The week's best live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 6,637 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Sunday September 15

MANCHESTER: It’s been five years since he was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award, yet remarkably Spencer Jones, former star of the BBC sitcom Mister Winner, has never been on tour… until now. Expect prop-based tomfoolery, daft visual gags and silly loop-based songs. The first half of the show is a ‘greatest hits’ package of gags from his first five shows, the second is the story of how he lost his mind moving to rural Devon. Spencer Jones tour dates.

WREXHAM: It's the last day of the town's comedy festival today, with shows by the likes of Jeff Innocent, Hannah Platt, Jo Caulfield and a closing gala headlined by Prince Of Puns Gary Delaney. Fill your boots with comedy!

Monday September 16

LONDON: Ruby Wax is to return to the West End for the first time in ten years with a two-week run of her show I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Way. Based on her memoirs of the same name, the show reflects on a series of experiences she tried in search of meaning – swimming with humpback whales; embarking on a 30-day silent Retreat in California and joining a Christian monastery. However, the comedian’s depression resurfaced for the first time in a decade, and at the start of 2022 she was admitted to a mental health clinic. ‘Obviously, I didn’t find what I was looking for,’ she said. Tickets.

LONDON: Stars from the world of music, comedy, film and TV get together at The Savoy Theatre to celebrate the life and work of Steve Brown who died earlier this year. , He worked closely with Rory Bremner, Harry Hill (with whom developed the X Factor musical I Can’t Sign and Tony! The Tony Blair Rock Opera) and Steve Coogan, most notably starring as the bandleader Glenn Ponder in the Alan Partridge talk show Knowing Me, Knowing You. All three appear in tonight’s line-up alongside Rob Brydon, Stewart Lee and Brown’s son, Alfie Brown, and ex-wife Jan Raven as well as countless musicians, all singing the songs of Steve Brown with the support of The Matt Backer Big Band. Hill said: ‘Steve wrote great songs for all of us, he made us all sound smarter and funnier than we ever were - and here we are, all together to celebrate what he gave us. It’s going to be brilliant.' Tickets

LONDON: The Comedy Store hosts an excellent bill raising money for Head Held High, an anti-youth violence charity. Marcus Brigstocke, Nick Helm, Paul Sinha, Kerry Godliman, Adam Bloom Laura Smyth Tom Ward are your comedians for the night.

LONDON: And at the Union Chapel in Islington, Bridget Christie, Desiree Burch, Laura Smyth, Lou Sanders and Jen Brister offer another strong night of comedy, raising money for the charity Bloody Good Period.

Tuesday September 17

READING: Maisie Adam heads out on tour with a new stand-up show, Appraisal, taking stock of her first five years in comedy (allowing for a certain Covid interruption). Given she’s a solo touring comic who’s hosted Live At The Apollo, appeared on the likes of A League Of Their Own and Have I Got News For You, it’s fair to say it’s gone pretty well… Maisie Adam tour dates, which kick off at the Concert Hall tonight.

Wednesday September 18

SHEFFIELD: Fresh from winning this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award, Amy Gledhill embarks on a 26-date tour of her new show, Make Me Look Fit On The Poster, all ‘about self-confidence, romance and bin bags’ - and, memorably, a day out at Go Ape. Gledhill is also half of the Delightful Sausage double act that was nominated for the best show at the 2019 and 2022 Fringes, and co-hosts the comedy podcast Northern News with Ian Smith. Amy Gledhill tour dates, starting at the Leadmill.

NOTTINGHAM: Up-and-coming stand-up Travis Jay kicks off his debut UK tour at the Canalhouse, the first of 26 dates across the country. He recently had a role in Netflix superhero drama Supacell, as John, while Radio 4 aired a pilot of his audience sitcom Rum Punch, about a modern family running their Caribbean restaurant in Lewisham, in March. Travis Jay tour dates

EDINBURGH: Susie McCabe, Josie Long, Susan Riddell, Jay Lafferty and Chortle Student runner-up Jade Kelly take part in a benefit at the Glasgow Stand for the Women's Support Project, which works to end violence against women.

LONDON: Suzi Ruffell’s All-Stars is another Comedy Store fundraiser, this one in support of Young Roots and also featuring Ivo Graham, Josh Widdicombe, Amy Annette and Chantel Nash.

Thursday September 19

CUMBERNAULD: Described as 'normal good observational comedy for people who wake up screaming sometimes', Christopher MacArthur-Boyd takes his show Scary Times out on tour, starting at the Lantern Theatre, with jokes on zoos, going for a walk, and the collapse of the British state. Christopher Macarthur-Boyd tour dates 

CAMBRIDGE: Max Fosh, who has more than 4 million followers across social media and 1 billion views on YouTube, starts his second stand-up tour. His videos are all about finding life's loopholes and exploiting them, hence the title of this international tour, kicking off at the Corn Exchange. Max Fosh tour dates

LONDON: Chris Cantrill performs his hugely entertaining mid-life crisis show Easily Swayed at the Soho Theatre for two nights, fresh from its nomination at last month’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Friday September 20

NOTTINGHAM: The city’s castle hosts a weekend comedy festival. Tonight it’s Nina Conti, Duncan Oakley and Barry Dodds Tickets and tomorrow it’s Gary Delaney, Simon Brodkin and Dodds again. Tickets

FOLKESTONE: Tom Ward - who has appeared Live at The Apollo, QI, and Roast Battle - stars a 25-venue tour, Choose Your Delusion, promising to cover masculinity, erectile dysfunction, reality TV, and more. Tom Ward tour dates

Saturday September 21

MAIDENHEAD: Lucy Porter’s new tour, which stars at Norden Farm tonight, covers all her regrets - ‘disastrous dates, professional calamities, ruined friendships and parenting fails’ as she ponders how her life would have turned out if she'd acted differently. Producers say: ‘As a middle-aged, middle-class, left-leaning ex-Catholic, guilt is one of Lucy's top five hobbies (along with going to the garden centre, doing jigsaws, making bread and watching subtitled foreign dramas on Netflix. She's also ashamed of all these hobbies.)’. Lucy Porter tour dates.

BRIGHTON: Romesh Ranganathan headlines an excellent gig at the open-air theatre alongside Stephen Grant and Suzi Ruffell.

» Listings of 160 comedy tours

Published: 15 Sep 2024