The week's best live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 5,392 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Sunday September 3

LONDON: Missed - or missing - Edinburgh? The Bill Murray hosts four hour-long shows today, starting with Andrew O'Neill's Geburah at 2pm (read our four-star review here); followed by Alice Fraser's possible swansong at 4pm; Seymour Mace Does Drawring [sic] at 7pm and Rob Deering: Long Distance Man at 9pm.

SOUTHEND: South African-New Zealand comic Urzila Carlson, best known for her 2020 Netflix comedy special Overqualified Loser, starts a new UK tour entitled Just No at the Palace Theatre. Urizla Carlson tour dates

Tuesday September 5

CAMBERLEY: Fascinating Aida kick off their 40th anniversary tour, marking a career that started in the era of alternative cabaret and more latterly has extended to viral success online. Dillie Keane; Adèle Anderson and Liza Pulman promise 'wickedly hilarious' new songs in this show, which will keep them on the road until early 2024. Fascinating​ ​Aida tour dates.

LONDON: Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed enjoys another week-long West End residency at the Duke of York's Theatre in the guise of irritating Mr Swallow, who for all his faults pulls off incredible feats such as solving a Rubik’s cube, memorising a deck of playing cards and doing some pretty horrendous maths while on roller-skates. As well as performing the whole of Les Mis. Tickets.

LONDON: Australian comic Tom Ballard combines the personal with the political in It Is I, a funny, passionate show about elder care that ranges from the thought-provoking to the silly. It's at the Soho Theatre from today until Saturday

NORWICH: Jerry Springer: The Opera is back, as local production company Sound Ideas stage a revival of Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee's controversial, foul-mouthed but hilarious musical at Norwich Playhouse for the week.

Wednesday September 6

MANCHESTER: The five-night open air comedy festival lands in Castlefield Bowl with Adam Buxton's Bug followed by the first of several impressive line-up gigs with Ed Gamble, Fern Brady, John Robins and Maisie Adam. Others swinging by over the coming days include Alan Davies, Sara Pascoe, Dylan Moran, Adrdal O'Hanlon and Tim Key. Listings and ticket links.

BRISTOL: After a barnstorming, career-defining Edinburgh Fringe last year - and that notorious appearance on Friday Night Live - trans comic Jordan Gray embarks on a 19-date tour of her high-energy musical comedy show Is It A Bird?, starting at the Tobacco Theatres. Jordan Gray tour dates.

BRISTOL: The city also hosts the opening night of Michael McIntyre's new world tour, entitled Macnificent, with UK dates stretching to next June. Most are sold out, but you might be lucky… Michael ​McIntyre tour dates

LEAMINGTON SPA: Geoff Norcott starts his UK tour, Basic Bloke, which aims to take the narrative about men away from toxic masculinity and put the focus on blokes who are 'plodding on, fuelled by a diet of football, sheds, super-hero films, sporting autobiographies, wearing socks at all times and strategically burying feelings when necessary'. Geoff Norcott tour dates.

Thursday September 7

MAIDSTONE: Fresh from the critical success of her Channel 4 comedy The Change, Bridget Christie embarks on a UK tour of her stand-up show Who Am I?, which also draws on her experiences of going through the menopause. The blurb for the show reads: 'She cannot ride the motorbike she bought to combat her mid-life crisis because of early osteoarthritis in her hips and RSI in her wrist, and she wonders why there are so many films, made by men, about young women discovering their sexuality - but none about middle-aged women forgetting theirs. It's a menopause laugh-a-minute with a confused, furious, sweaty lady who is annoyed by everything.' Bridget ​Christie tour dates

Friday September 8

LONDON: A fine line-up at the Hackney Comedy Experience at EartH, with every act having won or been nominated for an Edinbugrh Comedy Award: Jordan Brookes, Lara Ricote, Ian Smith and Amy Gledhill.

LIVERPOOL: Dylan Moran headliners a Laughterhouse Live! gig at the Philharmonic Hall, topping a fune bill that also includes Jarred Christmas, Neil Fitzmaurice, Sarah Kendall and Britain's Got Talent's Nabil Abdulrashid.

Published: 3 Sep 2023