The Wipers Times and the rest of the comedy week ahead

Sunday September 8

LIVE IN SOUTHAMPTON: Fresh from hosting Channel 4'sThe Last Leg, Adam Hills kicks off his new UK tour of Happyism, probably the best show Chortle saw at this year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival. As usual it’s upbeat and feelgood, with plenty of jaunty crowd interaction, and with something of an underlying point, too Click here for a full review and all 35 British dates.

Monday September 9

DVD: The first series of Jack Whitehall’s BBC Three school sitcom Bad Education is out today. Andy Zaltzman starts a two-week run of his new interactive satirical show in which he attempts to solve issues suggested by the audience in advance. Mark Thomas and Marcus Brigstocke have previously tried similar things, by Zaltzman’s sarcastic and intelligent approach is always his own.

Tuesday September 10

LIVE IN LONDON: Australian comedian David Quirk brings his confessional but funny storytelling show – about the time he cheated on his girlfriend – to the Soho Theatre for five nights. At Melbourne in April, it won the Piece Of Wood comics’ comic award – an actual piece of Timber handed down from year to year.

LIVE IN CARDIFF: Another two heats of the BBC RadioNew Comedy Award take place at the Glee club tonight and tomorrow. The competition’s certainly got prestige, with previous winners including Alan Carr, Rhod Gilbert and Julian Barratt.

Wednesday September 11

TV: Written by Private Eye editor Ian Hislop and regular collaborator Nick Newman, Wipers Times is a one-off 90-minute drama based on the true story of a satirical magazine started in the trenches of theSecond World War. In the bombed-out ruins of Ypres [which the soldiers pronounced Wipers] in 1916, Captain Fred Roberts and Lieutenant Jack Pearson discover a printing press and see it as a perfect opportunity to take the men’s minds off ‘the attentions of Messrs Hun and Co’. BBC Two, 9pm. .

LIVE IN LONDON: Stewart Lee has organised Resofit, a fund-raising gala comedy night for arty radio station Resonance104.4FM at the Bloomsbury Theatre and featuring the likes of Rob Newman, Lewis Schaffer and a certain  Baconface.

Friday September 13

LIVE IN NOTTINGHAM: The Just The Tonic comedy club has set up a charity using comedy to help people with addictions, mental health problems, or leaving care – and Harry Hill is headlining this star-studded benefit to raise funds. The bill also includes alternative comedy heroes Tony Law and Paul Foot, old-school legend Mick Miller, plus Piff The Magic Dragon, Howard Read and more. Tickets

LIVE IN LONDON: Adam Buxton ‘looks within the soul of his laptop and considers how we present ourselves in the net age’ - ie shows us his videos and reads out his web comments, with his new show Kernel Panic, at Islington’s Union Chapel over the weekend. It sounds a bit like Bug, but that can be no bad thing.

LIVE IN WIMBOURNE: Impressionist Alistair McGowan returns to his stand-up roots with his solo show, Not Just A Pretty Voice, which begins a new run of 25 dates tonight. This is his second live tour since he took a ten-year break when TV came a-calling, after 2009’s The One And Many. Click here for dates.

LIVE IN YORK: Mock The Week stalwart Andy Parsons kicks off the second leg of his I’ve Got A Shed tour in the Theatre Royal. Click here for dates.

Saturday September 14

RADIO: Radio 4 Extra are trying something a little more ambitious with their usual archive programmes today, with a celebration of Les Dawson. Wrapping tributes and biography around rare recordings should give them more context, and the whole shebang is hosted by Dawson fan Ray Peacock.

An earlier version of this page incorrectly mentioned Dave Gorman's new Dave series, which actually starts next week.

Published: 8 Sep 2013