THEY came, they saw, they creased themselves.

Last night thousands flocked to the SSE Hydro in Glasgow for the first performance of the much-anticipated Still Game stage show.

On a day that saw stand-offs in George Square, those who regretted seeing independence slip away at least had the consolation of the return of Scotland's most popular comedy.

Yes voters, No voters, Celtic fans, Rangers fans, even the odd Partick Thistle fan, all poured in for the return of Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill's hugely popular comedy.

One fan, Yes voter Sean Davenport, tweeted yesterday: "Seeing @greghemphill69 & @FordKiernan1 back with Still Game tonight will definitely ease the indyref blues. Can't wait."

That said, fans have been waiting the best part of a year since the shows were first announced in October 2013. But finally last night Kiernan, Hemphill and a familiar supporting cast returned to Craiglang (artfully reconstructed within the SSE Hydro) to give us another taste of the lives of pensioners Jack and Victor.

It has been seven years and one huge fallout between the creators (now patched up) since Still Game last appeared on our TV screens. And it appears that it has been much missed. Last night was the first of a record-breaking 21 shows at the Hydro that will see more than 200,000 people - 14,000 a night - attend. That, as The Big Issue has recently pointed out, is more tickets than Kate Bush shifted for her return in London, and she's not been seen on a stage for some 35 years.

It's also been estimated the Still Game show will gross more than £10 million. Dr David Archibald, of Glasgow University's School of Culture and the Creative Arts, said "Black Watch is described as the most successful Scottish play in history and yet this will sell way more tickets."

When Jack and Victor made their debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe back in 1997 the audience didn't make it into double figures.

Hemphill and Kiernan went on to develop the characters for the Chewin' the Fat radio show and then appeared in the TV version. The TV series began in 2002 and continued for six series, as well as Christmas and Hogmanay specials, winning six Baftas in the process.

But in 2008 the duo fell out and a new series was stillborn. Speaking about the break-up while promoting this new stage version, Kiernan and Hemphill put it down to overwork and overfamiliarity. "We didn't come back for the money," Kiernan told The Herald Magazine last month. "We wanted to see if people still wanted us."

"Everything's fine between us,"added Hemphill. "We're back in the right place." The duo also revealed they are in talks with the BBC about a new Still Game series.

It's difficult to think of a Scottish show that has had a greater hold on the nation's affections in recent years. The question then is what has been the secret of its success.

"It feeds into Glasgow's tradition of popular working class performance," believes Dr Archibald. "But the bottom line is it's regarded as very funny by a mass section of the population."

For its creators it's down to a very Scottish commonality. "It's a socialist show with a small s," Hemphill said last month. "It's about community, it's about people helping each other, so therefore it is a socialist show but not allied to any party. Socialist in the sense Scotland is a socialist country, I think."