The week's best live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 5,840 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Sunday February 18

LEICESTER: Jessica Fostekew kicks off her biggest tour so far, Mettle, at the Leicester Comedy Festival. In it, she talks about how she’s hustling harder than ever for the things that she wants’. She said: ‘I’ve had a big birthday and it's come with a torrent of life-bending revelations; the biggest of which is that even if something seems impossible, it might not be. I'd been spending too long giving up too easily. This is a show about shamelessly caring about things a huge amount and turning that passion into positive action.’ The tour winds up at London’s Leicester Square Theatre in June. Jessica Fostekew tour dates

Tuesday February 20

EDINBURGH: Chortle's annual hunt to find the best student comedians launches at Monkey Barrel. Previous winners have included Joe Lycett, Phil Wang and Jamali Maddix, so who knows which future stars you'll see? Edinburgh tickets. We're then at Newcastle's Alphabetti Theatre on Wednesday (Tickets) and St Andrews Student Union on Thursday (Tickets).

Wednesday February 21

LONDON: In Kool Story Bro, Taskmaster and Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe hosts a team of improvisers as they create scenes inspired by stories from the audience. It begins a four-night run at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant tonight with Graham Dickson, Lola-Rose Maxwell, Nic Sampson and Emily Lloyd-Saini his guests on night one.

LONDON: Seven Dials Playhouse in Covent Garden promises a fun bill tonight with gregarious over-sharers Amy Gledhill and Helen Bauer, classy musical duo Flo and Joan, dour Red Richardson, and droll yarn-spinner Sunil Patel

Thursday February 22

BATH: Troy Hawke embarks on a four-month tour, The Greeters Guild, charting how the 1930s throwback became viral star by setting himself as an unofficial welcoming party at various stores and businesses. It started at TK Maxx in Macclesfield in 2022 and Hawke has gone on to post himself outside the BBC, a Lionesses’ World Cup game and many more, confusing Premiership footballers, getting threatened by heavyweight boxers, and improving the vocabulary of Formula 1 legends along the way. Troy Hawke tour dates

CAMBRIDGE: Also hitting the road today is Phil Ellis with his accurately titled Excellent Comedy Show, as nominated for the 2023 Edinburgh Comedy Award. Accompanied by a couple of musicians, the comic presents an hour of silly chaos, packed with proper gags. Phil Ellis tour dates.

EXETER: New Zealander Melanie Bracewell - a former contestant on her homeland's version of Taskmaster, starts her tour Forget Me Not, a show about 'desperately trying to be remembered, love, and eggs'. Melanie Bracewell tour dates.

Saturday February 24

MAIDENHEAD:Trigger Happy TV star Dom Joly looks into some wacky theories in The Conspiracy Tour, which introduces a new character, Dr Julian Northcote, to defend them. Questions under the spotlight include Is the Earth flat? Does Finland exist? And is Denver Airport a massive panic room for the Illuminati? (Spoiler alert: No, yes, no). Dom Joly tour dates.

Published: 18 Feb 2024