Pick of the week's live comedy

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 7,528 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Monday January 27

LONDON: There's a bonanza of 2024 Edinburgh hits at Soho Theatre this week, with runs from best comedy award-winner Amy Gledhill, best newcomer Joe Kent-Walters and two of the most inventive shows to make a splash for festival debutants: Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going To Do One (1) Backflip and Jin Hao Li's Swimming in a Submarine. Gledhill's show is a cheery look at body positivity through a series of funny personal stories; Kent-Walters adopts the friendly but odd alter-ego of demonic working men's club compere Frankie Monroe for his wild hour; Adejuyigbe links a series of imaginative sketches through his big concept; while Li asserts a very distinctive comic voice for his quirky, loosely autobiographical show. Every one of these shows is definitely worth your time.

LONDON: Sticking with Soho Theatre, Rob Auton has a week-long residency of his latest whimsical stand-up show, before a UK tour kicks off in Birmingham next week. ' I wanted to think about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them,' he says of the origin of the hour, very literally titled The Eyes Open And Shut Show. Rob Auton tour dates.

Wednesday January 29

LIVERPOOL: The Taskmaster himself, Greg Davies, is heading back out on tour for the first time in seven years with his new show, Full Fat Legend. Greg Davies tour dates

Friday January 31

BRISTOL: Deadpan New Zealand comic Ray O'Leary – who's appeared on Aotearoa's Taskmaster – embarks on a tour of his show, Your Laughter Is Just Making Me Stronger, with his dogged, slightly absurd, deconstruction of everyday life. You won't hear a better routine about bed linen, Ray O'Leary. tour dates

BISHOPS STORTFORD: Richard Herring begins a new run of dates of his show, Can I Have My Ball Back?, a light-hearted discussion of his brush with testicular cancer with a preview gig at the South Mill Art Centre. Richard Herring tour dates LONDON: A mighty fine bill at the Hackney Empire features Bridget Christie, Ivo Graham, Sam Campbell and ,Michelle De Swarte.

Saturday February 1

EDINBURGH: Dan Tiernan's sophomore show last Edinburgh Fringe underlined his status as an exciting, and intense, recent addition to the comedy circuit. Now he takes that acclaimed hour, Stomp, on a tour of the UK, kicking off where it all began – at the Monkey Barrel in Edinburg. Dan Tiernan tour dates

MANCHESTERThere are three comedians who definitely know what they're doing at the Comedy Store at the Bierkeller tonight, with proven gagmesisers Markus Birdman, Paul Tonkinson and Steve Gribbin.

SALISBURY: Meet the Richardsons (and much else besides) star Lucy Beaumont headlines the Wiltshire Creative Comedy Club at the Salisbury Playhouse with fine support from much-tipped emerging talens Ania Magliano and Huge Davies.

Sunday February 2

MANCHESTER: The Chortle Hotshots scheme stars here! We're giving five bursaries to five 2025 Edinburgh Fringe debutants, covering their registration fee and offering free adverts and more. They're being chosen at showcases around the country this month, starting at the A Lovely Time gig at Cultplex tonight. More info on future shows in Edinburgh, London, Birmingham and Bristol is here and Manchester tickets are here.

Published: 26 Jan 2025