Brighton's Comedy Garden returns

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 June 30

LONDON: Connect 4 is a new format featuring four comedians, each of whom has to spend the first minute of their set speaking about whatever subject the previous comedian finished with. Ava Vidal leads Nabil Abdulrashid, Caroline Mabey and others in the first instalment at the Top Secret club in Covent Garden.

Monday July 1

LONDON: In Love That For Me, Scottish comic Stuart McPherson talks about how he got dumped for another more famous comedian – and how he tried to make sense of it all It attracted a handful of four-star reviews at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe and now lands at Soho Theatre for two nights.

LONDON: Daniel Kitson hosts a star-studded line-up in Hopefully a Few Laughs, a fundraiser in aid of the PDA Society, at the Union Chapel. Katherine Ryan, Lou Sanders, John Kearns, Tom Rosenthal and Brett Goldstein are all on the bill. PDA, or Pathological Demand Avoidance, is a profile on the autism spectrum characterised by a fear response to demands.

Tuesday July 2

NEWCASTLE: Tyne To Stand Up 3, at the Tyne Theatre and Opera Hose, features a packed bill of comics raising money for Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland. Among them are Lauren Pattison, Nicola Mantalios's alter-ego Zoe and Sammy Dobson, who hosts.

LONDON: Felicity Ward – who has been cast in the David Brent role in the Australian version of The Office – will be performing herfirst UK tour in five years, I'm Exhausting, this autumn. But first there’s a week-long run in Soho Theatre from today, covering the likes of giving birth, Quorn, fingering and transition lenses. Read our four-star review from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival here.

Wednesday July 3

BRIGHTON: Dara O Briain headlines the first night of the Brighton Comedy Garden in Preston Park, alongside Josh Pugh, Laura Smyth and Maisie Adam. Over the next few days the likes of Harry Hill, Simon Amstell, Sara Pascoe, Tim Key and Phil Wang will also be heading to the big top. Listings and tickets are here.

Thursday July 4

MELBOURNE: Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire also hosts an under-cover outdoor comedy festival this weekend, The Just The Tonic Comedy Shindig features the likes of Johnny Vegas, Ross Noble and Jason Manford. Listings and tickets are here

Friday July 5

LLANGOLLEN: Two very different approaches to comedy at the Town Hall tonight, with the restless polymath Robin Ince covering all sorts of big ideas and the proudly dumb Raymond & Mr Timpkins Revue on the same bill.

LONDON: The ARG (Actually Rather Good) Comedy Festival comes to Shoreditch Town Hall , with two full days of Edinburgh previews, the exact line-up of which is secret. And it all kicks off tonight with a gala show featuring Sara Pascoe, Jamali Maddix, Larry Dean, Ania Magliano, Sikisa and Suzi Ruffell. Website

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Published: 30 Jun 2024