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Laughter is certainly the best medicine - even if you’re not ill! Why not get your ribs well and truly tickled over the next few weeks by attending one or more of the following laughter-fests...
HAL CRUTTENDEN & FRIENDS
If you’re thinking of heading along to a Hal Cruttenden gig but don’t quite know what to expect from the experience, fear not - the man himself is a past master at describing his act. “It’s funny, obviously,” says Hal, “but it’s also catty, surprising, angry, cleverish and chubby!”
Festival Drayton Centre, Market Drayton, North Shropshire, Friday 10 January
SUKH OJLA
With her life experiences including a teenage suicide attempt, a Spanish-retreat encounter with the psychoactive brew ayahuasca, and a train-station breakdown involving a cheese & onion pasty, Sukh Ojla has plenty of fantastic raw material around which to build a show.
She also has experience of being a thirtysomething living at home with her mom & dad, another situation that’s provided her with plenty of comedy gold: “Living at home with my parents is essentially like living in the most passive-aggressive Air B&B of all time,” she says, “except that you can’t even leave them a bad review!”
Sukh visits the Midlands this month with The Aunty Years, a show in which she’s set herself the challenge of ‘figuring out middle age, pretending to be a grown-up and the joy of a Tupperware set’.
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Friday 17 January; The Alexandra, Birmingham, Sunday 19 January
CHRIS MCCAUSLAND
“A long time ago, when I’d only just started out as a comedian,” recalls scouse funnyman Chris McCausland, “I walked out on stage and was telling a joke to break the ice about being blind, when somebody in the audience shouted out, pantomime style, ‘We’re behind you!’ It was very funny!”
Chris has the eye condition retinitis pigmentosa. “It’s been referred to in different ways across the years,” he says, “from the rather dull and generic-sounding macular degeneration to the cool and groovy inverse cone-rod dystrophy!”
A touring comedian since the mid-noughties, Chris has also appeared on a host of television panel games and in series including EastEnders and Moving On.
He visits the Midlands this month with latest show Yonks!.
Walsall Arena, Fri 17 January; The Alexandra, Birmingham, Sunday 26 January; Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Thursday 30 January; Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, Thursday 27 March; Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Tuesday 22 April; William Aston Hall, Wrexham, Wednesday 23 April; Dudley Town Hall, Saturday 10 May; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Monday 12 - Wednesday 14 May; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Friday 23 May & Friday 7 November; The Regal, Evesham, Friday 16 - Saturday 17 May; Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Wednesday 10 September; Stratford Play House, Stratford-upon-Avon, Friday 12 September; Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Monday 6 - Tuesday 7 October; Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa, Saturday 8 November
ED BYRNE
A highly regarded master of observational comedy, Ed Byrne admits to being a little uncomfortable about some of the ‘more laddish’ material he used in the early days of his standup career.
“My comedy reflected my life at that time - single and enjoying myself. Most of it was fairly harmless, but some of the stuff about an ex-girlfriend I can see was a bit angry, and I wouldn’t do it now.”
Ed is bringing his latest standup offering, Tragedy Plus Time, to a couple of Midlands venues this month. So does he enjoy touring the country?
“Apart from the travel involved, which no comic likes, I love it. You have people responding to something that you’ve written alone in your office, and the work comes alive in a roomful of people. I like the TV things I do, but nothing can beat a live comedy audience.”
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Saturday 18 January; Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, Wednesday 29 January
JIMMY CARR
Jimmy Carr’s comedy is all about quickfire, deadpan one-liners - so many of them, in fact, that he’s not sure whether their content actually matters all that much: “People don’t really remember the individual jokes I tell because I tell such a lot of them. What they do remember is how those jokes make them feel.”
Jimmy is a comedian for whom no subject is off limits: “I’ll talk about anything as long as I feel the joke justifies it. Sure, it may cause controversy - but then controversy is an easy story on a slow-news day. And I never apologise for jokes. After all, I’m not making a serious political statement, I’m just trying to make somebody laugh.”
