The best of the week's live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 5,887 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Sunday January 28

EXETER: Ania Magliano is on tour with her show I Can't Believe You've Done This (at the Phoenix tonight) which was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award last year and merges witty gossip about herself with wide themes about how women are perceived. Ania Magliano tour dates.

LONDON: The Park Theatre in Finsbury Park starts a new season of comedy gigs, programmed by Peter Grahame of the long-running Downstairs At The Kings Head in nearby Crouch End. Today's fine bill features circuit stalwarts Arthur Smith, Glenn Wool, Laura Smyth, Otiz Cannelloni, Sally-Anne Hayward and Charmian Hughes.

Monday January 29

LONDON: Ian Smith's Crushing was one of the hits of last year's Edinburgh Fringe, as the comic becomes increasingly exasperated at the slings and arrows of everyday life conspiring against him, with the laughs rising as his patience runs low. He's on at the Soho Theatre for three nights, starting tonight - and tomorrow and Wednesday you could do a brilliant double-bill with…

Tuesday January 30

LONDON: …Julia Masli, whose agony-aunt-style show ha ha ha ha ha ha ha is a masterclass in turning an audience into a community, a spell she cast not by pandering to them - in fact she can be a little prickly as well as delightfully weird - but in uniting everyone in a sense of play and of helping each other out. She's at the Soho through to February 17.

Wednesday January 31

RICHMOND: Twenty-five years after it last aired on Channel 4, newsroom satire Drop The Dead Donkey returns as a stage show, touring the UK from today. Original writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin created the script - about the team dealing with 'the daily chaos of social media, fake news and interim prime ministers' - and the cast reunites seven of its original stars: Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Pearson, Victoria Wicks, Jeff Rawle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey and Susannah Doyle. Drop The Dead Donkey tour dates

Thursday February 1

BRIGHTON: Aurie Styla - who is just about to record a four-part Radio 4 stand-up show about the tech he's grown up with - kicks off the Aurator Tour of his upbeat, optimistic comedy at the Komedia. Aurie ​Styla tour dates

LONDON: Comedy's good at addressing taboos, and in his acclaimed debut show (read our four-star review here) Tadiwa Mahlunge confesses to a trait that few stand-ups would care to admit: being nakedly ambitious. Less uniquely, he's desperate to be loved. Inhibition Exhibition explores both those character traits and more, with a three-night run at Soho Theatre from tonight prefacing a UK tour kicking off in March. Tadiwa ​Mahlunge tour dates.

AYLESBURY: Everyman comic Gary Meikle brings new, relatable stories of life with his daughter Ainslie, and grand-daughter Gracie - which has brought him so much success online - in his new tour show, No Refunds, which opens at the Waterside Theatre tonight. Gary ​Meikle tour dates

CAMBRIDGE: Less relatably, Tom Houghton had a super-privileged background, including living at the Tower Of London until recently… although he has his own problems to share too. In his new stand-up show, It's Not Ideal, he grapples with the opposing pulls of tradition and progress to ask what are the parts of ourselves that need shedding and what is worth holding on to? It starts at the Cambridge Junction tonight Tom ​Houghton tour dates

MARKET DRAYTON: Josh Pugh, a former wWinner of the English Comedian of the Year title and ammasser of quite a few online video views, returns with a new tour all about enjoying yourself and doing your best. Do you ever feel like you're not enjoying yourself as much as you should? Existin' La Vida Loca Tour kicks off at the Festival Drayton centre tonight Josh ​Pugh tour dates.

CRICKHOWELL: Today marks the start of a long weekend of comedy in the shadows of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park and the Black Mountains, featuring headliners Bridget Christie on Saturday and Hal Cruttenden tomorrow alongside local acts. Full details are available here.

LONDON: A star-studded line-up gathers at the Hackney Empire for thee Belter For the Shelter fundraiser in aid of the local night shelter. The bill includes Rob Brydon, Stewart Lee, Kevin Eldon, Fern Brady. Athena Kugblenu, Celya AB and Rosie Holt.

Friday February 2

CREWE: Al Murray takes to the road again in his Pub Landlord guise 'to make sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to' in his new tour Guv Island, beginning at he Lyceum Theatre tonight. Al ​Murray tour dates

EXETER: Stalwarts of the Comedy Store Players, Britain's top short-form improv troupe are leaving their London home and hitting the road, albeit briefly. Josie Lawrence, Richard Vranch, Neil Mullarkey, and Lee Simpson – who all appeared in the original version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? – will be playing seven dates this month and next, beginning with this one at the Northcote Theatre. Comedy ​Store Players tour dates

COVENTRY: Sam Campbell - Edinburgh Comedy Award 2022 winner and star of the last season of Taskmaster embarks on his first tour of the UK, starting at the Warwick Arts Centre today. Promoters of very silly boy's Wobservations show say: 'Basically, we keep him in a metal crate. Once everyone is settled and the house lights go down, we will let him loose on to the stage. It is our understanding that his comedy moments will dazzle you. His prefrontal cortex is larger than you might expect. "When he's done/empty we shove him back in the crate and you will be allowed to return to your home. How does all that sound?' Sam ​Campbell tour dates

Saturday February 3

LETCHWORTH: A Best In Comedy night at the Broadway Theatre delivers on its titular promise with the alluring line-up of Jen Brister, Lucy Porter, Seann Walsh and Steve Bugeja.

• All this is just the tip of the iceberg, tour-wise. We have almost 180 forthcoming tours, all listed here.

Published: 28 Jan 2024