The week's best live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 6,000-plus events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Sunday March 26

LONDON: Kicking off in the West End, Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed embarks a tour featuring his alter-ego Mr Swallow, who you may have seen perform feats of memory on Cats Do Countdown - or destroy theatrical productions on stage. The Very Best & Worst of Mr. Swallow features old and new material, including him attempting to solve a Rubik’s cube, memorise a deck of playing cards and do some pretty horrendous maths while on roller-skates. Plus the whole of Les Mis… and a grumble about eating a banana. Nick​ Mohammed's Mr Swallow tour dates

CARDIFF:Russell Howard is a few dates into his sizeable 2023 tour, which runs through to September, and plays the Cardiff International Arena tonight. Russell​ Howard tour dates and tickets

BATH: Here’s a plug for Bath. The city's comedy festival gets under way today, offering more than 100 shows over the next three weeks, kicking off with Paul Thorne headlining a line up gig at Revolution. Full listings are here.

GLASGOW: Meanwhile, it’s the final week of the Glasgow International Comedy Festival. Tonight’s highlights include Mark Nelson and Eshan Akbaar at the Stand, Fern Brady at the King’s Theatre and Scott Agnew leading an afternoon walking tour visiting the locations of some of his ‘most salacious tales’. Visit the official website for full details of the festival.

Thursday March 30

LONDON: François Pandolfo won the David Johnson Emerging Talent Award -named in memory of the late, risk-taking producer - for the ‘one-man-cat-drag cabaret show’ An Audience With Milly Liu. The show, which boasted of having probably the longest trigger warning at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, arrives at Soho Theatre for a three-night run, ‘spilling the beans on all your favourite celebrity pussies’. Say no more.

Friday March 31

LONDON: It’s the final of the Musical Comedy Awards at the Bloomsbury Theatre, headlined by Rachel Parris and featuring Nikola McMurtrie, Eddy MacKenzie, Katie Norris, Will BF, Annabel Marlow, Peter Bazely, The Gorgeous Diva, Amelia Hamilton, Christian Jegard, Tasmin Sarkany, Su Mi and Selena Mersey battling it out for the bragging rights.

LONDON: Mellifluous funk-comedy merchant Jazz Emu presents a buffet of inventive sketch, character and stand-up at his Pleasure Garden at Hoxton Underbelly. The line-up includes Giants, Emma Sidi, Girl Boss God, Phil Dunning, Sami Abu Wardeh

LONDON: Fresh from being pursued on Channel 4's Celebrity Hunted, Ed Gamble headlines the Clapham Grand in a bill that also includes the excellent Sean McLoughlin, straight-talking Fatiha El-Ghorri, gregarious Shaparak Khorsandi and charismatic Aurie Styla.

Saturday April 1

CARDIFF: There’s a full day of stand-up specials at the Chapter Arts Centre, being recorded for later release by indie label Go Faster Stripe. And tickets are only £5 per show, so a cheap way to get a mini-festival experience. The shows are Bethany Black: Always Bet on Beth at 2pm; Rob Kemp: Agenda at 4.30pm; Wil Hodgson: Barbicidal Tendancies at 7pm and Steve Hall: Muppet at 9pm.

LONDON: The Leicester Square Theatre Sketch Off! competition reaches its climax. In the final, which kicks off at 3pm, are Andrew Doherty, Charlie Vero-Martin, Cutlery Safety Expert Ian Crawford, Derek Mitchell, Lorna Rose Treen, Mad Ron, Preppers, Stepan Mysko von Schultze and Will BF- while the whole shebang will be compered by Anna Mann.

Published: 26 Mar 2023