The best of the week's live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy.

Sunday January 19

LONDON: We would say this, wouldn't we, but we reckon the Chortle Comedy Book Festival is the perfect way to spend a January Sunday. Mark Thomas, Adam Kay, Jenny Eclair, Arthur Smith, Robin Ince and Josie Long interviewing Les Dennis, Count Arthur Strong, Katy Brand, Jen Brister and so much more are on the agenda. It kicks off at the British Library in St Pancras at 1.30pm, and day and individual session tickets will be available on the door, or in advance here.

SALFORD: Max & Ivan kick off a 13-date tour of their tightly-plotted, fast-paced, almost cinematic show Commitment at the Lowry. It tells the hilarious true story of how Max attempted to reunite Ivan's teenage band, Voodoo 7:2, for one final gig… Dates and review

Monday January 20

LONDON: Garrett Millerick performs his latest show, Smile, at the Soho Theatre for a week, ahead of a short UK tour kicking off in March. It was one of the best-reviewed shows of last year's Fringe, according to meta-analysis of such things, and we called it 'vehement, opinionated, iconoclastic stand-up'...

Tuesday January 21

NEWCASTLE: Worth a mention for its name alone, Viz creators Chris and Simon Donald are staging a battle of sibling rivalry at the Stand to determine who's the best - and called it Donald Trumps.

Wednesday January 22

DARTFORD: Milton Jones kicks off his latest tour, Milton: Impossible, which has already been extended to November. The premise is that Jones was once an international spy, forced into a 'somewhat disappointing new identity' as a TV comedian. Expect him to take that storyline EXTREMELY seriously… Dates.

BATH: A fine line-up of Count Arthur Strong, Jon Richardson, Lucy Porter, Omid Djalili and Angela Barnes perform a fundraiser for Slapstick, Bristol's annual festival of vintage comedy, at the Forum. The event itself takes place over the weekend, kicking off tomorrow night with sessions including Shappi Khorsandi hailing the divas of the silent comedy era at a talk in Bristol Cathedral. Website

LONDON: The manically intense stand-up of pitifully desperate comedian Jack Tucker (the alter-ego of Zach Zucker) returns to the Soho Theatre for four more late-nights of anarchic tomfoolery.

Friday January 24

SWANSEA: David Baddiel kicks off his new stand-up tour in which he recounts his encounters with online trolls - against every bit of sensible advice telling him not to. In an excellent article in today's Sunday Times, he explains: 'It's the comedian in me, because although they have been given a new name to suit the new form, they are hecklers and therefore it's part of my job to put them down. It's part of any comedian's job to take abuse and turn it back on the abuser, for the pleasure of the wider audience.' All the dates for Trolls, Not The Dolls are here

Published: 19 Jan 2020