The week's best live comedy

The week's best live comedy.

Monday September 2

BRISTOL: A homecoming gig for John Robins as he brings his acclaimed show Hot Shame – detailing in farcical detail some of the most embarrassing moments of his life – to the Tobacco Factory for an eight-night run. It then tours the rest of the country. Dates and review.

LONDON: Newly-crowned as Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Award champion, Jordan Brookes begins a sporadic Soho Theatre run of that acclaimed show I’ve Got Nothing at the Soho Theatre. An hour of neurotic comic time-killing, it's also back at the venue on Friday and Saturday before a more sustained run around Christmas. Dates, tickets and review.

Tuesday September 3

LONDON: The Always Be Comedy club at the Tommyfield in Kennington is hosting three great bills on three consecutive nights. Today it's Kae Kurd, Rhys James, Rosie Jones and Sindhu Vee; tomorrow it’s Desiree Burch, Mawaan Rizwan, Paul McCaffrey, Tom Allen and on Thursday it’s Lou Sanders and Saras Barron and Sara Pascoe.

Wednesday September 4

LONDON: The Greenwich Comedy Festival kicks off in the grounds of the National Maritime Museum, with every line-up in their marquee not just good but great. It kicks off with Fin Taylor, Rhys James, Sean Lock and Suzi Ruffell. Listings.

Thursday September 5

LONDON: Londoners really are spoiled for top-drawer line-up shows this week, as the comedy elite get back to work after a post-Edinburgh hiatus. The sterling bill at the 100 Club on Oxford Street comprises Ahir Shah, Ivo Graham, Jessica Fostekew, Suzi Ruffell and Jack Tucker, Zach Zucker’s brash parody of a loudmouth American comic.

Friday September 6

BIRMINGHAM: The Glee club celebrates its 25th anniversary this weekend, with a special bill that includes Sara Pascoe, Guz Khan, Angelos Epithemiou, Mike Wilmot and Andy Robinson. Opened by former investment banker Mark Tughan, then just 26, in 1994 it was the UK’s first purpose-built venue outside London. Over the years has played host to the likes of Jack Whitehall, Jack Dee, Jimmy Carr, Katherine Ryan and Sarah Millican. Man Like Mobeen star Khan says of the venue: ‘Just two years ago, Joe Lycett and the gang at The Glee Club in Birmingham invited me in to perform at a comedy club for the first time. I have now learned that I was lucky enough to start at the very best comedy club in the land. All other comedy clubs can suck their mums as far as I’m concerned. Glee club Brum Town for life mate.’

KNARESBOROUGH: The inventive comic minds of Josh Pugh and Nick Doody join Dave Thompson – the veteran comic, long-term Harry Hill collaborator and man inside the Tinky-Winky suit – for a great gig in North Yorkshire,’s Frazer Theatre.

Saturday September 7

LONDON: Another phenomenal post-Fringe line-up at the Union Chapel in Islington as Daniel Kitson introduces John Kearns, Lou Sanders, Rob Auton, Sara Barron and more.

HASTINGS: The capital doesn’t get all the best line-ups, though, as comic powerhouses Garrett Millerick, Nish Kumar, TanyaLee Davis and Tom Lucy hit the White Rock Theatre for the Gag House Comedy Superstars gig.

MAIDENHEAD: Clinton Baptiste, the hapless clairvoyant originally seen on Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, kicks off a UK tour at the Norden Farm Centre For The Arts. He is the alter-ego of Alex Lowe, the man also behind the comedy character Barry From Watford. Click here for all his dates.

Published: 1 Sep 2019