Politics and more in the comedy week ahead...

The comedy week ahead...

Sunday May 3

TV: Jimmy Carr returns for a new series of 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, with Sean Lock, Bill Bailey and Paul Foot going up against Sarah Millican, Rob Delaney and Romesh Ranganathan. With Nina Conti in Dictionary Corner. Channel 4, 9pm

TV: That's followed by An Immigrant's Guide To Britain, in which German comedian Henning Wehn asks the big questions every prospective immigrant needs to know, such as: Can you learn to banter? Channel 4, 10.05pm

LIVE IN BRIGHTON: The Brighton Fringe continues apace. Tonight's pick is the poetically funny John Hegley, doing a two-hour show New & Selected Potatoes at the Komedia from 7.30pm

Monday May 4

LIVE IN BRIGHTON: Tonight's Fringe pick is Jonny & The Baptists' musical pre-election show Rock The Vote at Komedia at 6.45pm.

LIVE IN LONDON: Alex Horne's innovative Monsieur Butterfly, in which he builds an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine while delivering nuanced, affectionate stand-up about family life, begins a two-week run at Soho Theatre tonight. Review

Tuesday May 5

TV: Nick Helm's Heavy Entertainment,in which a sweaty man tries desperately hard (too hard?) to entertain you starts its six-part run on BBC Three. 10.30pm

LIVE IN LONDON: It's the first of three anti-austerity gigs being organised (not entirely officially…) by the Occupy movement in Parliament Square. Tonight's line-up includes Bridget Christie, Gein's Family Gift Shop, and Liam Williams. Bring a picnic - but no booze - if it's not raining. The show starts at 9pm and the next gigs are on Thursday and Saturday.

LIVE IN BRISTOL: Zoe Lyons - a 2015 Chortle Award nominee - kicks off a tour of last year's Edinburgh show, Mustard Cutter, at the Colston Hall. Full schedule.

RADIO: A nice show for comedy historians on Radio 4 tonight, as it reruns a 1962 edition of a BBC Home Service show called Frankly Speaking, about silent comedy legend Harold Lloyd, best known for the image of him hanging from a clock face high above the streets of New York. Lloyd's dedication to his craft was tested in 1919 when he lost his right thumb and index finger when a film stunt went wrong. Despite this, wearing a prosthetic hand, he continued to be one of the great stars of the silent silver screen. Radio 4 Extra, 6.30pm

Wednesday May 6

TV: In the second episode of Russell Howard's Stand Up Central, his guests are Tiff Stevenson and Rob Delaney. Comedy Central, 10pm

TV Following Ballot Monkeys comes a new, low-key pilot from its co-creator Guy Jenkin, Bugsplat!, starring W1A's Hugh Skinner, Lauren O'Neill and Rufus Jones as crack pilots returning from Afghanistan.

Thursday May 7

It's election day, so a host of comedy to reflect that

TV Jeremy Paxman and David Mitchell present Channel 4's Alternative Election night. They're joined by guests including Richard Osman, Adam Hills, Aisling Bea and Kayvan Novak. Airing from 9.00pm until 6.00am, the night includes exclusive election-themed editions of Gogglebox and The Last Leg.

RADIO: BBC Radio 4 Extra is running eight hours of archive election shows from 10pm, poking fun at d politicians of years gone by.

LIVE IN BRIGHTON: At the Brighton Fringe, Treason Show - Edinburgh Fringe 2002 at Chortle.co.uk">The Treason Show are presenting their Election Special! at the Rialto Theatre

LIVE IN LONDON: Thom Tuck does is best David Dimbleby as he hosts an all-nighter at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club with guests including Marcus Brigstocke, Josie Long, Joe Lycett in a show that includes the results as they come in. Octogenarian radio phone-in regular Barry from Watford is hosting an Election Bonanza at the 100 Club, aided by Marcel Lucont, Steve Williams and Darren Walsh. And it's the second Occupy gig in Parliament Square

LIVE IN CAMBRIDGE: And if you want to get far away from politics, Kim Noble's strange, disturbing and powerful theatre-comedy piece about loneliness in a digitally connected age, You Are Not Alone, is at the Junction tonight. Review

Friday May 8

FILM: Not a comedy, but still of interest,, Jon Stewart's directorial debut Rosewater finally makes it to the UK. It's the story of Maziar Bahari's 2009 imprisonment by Iran - who used his appearance on The Daily Show as evidence that he was in communication with an American spy. Stewart also wrote the screenplay, which is often lighter in tone than you might expect given the serious subject matter.

FILM: Meanwhile, Chris Rock's Top Five - which he directed, wrote and stars in - also opens today. It's the best film he's done and probably the most personal, since it’s about about a stand-up comic looking to kickstart his career and rediscover his mojo. Here's a trailer:

THEATRE IN MONMOUTH: A live stage version of Shaun Of The Dead, blessed by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, is currently touring the UK, visiting The Savoy Theatre tonight and tomorrow.

Saturday May 9

LIVE IN LIVERPOOL: It's a cracking and diverse bill as the Laughterhouse comedy club upscales to Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, with Mark Thomas, Chris Ramsey, Mick Miller, Tom Stade and The Boy With Tape On His Face.

LIVE IN LONDON: Two of the circuit's finest at the Covent Garden Comedy Club in Heaven nightclub, in the sharply funny forms of Andrew Maxwell and Hal Cruttenden.

LIVE IN LONDON: You may have seen them on W1A, or heard them on their own Radio 4 programme, but Max And Ivan do what they do best - fast-paced multi-character comedy, in The Reunion at the Uddebelly tonight. Review

LIVE IN LONDON: American-Iranian comedian Maz Jobrani – once part of the is part of the Axis of Evil touring stand-up group – makes a flying visit to the capital, with a gig at Under The Bridge, at Fulham FC's Stamford Bridge ground. Though it's not a cheap night out - tickets are £40.25 to £50.75.

Published: 3 May 2015