Losing a ball... and gaining a family

The week's best live comedy

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

Sunday May 5

DUBLIN: A very starry line-up comes to Vicar Street for the Irish Comics for Palestine fundraiser, featuring the likes of Dylan Moran, Ardal O'Hanlon, Deirdre O'Kane and more. It's in aid of the doctors of Medicins Sans Frontiers working in Gaza.

Tuesday May 7

LONDON: Australian musical comedian Gillian Cosgriff brings her feelgood show Actually, Good to the Soho Theatre for a two-week run, reminding audiences to celebrate life's small pleasures while you can. Here is our five-star review from the 2023 Melbourne International Comey Festival, where it won the award for most outstanding show.

LONDON: After his UK tour, Phil Ellis's Excellent Comedy Show also lands at Soho Theatre for a week for a manic blast of silliness in all its forms, also with musical accompaniment. Here is our four-and-a-half-star review from last year's Edinburgh Fringe

LONDON: The Comedy Store hosts the Spread A Smile charity comedy night feautring Josh Widdicombe,Iain Stirling, Sindhu Vee, Suzi Ruffell, Sara Barron and Amy Annette.

Wednesday May 8

LONDON: Richard Herring kicks off his tour Can I Have My Ball Back? at the Leicester Square Theatre. It's his first live show in six years and discusses the testicular cancer he was diagnosed with in 2021, leading to an operation to have his ' murderous ball' removed. In this show, according to its precis, 'Richard talks bollocks and answers the question on everyone's lips: Is a severed gonad in a jar a fitting prize to bring in for Taskmaster?.Richard Herring tour dates

Saturday May 11

STOKE-ON-TRENT: At the Potteries Museum, Kiri Pritchard-McLean kicks off her latest tour, Peacock, about becoming a foster parent. It's not something she's talked about on stage before and she hasn't even told the kids in her care that she's a comedian, using a different name, Louise, when she looks after them. In a recent interview with the BBC she said: 'Since my 20s, when I started seriously thinking about what does my family look like in the future, I was like, I don't feel like biological children is the right thing for me. There was a lot that didn't appeal about being a mum in a conventional sense…. I'd never even considered foster care and it felt like a really measured, safe way into [adoption].' Peacock promises to lift the lid on social workers, first aid training and what not to do when a vicar searches for you on YouTube…. Kiri Pritchard-McLean tour dates

LONDON: Bridget Christie headlines a typically strong bill at Islington's Union Chapel, performing alongside the quintessential comedians' comedian, Daniel Kitson, and the bonkers Harriet Kemsley.

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Published: 5 May 2024