The best of the week's live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy.

Sunday June 4

BLACKPOOL:  Peter Kay is staging another of his Q&As in aid of cancer patient Polly Haydock at the Opera House tonight – having previously raised £150,000 for her treatment. A few £35 tickets are still available - at least at the time of writing – here.

LIVERPOOL: The city's Laughterhouse comedy club upgrades for one of its regular nights at the Philharmonic Hall – and has assembled a line-up to match the bigger space, including Hospital People's Ivan Brackenbury, high-energy crowd-wrangler Jason Byrne and silly storyteller Mick Miller, plus Stephen K Amos, Lucy Porter, Paul Foot and regular MC Neil Fitzmaurice.

Monday June 5

SHEFFIELD: A new comedy festival for the steel city, as The Leadmill hosts 52 acts across three stages, starting tonight with a gala headlined by Ross Noble and with a soild backing bill of  Fin Taylor, Julian Deane and Sean McLoughlin. Here are the full listings for the festival, which has been put together by the people behind the Cambridge Comedy Festival.

LONDON: Care For A Laugh is a benefit for the  charity Carers UK, and boasts almost a dozen names. Among the most familiar taking to the Comedy Store stage tonight are Adam Buxton, Tony Law and John Robins.

Tuesday June 6

LONDON: Tape Face begins a mammoth seven-week residency at the Garrick Theatre tonight. as he shows off his imaginative new take on silent comedy that so wowed America's Got Talent, as it has audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe and across the UK beforehand.. Tickets available here.

LONDON: Aparna Nancherla was named 'one to watch' by Variety magazine last year… and no wonder as she's racked up quite the CV in the States, including working as  a writer and performer for Late Night with Seth Meyers and appearing on Inside Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari's Master of None and Judd Apatow's Love. She flies into London for five nights at the Soho Theatre, starting tonight.

LONDON: The Pizza Express in Greenwich is launching a weekly comedy night tonight, with Phil Nichol 'topping' the bill alongside fellow members of the circuit's upper crust, Otiz Cannelloni and  Russell Hicks.

CARDIFF: Tom Green kicks off the UK leg of his European Comedy Road Trip – cos he was in a movie called Road Trip, right? – at the Glee tonight. Expect a brash and slightly shambolic romp through his life – including a stint he did working for Donald Trump on Celebrity Apprentice. He's in Bournemouth tomorrow, back here on Thursday, Glasgow on Saturday with other dates into next week.

Wednesday June 7

WAKEFIELD: Get the latest take on the election campaign, just hours before polls open, courtesy of Rory Bremner's latest show, Partly Political, in which he 'tries to make sense of a world where Boris Johnson is Foreign Secretary, Donald Trump is a Presidential Candidate, and Brexit means Brexit'. He also visits  Huddersfield's Lawrence Batley Theatre tomorrow and Oxford Playhouse on Friday – but by then we'll know what sort of Britain we have for the next five years.

LONDON: A great gig of alternative comics at 2 Northdown, the Kings Cross venue formerly known as Invisible Dot before those promoters went belly-up.  Carl Donnelly, James Acaster, Lolly Adefope, Marcel Lucont and Richard Gadd will all no doubt be working up material for their next shows in this delightfully intimate space.

Thursday June 8

 STAINES: Or Staines-upon-Thames if you insist. As Britain's Got Talent crowns a new champ, a former star performer, Kev Orkian, forms part of the line-up at the Laughing Chili Comedy Club at Magna Carta Arts Centre. He appears alongside the embodiment of middle-age upset, Hal Cruttenden, and the precision-engineered stand-up of John Moloney.

LONDON: Islington's Union Chapel hosts a benefit for the Loss Foundation, which offers cancer bereavement support. The comedians dodging the bleak subject of what the charity does in order to raise valuable funds will be:  Ed Gamble, Joe Wilkinson, Josh Widdicombe, Luisa Omielan, Pete Firman, Tom Deacon.

LONDON:  F**k The Election… but only after you've cast your vote obviously. That's the title of a night at the Phoenix in Cavendish Square. 'Why not spend the evening laughing and drinking before you start crying?' says Tiernan Douieb, who has put together the night and will be joined by the likes of Josie Long, Marcus Brigstocke, Bilal Zafar, Bisha K Ali, Chris Coltrane, Joe Wells and Jonny And The Baptists.

Friday June 9

LONDON: He's known for his imaginative use of sampling and loop technology, but Reggie Watts is also an impressive vocal mimic and surreal storyteller. He's been in town filming the Late, Late Show with James Corden – where he is the leader of the house band – so might as well do a gig while he's here. At the Shepherds Bush Empire.

 LONDON: Another day, another benefit at the Union Chapel with the money being split seven ways, as each comedian gets to pick a good cause close to their heart. The unbeatable line-up - no egg pun intended - includes Bridget Christie, John Kearns, Nish Kumar and Tim Key.

Saturday June 10

MANCHESTER: Comedy magicians Penn & Teller kick off a UK tour at the O2 Apollo ahead of a massive Las Vegas residency.

LONDON: Felicity Ward is a hugely entertaining livewire who uses her personable, manic style to shed the stigma around various health issues, almost without you noticing. And she's at the Underbelly Festival on the South Bank tonight.

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Published: 4 Jun 2017