60 years of satire

The week's best live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the thousands of events Chortle currently has listed. Obviously most of the attention is at the Edinburgh Fringe, but there are other options! Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Sunday August 11

EDINBURGH: Adam Hills and Jason Byrne reunite for a one-off comedy fundraiser for the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, with the duo reviving an ad hoc double act that first entertained crowds at Late N Live and other showcases in the early to-mid 2000s. This show will take place at the Assembly Rooms, Music Hall at 10.30pm. Tickets.

Monday August 12

EDINBURGH: Tonight we crown the winner of the 2024 Chortle Student Comedy Award at the Pleasance, following in the footsteps of so many now-hugely successful comics. Mark Watsone again takes the MC's mic, while those taking part are Anna Rae, Caitlin Powell, Cormac Sinnot, Foo, Jade Kelly, Leo Hincks, Mohaimen Quaunine and Oliver Moore. Tickets

LONDON: South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys returns to Soho Theatre with his latest one-man show, Sell-By Date, looking back at his 78-year life in the Rainbow Nation – 60 of them spent as a comic – and mimicking politicians both there and here as well as reviving his characters, Evita Bezuidenhout and Nowell Fine. It runs at Soho Theatre until the 24th.

Tuesday August 13

EDINBURGH: Some of the Fringe's best comics will head to McEwan Hall for Underbelly's annual Big Brain Tumour Benefit, run in memory of seven-year-old Alfie Bartlam, son of Underbelly Director Ed and his wife Lucinda, who died of a brain tumour in 2019. Tickets.

Wednesday August 14

LONDON: Standup: The Gameshow is described as a mash-up of live comedy and a pub quiz, which sounds like a good combo to us. Especially when your line-up includes, as this one at Walthamstow Trades Hall does, Spencer Jones, Heidi Regan, Bobby Mair and Kate Barron

Friday August 16

MANCHESTER: There's a good weekend at the Frog & Bucket tonight with mischief-making Carey Marx, deliciously wry Peter Brush, much-tipped Jules O'Brian and master crowd-wrangler Jonathan Mayor.

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Published: 11 Aug 2024