The week's best live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 5,314 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Monday September 11

EXETER: Brian Butterfield - Peter Serafinowicz's serially unsuccessful businessman- makes his live stage debut, imparting all of his hard-earned business knowledge. Given that he believes that every failure is just an opportunity to learn a new lesson, Brian has learnt more than 1,000 lessons. The 12-date tour kicks off at Exeter Corn Exchange. Brian Butterfield tour dates

LONDON: Last month, Big In Scotland became the fourth of Kieran Hodgson's shows to be nominated for the main Edinburgh Comedy Award. And quite right too, as he plays brilliantly with stereotypes of both the English and the Scots - in never the way you might expect - as he tells of how he moved to Glasgow when he landed the role of Gordon in BBC comedy Two Doors Down. He starts a two-week run of the show at Soho Theatre tonight.

GLASGOW: Livewire Aussie sketch trio Aunty Donna embark on their first UK tour in more than five years - and the first since their cult Netflix series Big Ol' House Of Fun - with two nights at the King's Theatre. Broden Kelly, Zachary Ruane and Mark Samual Bonanno promise new sketches, fan favourites, funny voices, incredible costumes, silly songs … and a magical cat. Aunty Donna tour dates

Tuesday September 12

LONDON: Master comic storyteller Mike Birbiglia brings his latest, The Old Man And The Pool, to the West End for a run lasting until October 7. When it previously ran on Broadway, the New York Times said 'his act is baked to golden perfection' while Variety commented: 'When it comes to the laughs, his timing is impeccable, a subtle pause, a sentence that ends a beat before you’d expect, or else continues on into a clause that changes its meaning altogether.'Tickets.

LONDON: Dave - Zoe Coombs Marr’s parody of a desperate, out-of-touch straight male stand-up - is back… and this time he's taking on the wokies and their cancel culture… right at the heart of the liberal comedy world, Soho Theatre, for the week. Review.

LONDON: Nish Kumar, Rosie Jones, Jayde Adams, Sindhu Vee, Sophie Duker and Jen Brister perform in a starry benefit gig at Conway Hall in Holborn in aid of Bloody Good Period, campaigning to ensure that 'no one is held back by their period or society's warped perception of the menstruating body'.

BELFAST: Comedian and Arrested Development star David Cross brings his Worst Daddy in the World stand-up tour to this side of the Atlantic, playing the Limelight tonight, Dublin's 3Olympia Theatre tomorrow followed by Glasgow's Oran Mor, the Union Chapel in London and New Century in Manchester.

Wednesday September 13

NORWICH: John Robins kicks off his biggest live tour yet at the Playhouse as he discusses mental health ‘in all its rage, joy, tears, anxiety and humour’, in Howl. Announcing the tour, he said: ‘If I thought lockdown was hard, then this last year has been an absolute pile of shit, I drove around the UK in a Kia Sportage in an attempt to get away from everything. Did it work? Did it fuck.' John Robins tour dates.

LONDON: The marvellous Greenwich Comedy Festival gets under way in the fine settings of the National Maritime Museum grounds and offering top-notch line-up bills from now until Sunday. Tonight's is Ed Gamble, Maisie Adam, Sean McLoughlin, Chloe Petts and Kyrah Gray. Greenwich Comedy Festival listings and ticket links.

GLASGOW: Darren Harriott starts his first UK tour, Roadman, drawing from his upbringing. After his father took his own life in prison, Darren joined a local gang, ‘Terror Klan Killerz' and one night the other members turned on Darren, beating him so badly he woke up in hospital. He took that as a sign it was time to get out. He went to college and started doing stand-up comedy, supporting himself by working as a bouncer, and has since gone on to perform at Live at the Apollo and became the first black British male ever to be nominated for the best show award at the Edinburgh Fringe. Darren Harriott tour dates

EDINBURGH: In People Huv Tae Know at the Festival Theatre, Gavin Mitchell, Paul Riley, Sanjeev Kohli, Jane McCarry and Mark Cox talk about Still Game - with the audience encouraged to come in fancy dress as their favourite character.

HULL: Having debuted his new show Natural Born Killer at last month's Edinburgh Fringe, well-polished comedy veteran Tom Stade kicks off a UK tour. The show promises to see him 'navigating his way around progressiveness and pronouns – not to mention 27 years of marriage, and adult kids who refuse to respect him'. Tom Stade tour dates.

BRIGHTON: For the next four nights the city's Open Air Theatre hosts a series of Stand-Up Under The Stars gigs, starting with Adam Hess, Fern Brady, Fin Taylor, Sophie Duker and featuring the likes of Suzi Ruffell, Glenn Moore and Lou Sanders over the coming evenings.

CHELTENHAM: Bill Bailey's doing a one-off charity gig at The Centaur in the racecourse tonight in aid of childhood bereavement charity Winston's Wish. Tickets.

NEWCASTLE: Suzi Ruffell embarks on the second stage of her Snappy tour about settling down and becoming a mother. Suzi Ruffell tour dates

Thursday September 14

BRIGHTON: After 4 years, Ruby Wax returns to the stage with what promoters call her 'rawest, darkest, funniest and most compelling show yet'. It covers the time in 2022, Ruby Wax went on a search to find meaning, swimming with humpback whales, joining a monastery, working in a refugee camp and doing a silent 30-day mindfulness retreat. The blurb for the tour then adds: 'The search to find meaning was about to take her in a different direction, no longer journeying in the outside world but within her own mind, and this inner journey would turn out to be the most life-changing journey of all.' Which does sound a bit cheesy… Ruby Wax tour dates

Friday September 15

KINGSTON: Simon Amstell head a peerless bill at the Rose Theatre in South West London, expertly supported by Celya AB, Glenn Moore and Maisie Adam,

ALDERSHOT: Phil Wang begins a new leg of his latest stand-up tour, Wang In There, Baby! Phil Wang tour dates

Saturday September 16

LIVERPOOL: TV and radio regular Ria Lina kicks off her first UK tour, Riawakening, at the Royal Court Theatre, talking about how she sees the world differently post-pandemic, including dating, divorce, dating in a new digital world, motherhood and what it really means to be a woman today. Ria Lina tour dates.

Published: 10 Sep 2023