Karen Dunbar Cancels Tour Dates Amid Payment Dispute With Promoter

A Tour in Turmoil

Karen Dunbar, the Scottish comedian and actress best known for her work on the BBC Scotland sketch show Chewin' the Fat, has cancelled most of her remaining tour dates after claiming she has not been paid by her promoter. In a video posted on social media, Dunbar said she was "gutted" and apologised to fans.

According to the BBC, Dunbar claimed she had only been paid for five of her previous 39 tour dates—a claim disputed by promoter Breakneck Comedy. The promoter said it asked Dunbar during the tour to renegotiate her previously agreed fees to help the company "minimise its losses" after ticket sales for the tour were slower than expected.

About 20 shows remained on the tour, nearly all of which have now been axed apart from three performances in Greenock, Peebles and Shotts. Those shows are being promoted by a different company, Punchline Promotions.

Dunbar's Statement

In the video, a visibly upset Dunbar said: "I've got 20 shows left. They'll not be going ahead and the reason is because the promoter hasn't been paying me. I've been doing the tour the last two months, I've done 39 shows, and I've been paid for five shows. I can't go on. I've never been in a situation like this in my life, the stress has been unbelievable."

Dunbar added that she expected the situation with the promoter would end up in court, and advised people with tickets to seek refunds.

Promoter's Response

Breakneck Comedy did not respond to a request for comment by BBC Scotland, but posted on social media on Tuesday night. In a statement the promoter said it only learned of Dunbar's decision to scrap the rest of the tour when she posted on social media.

It added: "We strongly dispute the claims made about non payment, including the statement that the comedian has only been paid for five shows. This year rising ticket costs and increased venue hire charges, combined with lower ticket sales across the tour, meant we needed to approach the comedian to discuss renegotiating the tour agreement fee and terms. As a small business we simply cannot afford to take on all the work and costs of organising a 60 show tour only to sustain a significant loss overall."

The promoter claimed it had been looking to "reach a fair, workable agreement" with Dunbar to help minimise its losses but she declined to renegotiate. It said it would move to agreed revenue splits from the box office rather than paying guaranteed fees for future tours.

Career Context

Dunbar first rose to fame on the BBC Scotland sketch comedy series Chewin' the Fat (1999–2005) and was subsequently given her own show, The Karen Dunbar Show (2003–2006), which received four nominations for the Golden Rose European TV Awards. She has also presented BBC Radio Scotland series such as Karen Dunbar's Beautiful Sunday and Karen's Summer Supplement, and was a team captain on the quiz show Step Back in Time.

Beyond television, Dunbar has built a diverse career in theatre and stand-up. She made her pantomime debut in 2007 at the King's Theatre in Glasgow, playing Nanny Begood in Sleeping Beauty, and has since appeared in numerous pantomime roles across Scotland. Between 2012 and 2016, she was featured in Phyllida Lloyd's trilogy of all-female Shakespeare plays at the Donmar Warehouse, playing Casca in Julius Caesar, Bardolph/Vernon in Henry IV and Trinculo in The Tempest.

In 2025, Dunbar toured Scotland, and her homecoming show at Ayr Town Hall was broadcast on BBC Scotland in December 2025. She had been set to embark on a stand-up tour of Scotland entitled Aw Roon the Hooses beginning in September 2026, but the cancellation now casts doubt over those plans.

Last year she won a Bafta for her debut role in the video game Still Wakes the Deep—a first-person horror set on a Scottish oil rig—winning best performer in a supporting role.

What This Means for the Scottish Comedy Scene

The dispute highlights the financial pressures facing touring comedians and small promoters in Scotland. With rising ticket costs and venue hire charges, and slower ticket sales, both artists and promoters are feeling the squeeze. Dunbar's decision to speak out publicly is unusual in an industry where such disputes are often settled privately, and it remains to be seen how the situation will be resolved.

For now, fans with tickets to the cancelled shows are advised to seek refunds, while the three remaining performances in Greenock, Peebles and Shotts—promoted by Punchline Promotions—are still scheduled to go ahead.