The week's best live comedy

The week's best live comedy

Sunday February 3

BRISTOL: Mark Watson embarks on a 53-date live tour in his home town with a new show that seeks to engender empathy with others… a resource that seems to be in increasingly short supply. Click here for all the tour dates of his Infinite Show.

BRISTOL: Something of a dilemma for Bristolians tonight, as while Watson plays the Old Vic, John-Luke Roberts plays the Wardrobe Theatre. Especially odd as Watson's company, Impatient Productions, is organising Roberts' tour. His show is an hour of glorious nonsense as he introduces us to the lost Spice Girls. Further tour dates are here.

LONDON: A blast from the past as Simon Munnery revisits the alter-ego that made his name: Alan Parker, Urban Warrior. Expect slogans, unshakeable certainty, and abject stupidity. Just like Twitter. At the Bill Murray in Islington from 7pm.

LONDON: The Sunday sessions at Up The Creek are always the best, and this week is no exception with  John Robins, Reginald D Hunter,Spencer Jones gracing the billl.

MANCHESTER: A very creditable line-up at Didsbury Cricket Club features chaotic Bobby Mair, the perfectly ordered John Moloney and the somewhere-in-the-middle  Jessica Fostekew. Mair and Moloney also play Stockport Heatons Sports Club alongside the very affable Justin Moorhouse.

Monday February 4

BELFAST: Alfie Brown kicks off a tour of his acclaimed show Lunatic at the Black Box. Inspired by his unflatteringly honest reaction to watching someone nearly die at a bus stop, he examines the human response to extreme situations and the commitment required to do the right thing…or at least to give the impression of  doing the right thing. Essentially it's a funny a philosophical show set in the gap between high principles and more selfish reality. Dates and review.

DURHAM: If you like elaborate puns and  toe-tapping tunes, you'll like the 'raucous comedy shindig' The Horne Section is peddling. Taskmaster creator Alex Horne and his five-piece backing band kick off their 2019 tour at the Gala Theatre before visiting all these places.

LONDON: Fin Taylor's a provocateur - which he defines as 'offensive but educated' - and all this week he brings his show When Harassy Met Sally to the Soho Theatre, tackling the thorny issue of #MeToo and related topics.

Wednesday February 6

BRISTOL: Mark Thomas kicks off his warts-and-all celebration of our health service, Check Up: Our NHS at 70, with three nights at the Tobacco Theatre. The comic wondering whether it will survive to be 100 years old, while also wondering what physical state he's likely to be in 30 years hence, no doubt relying on the NHS for some sort of care. Full dates

BRIGHTON: Having handed the reins of Radio 4 Extra's Newsjack over to Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Angela Barnes embarks on a UK tour of her stand-up show Rose Tinted, in which she tries to overcome her natural pessimism. Should she ignore the likes of Trump and Brexit for a happier life, or just laugh in their faces? The tour starts at the Komedia tonight and runs through to June.

LEICESTER: The city's 26th comedy festival kicks off tonight, with hundreds of shows (many of them works-in-progress) over the next two-and-a-half weeks. And there's a special focus on kids' programming this year, with a festival-within-a-festival dedicated to youngsters. Website.

LONDON:  Tilda Swinton Answers An Ad On Craigslist, which offered one of the most delightfully bonkers performances of last year's Edinburgh Fringe, makes its London debut at the Vaults Festival for the next four nights. Read our review here

Thursday February 7

LEEDS: Starting at the Leeds student union tonight is the first solo tour for Jack Barry, comprising just over a dozen dates. Tango contains the results of his research into all matters erotic, after his parents appointed him their reluctant sex therapist. Dates.

BATH: Simon Munnery starts his brief tour of his latest project, The Wreath at the Rondo Theatre. It's a full show telling the story of his gag: 'I went to a funeral the other day. Caught the wreath…' According to the publicity, it 'explores the simplicity, universality and ownership of a joke, the absurdity of staging a fake funeral in your back garden, and the trials and tribulations of time spent recently working as a cleaner in a chicken factory'. Dates

EASTLEIGH: Camp comic Stephen Bailey, as seen on various TV shows and supporting Katherine Ryan on tour, takes his own show, Our Kid, on the road, promising ' a story that is full of northern warmth, some working-class guilt and a bit of blue'. Dates

Friday February 8

ALDERSHOT: Following his success on Britain's Got Talent last year, Robert White - self described as the only gay, Aspergic, quarter-Welsh comic on the British circuit - embarks on a 31-date Tank Top Tour of the UK, beginning at Princes Hall. Dates.

LONDON: Shambolic, arrogant poet Tim Key heads a surefire bill at the  Hackney Arts Centre, which also boasts top-notch comedy from Tom Rosenthal, John Robins,Evelyn Mok and Jamali Maddix.

Published: 3 Feb 2019