The Alexandra, Birmingham, Thursday 23 January; Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Saturday 15 March; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Friday 16 May; Utilita Arena Birmingham, Wednesday 10 December
PETER KAY
Peter Kay has the magical ability to endear himself to just about everybody. Gregarious in nature and bringing to the stage bucketloads of northern-style charisma, he peddles a line in comedy which is bold and biting but never cruel.
“It’s good to get back to what I love doing best,” he says, in talking about his return to stand-up comedy. “And if there’s ever a time people need a laugh, it’s now.”
Returning to the circuit after taking a 12-year break, he’s offering tickets to his shows at the same starting price as the previous time he went out on tour, way back in 2010.
Friday 6 December; Friday 24 January 2025; Saturday 7 June 2025; Friday 5 December 2025
STEWART LEE
At 56 years of age, Shropshire-born Stewart Lee is well aware that he’s not the man he used to be - although he’s maybe being a bit too hard on himself.
“In a way, my physical collapse has been a huge advantage,” says Stewart, perhaps with his tongue in his cheek. “It’s given the ‘stage me’ some tragedy, some gravity. Also, I’m going deaf and now wear hearing aids, which has been an interesting challenge on stage. My knees are shattered and don’t work - I think I ruined them during the 200 dates I did of a show where I pretended to be Jeremy Clarkson kicking a tramp to death - and that’s had an interesting effect on my physicality. If I jump off stage now or climb things, there’s a genuine element of pain and danger. I’m like Eddie The Eagle or something.”
Stewart returns to the Midlands this month with a brand-new show in which he’ll be sharing the stage with ‘a tough-talking werewolf comedian from the dark forests of the subconscious who hates humanity’...
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Friday 24 - Sunday 26 January; Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Monday 12 May
ALAN DAVIES & SUPPORT
Alan Davies has been a high-profile television face for more than 30 years now, first coming to prominence in hit detective series Jonathan Creek. Further and numerous TV credits have followed - perhaps most notably QI and Taskmaster - ensuring he’s remained very much in the public conciousness since his late-20th-century glory days.
Alan here makes a relatively rare headline appearance and will be topping a line-up of ‘side-splitting comedians’.
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Tuesday 28 January
RICKY GERVAIS
Ricky Gervais has been called the most influential British comedian since Charlie Chaplin...
In fact, he’s been called all sorts of things, some of them far less complimentary.
A comic who very much divides opinion - he’s clever and talented but often criticised for peddling ‘unacceptable’ material, particularly about minorities - there’s certainly no questioning the worldwide impact of the Reading-born 63-year-old.
After shooting to fame as David Brent in television’s The Office - the BBC mockumentary he co-wrote with Stephen Merchant back in the early noughties - he’s established himself as a star-name funnyman on both sides of the Atlantic, picking up his fair share of glittering awards, critical acclaim and severe reproaches along the way.
This latest standup offering is called Mortality, a title which leaves no room for confusion as to what the show is all about. “We’re all gonna die,” says Ricky. “May as well have a laugh about it. Mortality looks at the absurdities of life. And death. Bring it on.”
Utilita Arena Birmingham, Tuesday 28 & Wednesday 29 January
AL MURRAY: THE PUB LANDLORD
“I love being a pub landlord,” says Al Murray. “It’s a truly great calling. You’re there to soothe troubled souls, pour balm on troubled waters, make people’s important moments in their lives extra special, and provide a range of snacks. What’s not to like?”
Latest show Guv Island sees Al going all out to help the great British public “make sense of the questions they probably already had the answers to”...
Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Thursday 30 January; The Civic at The Halls, Wolverhampton, Friday 31 January; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Saturday 1 March; Walsall Arena & Arts Centre, Friday 7 March; Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa, Sunday 30 March; William Aston Hall, Wrexham, Saturday 26 April
KATHERINE RYAN
Taking a wry, warped and witty look at the world around her, Katherine Ryan often writes and performs material which proves that even the darkest of subject matter can have a funny side.
With her star very much in the ascendant at the moment, she’s back on the road this month with her latest standup offering.
“My show is called Battleaxe, because it means a tyrant and a loud, outspoken feminist,” Katherine told BBC TV’s The One Show. “And those are all positive terms for me, not negative ones. And I like reclaiming words; especially words about women that are negative.”
