The best of the week's live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the more than 7,000 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Tuesday April 2

BELFAST: American comic and podcaster Tim Dillon starts a short tour this side of the Atlantic, playing the Waterfront today, O2 Apollo in Manchester on Thursday, O2 Academy in Glasgow on Friday at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday – before returning for a couple of dates in Dublin's Vicar Street later in the month. His podcast has amassed 1 million weekly listeners, and the 39-year-old is clearly doing alright from it: it was recently reported that he put his Hollywood Hills mansion on sale for $4million (and he also has a $900,000 house in Texas, and a $2.6 million home in Long Island.. Dillon has comedy specials on Netflix and Comedy Central and regularly guests on other podcasts, including Joe Rogan's. His book, Death by Boomers is set to be published on April 30.

Wednesday April 3

HULL: Irish comedian Mike Rice is embarking on his debut tour, Nasty Character, in which he explores how a once-good Catholic boy has taken the devil as a dance partner. Mike Rice tour dates

CARDIFF: After load of Irish dates, Tommy Tiernan returns to the UK with his new show, Tommedian, starting at the New Theatre Described as ‘a wild, uninhibited and fiercely physical display of stand-up’, as well as ‘theatrical, poetical and slightly unhinged’, the show is performed in a phone-free environment. Perhaps no surprise as out-of-context comments have landed the comic in trouble before. Tommy Tiernan tour dates.

BATH: After a couple of new act competition heats, the Bath Comedy Festival ramps up from tonight, with tour shows from Chris McCausland and Chortle best newcomer Paddy Young. There's also a gala to celebrate the festival at the Forum on Friday featuring creatively off-the-wall Terry Alderton and smart stand-up from Rhys James, among others.

Thursday April 4

LONDON: A typically eclectic and offbeat line-up at Knock2Bag at the Moth Club in Hackney tonight features Spencer Jones, Tony Law, Tom Ward, Alexandra Haddow, Johnny White Really-Really and Ray Badran.

Friday April 5

LONDON: Glenn Moore brings Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, Glenn I'm Sixty Moore – one of the Edinburgh Fringe’s best-reviewed shows of 2022 – back to London for one final performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre.

LONDON: The Troy Club, London's longest-running alternative comedy night, returns with one of the circuit's longest-running alternative comedians, Chris Lynam, who will forever be the guy who sticks a firework up his arse for hs act. The line-up at the Black Heart club in Camden also includes Joz Norris and regulars Andrew O'Neill and Leslie Ewing-Burgesse, among others

LONDON: Another top-flight Live At the Chapel line-up at Islington's Union Chapel features the brilliant exaggerated mundanity of John Kearns, the uniquely funny poetry of Tim Key, accomplished stand-up from Maisie Adam and Janine Harouni, and much-tipped up-and-comer Sharon Wanjohi

LONDON: Johnny White Really-Really's quirky, dream-like and brilliantly original show, Catland, gets a two-night run at Soho Theatre. Read our five-star review from last year's Edinburgh Fringe here

Saturday April 6

CAMBERLEY: Romcom parody show Six Chick Flicks – subtitled ‘Or a Legally Blonde Pretty Woman Dirty Danced on the Beaches While Writing a Notebook on the Titanic’ – begins its 59-show tour of the UK. The off-Broadway hit – described as a feminist send-up of chick flicks – played last year’s Edinburgh Fringe where it picked up a five-star review from the Daily Mail. It is co-written by Kerry Ipema and TJ Dawe, who has made a career co-creating stage parodies of franchises including Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Batman, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead and Sex And The City. Ipema performs the show with KK Apple, an alumni of the acclaimed Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Six Chick Flicks tour dates.

Published: 31 Mar 2024