The comedy week ahead

The comedy week ahead...

Today

LIVE IN GLASGOW: Canadian stand-up Tom Stade muses entertainingly on the nature of irresponsibility with his usual rock-star swagger at The Stand. Review

Monday October 27

LIVE IN LONDON: The Invisible Dot carve out their pumpkins for the first of five nights of their Scary Halloween Show, promising 'harrowing games, spooky prizes and exclusive spine-chilling performances'. The bill varies every night, kicking off with Sam Simmons, The Twins Macabre, Al Lubel,Beard and Mike Wozniak.

Tuesday October 28

LIVE IN LONDON: Upbeat Aussie Celia Pacquola tackles a comedy taboo in admitting to frequent trips to fortune-tellers in her amusingly self-deprecating show Let Me Know How It All Works Out, at the Soho Theatre until Saturday.

Wednesday October 29

RADIO: The third series of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, the revue series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, David Hatch, Jo Kendall and Bill Oddie gets a rerun on Radio 4 Extra. Originally broadcast on the BBC Light Programme from March to June 1966, this run includes a number of fully restored episodes sourced from avid radio listeners. Previously the station has had to rely on tapes from the BBC Transcription Service, which had some jokes edited out which wouldn't have been understood by audiences abroad. Radio 4 Extra, 12.30pm

LIVE IN LONDON: There's a fine - and free - line-up of some of the best up-and-coming comedy talent at the Star Of Kings in Kings Cross tonight, including Ben Target, David Elms, David Trent, Pierre Novellie and more.

Thursday October 30

RADIO: Today's Radio 4 Afternoon Drama, Hancock's Ashes, is based on the real events of 1968 when Willie Rushton brought Tony Hancock's ashes back to Britain from Australia. This drama imagines what might have happened behind the scenes. Radio 4, 2.15pm

LIVE IN ALDERSHOT: John Shuttleworth starts his new national tour, A Wee Ken To Remember, which promises classic tunes such as Two Margarines and I Can't Go Back To Savoury Now as well as new ditties like Bitter Sweet Memories and Relatives In Rotherham. Dates.

LIVE IN PONTYCLUN: A double dose of Tom Binns in Rhondda tonight, as the comic performs both as hospital radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury, with the most inappropriate requests, and the uncanny psychic Ian D Montfort. At the Brunel Arms from 7.45pm.

Friday October 31

RADIO: More Hancock. This time a long-lost Hancock's Half Hour classic, last broadcast in 1955. The Matador is one of 20 episodes of the series that went missing from the BBC archive - and were recently re-recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre. Kevin McNally stars as The Lad Himself in a cast that also includes Kevin Eldon and Simon Greenall. Radio 4. 11.30am Immediately afterwards, Radio 4 Extra broadcasts a 'director's commentary' on the re-recording, hosted by Andy Hamilton.

RADIO: Stand-up Andrew Maxwell tries to reclaim Halloween from the Americans, with an investigation that involves historians, folklorists, and ghost-spotting. Andrew Maxwell's three-hour Hallowe'en Hoolie also features creepy programmes from the BBC's radio vaults, including The League of Gentlemen on a ghost hunt. Radio 4 Extra, 7pm

LIVE IN BRIGHTON: Nish Kumar ruminates on the nature of subjectivity in a Brighton outing of his acclaimed, bitingly sarcastic Edinburgh Fringe show at Otherplace at Bar Broadway. Read our review here

Saturday November 1

LIVE IN SALFORD:The Kings Armshosts the third Greater Manchester Comedy Festival with more than 30 shows over the next ten days. They are all fringey performances, reflected in prices between free and £8.

LIVE IN LIVERPOOL: Top-class stand-ups Alun Cochrane and Tom Wrigglesworth, both of whom have dry, quirky and askance views on the world, share the bill at the Laughterhouse tonight.

Published: 26 Oct 2014