s hitting 29+ dates, fully BSL-interpreted, fully unapologetic, and fully ready to remind the country that having deaf parents doesn’t make life harder… just a hell of a lot funnier.
This is Bradshaw: louder than ever, even when nobody’s listening.
How long have you been doing comedy?
Someone asked me this the other day. I’ve been doing comedy since 2008. I’m 37, and in a couple of years, I’ll have been doing it half my life. That’s made me feel so old.
I started at an open-mic night in Liverpool when I was 19, and I got the bug straight away. It’s funny, ‘cause I had a rant on Radio Scotland recently, when people were naming all of the great up-and-coming Scottish comics. I thought, “I’m younger than them. I’ve been about longer too, I just look 45!”
I was in the Scottish Comedian of the Year final when I was 21, and that feels like a lifetime ago.
When did you decide to introduce signing into your act?
I did a show at the Edinburgh Festival in 2015 based on dares. You could challenge me to do anything. I went to Bollywood, I went on a date with Scotland’s oldest woman, and all of this nonsense stuff. It was really good fun.
I did some interpreted shows, and I think there were about eight at the Fringe that year. That didn’t seem fair, so I decided I’d do a sign language show. I wasn’t sure that I was going to sign it, but I did an interview with BBC Scotland, and I told them I was going to sign it, and it went massive.
People were sharing the story. It went all around the world, and I thought, “I’m going to have to do this now.” I genuinely thought it was going to be a disaster. I’m not even saying that for comedy effect. In fact, I was hungover from a wedding when I did my first-ever sign show.
I was the first person in the world to ever do a comedy sign language show in English, and when I got my first laugh, I thought, “This is class!”
We got deaf audience members, hearing audience members, and people who went on to learn sign language. I wanted to be good at stand-up before I started signing, ‘cause I didn’t want the idea of my mum and dad being deaf to be a gimmick. Now it’s become a cash cow, and my mum and dad are fed up with me talking about them.
You take the piss out of your parent in your act, but at the same time, it shines through that you’re incredibly proud of them.
Oh, absolutely. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. I had a great upbringing, and also, I’m very confident in life. I will talk to anyone. That comes from doing things to help my parents. When I was seven years old, I’d phone the bank for them. I’m so used to it, I don’t get nervous.
I remember walking out to 12,000 people at the O2 when I was supporting John Bishop. As they were announcing me, I was just chatting away about going for a pint later, and I just walked on. I had no nerves at all.
My mum and dad are two very different people. My mum’s a very inspirational woman. She’s done a lot of great stuff in her life. My dad is the life and soul of every party. If he were of hearing, I think he might have done comedy or acting. He’s a mad show-off.
He used to do a thing to wind me up where he’d stand at the bottom of the stairs and shout for me to come down, then when I came down, he’d be like, “It doesn’t matter.” He’d do it just to piss me off. He’s the kind of guy who watches X Factor just so he can hate the same people that others hate.
You know how you get footballers coming off the pitch and covering their mouths, ‘cause they don’t want people to work out what they’re saying? Me, my sister and brother would do that in front of our parents if we were making plans and we didn’t want them to know what we were up to.
I got to interpret my own ‘Parents Night’ at school, which is every kid's dream. I mean, you get into mad situations. My son is six years old and watching him learning sign language, and having sleepovers with my mum and dad, is something I’d never really thought about. It’s fascinating to see it from a different point of view.
My son’s into slagging off my mum and dad, too. My mum’s got into board games recently. We played Scattergories. It was me and my son against my mum and dad, who are both deaf. They were winning, but my son picked up the next card and it said ‘Music Round,’ at which point he turned to me and said, “I think we’ve got this.”
My wife’s family suggested we play Charades one Christmas. I thought, “What are you doing? We are so match fit!” We’ve been playing at sign language for the past 35 years.
What’s the best thing that’s happened to you since you became a dad?
Oh, great question. There are so many, but my son loves football now. I’ve not pushed it on him, but he’s been learning about old football, and all that. The other day, he came up to me and asked, “Who was better, Ronaldinho or Batistuta?” I thought, “The fact that you’re six and you know these players, I have nailed life.”
I also do a lot of work for the Scotland team, and Alex, my son, went to Scotland v Greece. I was filming with some of the players, and he kept asking to get onto the pitch. I kept telling him he wouldn’t be allowed on the pitch, but someone I know got him on there. He even got a picture with the players.
We went to a Partick Thistle game a few months later, and again he kept asking to go on the pitch. I kept telling him it wasn’t going to happen. Then I got asked to do the half-time draw, but I told them it was my son’s first game at the stadium and I wanted to stay with him. So they asked him if he wanted to do it, which, of course, he did. He was on the mic, announcing the numbers. As we walked off, he turned to me and said, “I told you I’d get on the pitch.”
How excited are you about Scotland making the World Cup this time around?
Unbelievably excited. I was in Athens for the away game a few days before. The atmosphere was incredible. Everyone was there with some expectation, but not a lot. It looked like we weren’t going to qualify, but then that 4-2 win…
It’s a very good time to be a Scotland fan. I’ve been to so many awful Scotland games. So right now, it’s great. Plus, I’m quite affiliated with the Scotland team, as I do a lot of work with them, so that’s good too. I do Sky Sports News, BBC and others, so there’s lots to talk about at the moment.
The dry years will return, and I’m not looking forward to that, but what a job Steve Clarke’s done. I absolutely love him.
What was your worst gig like?
There were so many, but there was one at RAF Leeming. I’ve no idea why I was there, but it was awful. I was a student, and I died. Whenever I drive the A1 and see the sign for it I still get a cold shiver.
I think the worst was in Leigh. It was a last-minute thing. On the bill was a Robbie Williams impersonator, then it was me doing 20 minutes, followed by a Freddie Mercury impersonator. I swear, Freddie Mercury was the Robbie Williams guy. He just put a ‘tache on.
It was in a field. They said there were going to be 300 people there- there were nine people. As I was about to tell a joke, a horse neighed and ruined the punchline. There are always some where you think, “If I ever get famous, this is getting a chapter in the autobiography.”
Zoom gigs during lockdown were brutal. I did a gig for the British Foreign Office, and just before it started, they said they couldn’t have any cameras or microphones on for security reasons. So it was just a blank screen. I did stand up for 30 minutes to a blank screen! It was like Babestation, I thought about rubbing my nipple every five minutes to try and keep them interested.
You have a massive UK tour in 2026:CODA. What can we expect?
I’m glad to be heading back after having a break from it. It can be relentless: writing/touring, writing/touring, etc.
There are stories about signing, learning the language, the Scotland national team, and my parents. I’ve also got a special on iPlayer, Bald Ginger, and a few more specials to follow that will go onto social channels. So I’m at the point where I can show all of my old material to the world and tour my new stuff.
I can’t wait. The gig I’m doing in Glasgow is a 3,000-seater. When you see tickets selling quickly in Chelmsford or Salford, or wherever, it feels so surreal. I’ve ploughed away at it for so long. I was on the cusp or it a few years back. I was on tour with Frankie Boyle, I was on my second UK tour, I won a few awards… and then COVID hit. So I’ve had to regain my momentum again.
I was so lucky to get back to it and go on tour with John Bishop. I was meant to do one gig, but I ended up doing about 74. We did every arena in the UK.
I just love being on stage.
Tickets for Ray’s UK tour are available via raybradshaw.com.
All shows will be BSL-interpreted.
Ray Bradshaw, Bald Ginger, is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
