The comedy week ahead

The comedy week ahead…

Sunday September 20

LIVE IN LONDON: Rich Hall and Russell Kane are both recording their new DVDs in London’s Vaudeville Theatre tonight: Kane’s Live At The Vaudeville Theatre at 7pm. (Tickets) and  Hall’s 3:10 To Humour at 9.15pm (Tickets).

LIVE IN LONDON: The Greenwich Comedy Festival concludes with a sterling line-up of David O’Doherty, Ed Gamble, James Acaster, Tim Key in the main tent; while its smaller sister hosts Mark Thomas’s new tour Trespass, as well as the final of the Magners New Act competition.

LIVE IN LONDON: The Elgar Rooms in the Royal Albert Hall hosts a week of double-handers fresh  from the Fringe, starting with Carl Donnelly and Phil Wang and featuring the likes of Nish Kumar, Felicity Ward and John Robins over the coming days. Line-ups.

RADIO: After wowing Edinburgh, radio was where it all started for the League Of Gentlemen –and now Radio 4 Extra is rerunning that original 1997 series, On The Town, starting at 10.30pm tonight.

Monday September 21

LIVE IN LONDON: Great comedy for a great cause at the Comedy Store as impressionist Alistair McGowan, satirist Andy Zaltzman, punsmith Stewart Francis and more raise money for International Alert which works to end violent conflict around the world, so probably needs all the help it can get.

Tuesday September 22

LIVE IN LONDON:  Sam Simmons brings his deservedly Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning show Spaghetti For Breakfast to the Soho Theatre until October 10. The show combines absurdity, one-liners and a sense of purpose to hilarious effect. Review

LIVE IN CHELTENHAM: High-energy quintet The Noise Next Door, the boy band of improvised comedy, start a rather sporadic tour, Noise In The Hood. It lasts until April but with only a few gigs a month as you can tell from the schedule here. Tonight’s opener is at the Parabola Arts Centre in Cheltenham.

Wednesday September 23

LIVE IN ALDERSHOT: The West End Centre celebrates its 40th anniversary with a comedy gala featuring the incomparable Daniel Kitson, and the ever-curious Robin Ince.

LIVE IN LONDON: Edinburgh best newcomer-nominated Adam Hess brings his breathless, gag-packed hour Salmon to the Soho Theatre for a four-night run Review

RADIO: Julian Clary dives into the world of comedy musical acts in a rerun of the 2009 Radio 4 documentary A Funny Sort Of Sound. While attempting to master the art of yodelling and the musical saw, Clary considers the appeal of acts like TV’s Mr Muscle, Tony Holland, who won Opportunity Knocks six times in a row by flexing his biceps to the tune of Wheels Cha Cha; and  Bob Blackman, whose act consisted of bashing a tea tray on his head while singing Mule Train. Though these do seem a little visual for radio... Radio 4 Extra, 6.30am, and then on iPlayer

Thursday September 24

LIVE IN LIVERPOOL: Chortle award-winning sketch show Gein’s Family Giftshop bring their brand of smutty, bloody comedy to 81 Renshaw Street as part of the city’s ongoing comedy festival.

LIVE IN SHREWSBURY: Ultra-charming Joe Lycett, known to his pals as The Duchess, spreads the joy in his new tour – That’s The Way, A-Ha A-Ha, Joe Lycett – starting at Henry Tudor House in Shrewsbury tonight and ending up at Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre in December. Dates and review

LIVE IN BRISTOL: Eric Lampaert and some of his funny chums recreate a big-screen classic at the Comedians’ Cinema Club at the Cube Cinema, with zero budget at an at-best patchy recall of the script… though thankfully a ‘director’ is at hand to guide them.

Friday September 25

LIVE IN LONDON: Frankie Boyle unveils his new show Hurt Like You’ve Never Been Loved as part of the Comedy Hullaballoo festival at the Rugby World Cup Fanzone in Richmond Old Deer Park. Then he takes the show home to Glasgow to the Citizens Theatre tomorrow.

LIVE IN GLASGOW: Speaking of Glasgow’s hometown heroes, Kevin Bridges has the first of five nights at the SECC Hydro tonight, with his great new tour A Whole Different Story, which we’ve reviewed here.

LIVE IN MANCHESTER: Expert wordplay from Gary Delaney, the madness of Seymour Mace and filth-merchants Gein’s make for a diverse and funny bill at the Dancehouse.

Saturday September 26

LIVE IN STOKE: The Glee boasts a fine club line-up with Delaney’s puns, plus posh misfit Ivo Graham, hard-hitting  Canadian Paul Myrehaug and top crowd-wranger Jim Smallman.

LIVE IN LONDON: As the late Malcolm Hardee used to say ‘could be brilliant, could be shit’ as some of the Weirdos collective – including Gareth Morinan, Joz Norris, Adam Larter and Jon Brittain – take on Only Fools And Horses in a twisted tribute at the Museum Of Comedy.

Published: 20 Sep 2015