Comedy Central Live and the rest of the week's best stand-up

The week’s best live comedy…

Monday October 1

LONDON: A week-long run at Soho Theatre kicks off a new UK tour by improvised hip-hop musical comedy act Abandoman – now just Rob Broderick going solo, using a sample-pad necklace to trigger the beats and hooks he freestyles over. Click here for the full schedule.

LONDON: Ivo Graham 'turns his anxieties into light-hearted, self-deprecating, crisp stand-up', we wrote of the affable comic's Edinburgh show last month. Now Motion Sickness, an entertaining look at the trials and tribulations of entering adulthood, apparently named after his fourth favourite Hot Chip song,  lands at Soho Theatre for a couple of weeks.

Tuesday October 2

LONDON: Bloody Funny is a benefit  being staged in Conway Hall to provide much-needed period supplies to asylum-seekers. The strong line-up comprises  Aisling Bea, Birthday Girls, Ellie Taylor, Jen Brister, Jenny Bede, Jessica Fostekew, Suzi Ruffell and token male  Dane Baptiste.

LONDON: Gits and Shiggles comedy club in Putney's Half Moon has a reputation for offering some of the strongest line-ups around, and tonight is no exception with not one but two 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees – Ahir Shah and Alex Edelman – plus the mighty fine aloofness of  Phil Wang and Chortle best newcomer nominee Mo Omar.

Wednesday October 3

DERBY: With her infectious livewire performance, disarming personal content and wildly funny writing, London-based Australian Felicity Ward has been steadfastly climbing the comedy ladder, including her own  Live From The BBC special, the recent Radio 4 series Appisodes, and a list of other TV credits as long as your arm. Her latest tour, Busting A Nut, kicks off at the Derby Theatre tonight, and the full schedule is here.

BRIGHTON: Aet the Komedia, erudite Simon Evans, silly Steve Best, personal storyteller Laura Lexx and social commentator Dane Baptiste present a benefit in aid of The British Heart Foundation. And the MC's name is pretty apt: Dave Blood

Thursday October 4

GLASGOW: Kevin Bridges has been on tour for a while now, but it would be remiss not to mention his hometown gigs, with the first of an impressive ten nights at the Hydro tonight.

Friday October 5

ABERYSTWYTH: The town comes alive with its comedy festival this weekend, with first night highlights including Sam Campbell, winner of the Barry Award at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and Angelsey-raised double Chortle Award winner Kiri Pritchard-McLean. Look out for John-Luke Roberts, Gary Delaney, Lou Sanders, Mark Thomas and many more great acts over the next two nights, too.

SOUTHAMPTON: Comedy Central Live, which takes place in Hoglands Park over this weekend, looks like a great prospect now organisers slashed their initially over-inflated ticket prices to just £20 for an all-day ticket. Headliners in the main marquee across today are Katherine Ryan, Nish Kumar, Joel Dommett, Reginald D Hunter and Rob Delaney, with a packed supporting line-up too, plus other comedy-themed attractions.

BIRMINGHAM: The city's ten-day comedy festival kicks off with the emerging talent award at the Glee among other gigs. Vying for the title will be Adam Beardsmore, Phil Carr, Good Kids, Laura Monmoth and Sham Zaman, all nominated by a different comedy business veteran. The gig is compered by James Cook with headliner Andrew Ryan. For the rest of the festival's line-up check its website

Saturday October 6

LONDON: There's a great line-up at Headliners at the George IV in Chiswick tonight, with some of the best the circuit has to offer in (the admittedly exclusively middle-aged white and male) line-up fo Dave Fulton, Simon Evans, Tom Stade and MC Windsor

• Search our full listings for comedy near you using the pull-down menus on the left of this page.

Published: 30 Sep 2018