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Friday 31 January; The Civic at The Halls, Wolverhampton, Saturday 8 February; Utilita Arena Birmingham, Saturday 10 May
MILTON JONES
Milton Jones has established himself as one of Britain’s most in-demand funnymen.
“If my comedy’s working well, I put a cartoon in people’s heads that surprises them,” he explains. “So you start off and they’re thinking one thing, then you surprise them by changing the ending as you go along. It’s not political or particularly edgy, it’s just daft.
“I think the better the comic you are, the stronger the flavour you are. I think if you’re bland and everyone quite likes you, you’re probably just not very good.”
Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Sunday 16 February; Swan Theatre, Worcester, Friday 7 March; Malvern Theatres, Sunday 9 March; Lichfield Garrick, Wednesday 12 March; Dudley Town Hall, Friday 14 March; New Vic Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, Saturday 15 March; Palace Theatre, Redditch, Sunday 16 March; Birmingham Town Hall, Thursday 27 March
OMID DJALILI
A fella who’s been referred to as “the thinking person’s Iranian comedian”, Omid Djalili is probably one of the most subversive comics currently doing the rounds on the UK comedy circuit.
“I’ve been breaking away from the Middle Eastern pigeonhole that you people [journalists] have unfairly put me in. I’m a citizen of the world, and I will not be defined by cultural stereotypes. I have a specific viewpoint, which many call ‘Djalili-esque’, and I think my material reflects that now. Would you like a carpet? Visit my website. I also sell fried chicken, mayonnaise, motorcycle insurance and viagra, very fine price.”
Dudley Town Hall, Friday 21 February; Stratford PlayHouse, Stratford-upon-Avon, Saturday 22 February; Birmingham Town Hall, Friday 16 May; The Regal, Evesham, Saturday 20 September; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Thursday 9 October
CARL HUTCHINSON
Observational comedian Carl Hutchinson makes a welcome return with a show that covers all manner of common-or-garden topics. Prior to becoming a full-time stand-up, Carl was a maths teacher. “There are certainly comparisons between the two professions,” says the popular Geordie funnyman, “but the definite advantage with comedy is that if you have a bad gig, you can rest assured that you don’t have to see the same audience the next day at 10am!”
Carl visits the region with new show Today Years Old.
The Glee Club, Birmingham, Sunday 16 February; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Wednesday 21 May
ANDY ZALTZMAN
Sporting a hairstyle that makes him look like Art Garfunkel on acid, Andy Zaltzman is best known for performing comedy routines with a decidedly political bent.
Jokes include: “Politicians are like God. No one believes in them, they haven’t done anything for ages, and they give jobs to their immediate family.” Another gag is: “Sperms are communists. Well, Stalinists, really - only one of them gets to achieve anything, and millions of them die for nothing.”
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Friday 28 February; Birmingham Town Hall, Friday 7 March
PADDY MCGUINNESS
Best known as Peter Kay’s sidekick in the hit TV shows Phoenix Nights and Max And Paddy’s Road To Nowhere - and more recently as a co-presenter of BBC TV series Top Gear and the critically panned Road Tripping - Paddy McGuinness is one of the UK’s most popular comedy talents.
This new tour marks a return to stand-up after a break of eight years, with Paddy having openly admitted he’s hitting the road because “the money’s run out”.
“I’m looking forward to getting back in front of a live audience,” said the 51-year-old before embarking on the tour, “along with running the gauntlet of cancel culture, click bait and fake news!
The Alexandra, Birmingham, Friday 28 February; The Civic at The Halls Wolverhampton, Saturday 1 March
RUSSELL KANE
Past publicity blurb for this fella said it all: “Strap in for some super-speed sunderings and inconvenient sociology in a show of self-soiling merriment that will leave you with rickets.”
In short, Russell Kane is a very funny man - and it’s not just his publicist who thinks so. Russell has been drawing a crowd since bursting onto the scene 20 years ago, serving up liberal doses of humour at a frenetic pace.
The London-born comedian visits the Midlands with latest touring show HyperActive.
Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, Saturday 8 March 2025; Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Sunday 27 April 2025