The pick of the comedy week ahead

The pick of the comedy week ahead.

Sunday January 10

LIVE IN LONDON: Stewart Lee presents all six half-hour routines from his forthcoming BBC2 Two series Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle in one enormous show tonight and tomorrow at the Royal Festival Hall. Then he hits the road, with a shortened selection of just some of the segments. starting in Swansea's Grand Theatre on Tuesday. Tour dates

Monday January 11

TV: This could be exciting… Tracey Ullman makes a long-awaited return to British screens with a new character show, with creations including a delinquent Dame Judi Dench, an accident-prone massage therapist and Sally Preston, the feminist MP who made an election pledge to remain topless throughout her term. And there's a guest appearance from (the real) Rupert Grint. BBC One, 10.45pm

TV: Crashing, Channel 4's zeitgeisty new comedy set among property guardians – the people who pay a pittance to live in unoccupied buildings and protect them against squatters and disrepair – starts at 10pm tonight.

TV: The third series of Inside Amy Schumer starts on Comedy Central, including this 'Last Fuckable Day' sketch with Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Patricia Arquette… 11pm

RADIO:The Museum Of Curiosity returns for an eighth series, with Sarah Millican taking over as the regular curator. Joining her and host John Lloyd to discuss items of interest in episode one are Stephen J. Dubner, the author of the bestselling series of Freakonomics books, writer David Bramwell and comedian Holly Walsh. Here is our episode guide. Radio 4, 6.30pm

LIVE IN LONDON: Daniel Kitson hosts a benefit to help fund obstetric medics in sub-Saharan Africa. The line-up for the show at London's Leicester Square Theatre also includes Tim Key Roisin Conaty, Isy Suttie, Romesh Ranganathan, Aisling Bea and Mike Wozniak, who has organised the gig. Tickets.

Tuesday January 12

LIVE IN BELFAST: Before Christmas, you might have seen Kieran Hodgson play Ian Lavender in the BBC drama about the creation of Dad's Army. Now he kicks off a tour of his lovely character comedy piece, Lance, telling his own teenage rites-of-passage story through his passion for cycling and hero-worship of Lance Armstrong. Review and dates

LIVE IN LONDON: Catastrophe's co-creator, a Story Beat mocking old English epic Beowulf, a supercharged nice guy and one of comedy's fastest-growing stars: Laugh Out London welcomes Rob Delaney, John Henry Falle, Tom Parry and Aisling Bea to the Old Queen's Head in Islington tonight.

LIVE IN LONDON: Another Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee heads to the Soho Theatre, as newcomer Larry Dean presents a five-night run of his show, Out Now. Find out why he identifies as a 'bender', and be surprised by the authenticity of this Glaswegian's posh English accent.

Wednesday January 13

FILM: There’s a chance to see new low-budget comedy horror film The Trap, described as Alan Partridge’s Alpha Papa meets the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in London this week. The cast includes a host of familiar cult comedy faces including Richard Glover, Bob Pipe, Felicity Wren, Alex Kirk and James Wren, who co-worte the film with director Fergus March and Alan Freestone. Two plot involves a group of highly-trained professional cat burglars and a bunch of misfit, unemployed youngsters on a team building exercise, arriving in the same house on the same night. The screenings take place at the Hen And Chickens in Islington at 7pm tonight through to Saturday.

Friday January 15:

TV: Rejoice! For a triple bill of cult comedies starts on Gold tonight, with Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Nathan Barley and Jam screened back-to-back from 11.40pm.

TV: Jimmy Carr returns to host a new episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, with Sean Lock and Jason Manford going up against Jon Richardson and Roisin Conaty – and most intriguingly, Sam Simmons joins Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner. Channel 4, 9pm.

Saturday January 16:

LIVE IN LONDON: Sex Appeal 5, the latest instalment of the annual fundraiser in aid of Brook, the young people's sexual health charity, comes to the Conway Hall with a very packed bill of Ava Vidal, Bec Hill, David Baddiel, Grainne Maguire, Nish Kumar, Richard Herring, Robin Ince, Sara Pascoe, Shappi Khorsandi and Shazia Mirza.

Published: 10 Jan 2016