The comedy week ahead

The comedy week ahead.

Sunday May 15

LIVE IN LONDON: The Phoenix, near Broadcasting House, hosts an impressive array of comedy talent tonight, in a fundraiser for the Neuro Foundation. The line-up is Abandoman, Adam Hess, Bec Hill, Ed Aczel,Ed Gamble, John Kearns, Lou Sanders, Nick Helm, Nish Kumar, Simon Munnery, Tim Renkow and Christian Talbot. And all for a tenner. Tickets

Monday May 16

RADIO: Just A Minute returns for an incredible 75h series, with indefatigable Nicholas Parsons overseeing Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth, Sheila Hancock and, making his debut, John Finnemore, facing subjects including Rock and Roll, Sellotape and The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Radio 4, 6.30pm

LIVE IN LONDON: Harry Hill headlines comic fundraiser in memory of Matt Bradstock-Smith, who played his 'adopted son Alan' in his early career and who died of cancer aged 50 at the beginning of the year. The impressive bill at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, also includes Al Murray, who played Hill's older brother in Hill's Channel 4 show, Stewart Lee, Tim Vine, and 'Page Three Stunna' Gayle Tuesday, aka Brenda Gilhooly. The sold-out show will raise money for St Wilfrid's Hospice in Chichester, West Sussex, where Matt was looked after in his last days.

LIVE IN LONDON: Sara Pascoe starts a two-week run of her show Animal at the Soho Theatre, following the publication of her book of the same name. (Review). Both book and tour conflate feminism, evolutionary biology and personal anecdote into an impressive package about what it means to be a woman today… and without alienating men.

Tuesday May 17

LIVE IN LIVERPOOL: Daniel Kitson unveils his new work Mouse - The Persistence of an Unlikely Thought at the Everyman. As usual, it's impossible to fathom exactly what the show involves from the blurb, but needless to say it involves 'friendship and loneliness, doubt and hope, a mouse, a phone call and the unfathomable repercussions of everything we ever do'. We'll let you know…

LIVE IN LONDON: The Joke is a new play from Edinburgh comedy award winner Will Adamsdale, Guardian comedy critic Brian Logan and actor Lloyd Hutchinson, all about jokesand why we tell them. It comes to the Camden People's Theatre for the next two-and-a-half weeks, and Logan says: 'While we want it to be funny, we don't want it to be just funny…'

Wednesday May 18

RADIO: Lenny Henry writes and performs the new series Rogue's Gallery, comic monologues with twists in the tale. Episode one is the story of a modern day miracle, as witnessed by a blind man. Radio 4, 11pm

Thursday May 19

TV: Going Forward, Jo Brand's sequel to the acclaimed Getting On, starts its three-part run on BBC Four. Her character Kim Wilde has quit her job as a geriatric nurse and is now a care assistant in the community. Meanwhile, husband Dave, played by Omid Djalili, is a self-employed private hire driver battling long days and grumpy customers. 10pm

Friday May 20

TV: Double Chortle-award winning podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, in which the 'elves' who research QI unearth quirky facts, is coming to TV. No Such Thing As The News aims to do the same for current affairs as the podcast does for information in general as James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski and Dan Schreiber scour the headlines for the weird and the counterintuitive. And with comedy maestro John Lloyd at the helm, the Harbingers are good… BBC Two, 11.05pm

LIVE IN PERTH: Possibly the only show to combine intricate puns and a funky backbeat, the delightful Horne Section visits the Perth Concert Hall for one night only.

Saturday May 21

LIVE IN LIMERICK: David O'Doherty's already impressive comedy steps up another gear with his latest show: We Are All in the Gutter, But Some of Us Are Looking at David O'Doherty.A lovely combo of nostalgia, whimsy, quirky one-liners and political-influenced anecdotes, it plays Dolan's in Limerick tonight. Review

Published: 15 May 2016