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...  

KANE BROWN

Parenthood, family life, relationships and British culture are among the subjects to which Kane Brown regularly returns during his live shows. 
The one-time direct-sales executive kickstarted his current career back in 2006 when he enrolled in a two-week course in standup-comedy, since which time he’s honed his rib-tickling talents to excellent effect. 
Kane visits the region this month with his acclaimed show, Don’t Listen To Me. 

Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa, Saturday 23 November

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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!

Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, Saturday 23 November; The Alexandra, Birmingham, Friday 28 February; The Civic at The Halls Wolverhampton, Saturday 1 March

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KIRI PRITCHARD-MCLEAN

Hailed for her dynamic stand-up and admirable commitment to chiselling out high-quality humour from even the thorniest of subjects, Kiri Pritchard-McLean makes a welcome return to the circuit with Peacock, a show about her recent experience of becoming a foster parent. 
“Lots of people don’t know how [fostering] works,” Kiri recently told Entssouthwales, “and I think demystifying things can often open doors. People have preconceptions about who and what it takes to be a foster carer. I think a stand-up comedian who’s about to do a 100-date tour blows a lot of those [preconceptions] out of the water!”  

Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham, Sunday 24 November

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TOM WARD

Having recently made the decision to eat healthily during the week - “Saturday nights are for colon carnage” - Tom Ward has put together a show that’s all about rethinking everything. “The thinness of reality is the theme of Choose Your Delusion,” he says. 
He then goes on to further explain that the evening will see him reflecting on “all the big topics of our time: masculinity, three-star hotels, erectile dysfunction, reality TV, adverts, mental health and virtue-signalling w**kers”. 
Tom’s visits to the Midlands this month form part of his second-ever UK tour.

The Glee Club, Birmingham, Sunday 24 November

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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.

Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Sunday 24 November; The Glee Club, Birmingham, Sunday 16 February; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Wednesday 21 May

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MO GILLIGAN

London standup Mo Gilligan has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame and fortune since first coming to wider public attention just a handful of years ago. It was back in December 2016 that Mo uploaded a video about grime MCs - since which time he’s found himself catapulted to celebrity status. Hired by Channel Four to front The Lateish Show and rewarded for his television work with a coveted Bafta gong, Mo admits that his life has started to feel just a little bit crazy. “I wake up in the morning and think, ‘This is nuts!’” admits the 35-year-old. “It’s what I’d always dreamt about, and now that it’s happened, I’m determined to make the most of it.” 

Utilita Arena Birmingham, Saturday 30 November 2024

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TROY HAWKE

Erudite and home-schooled 1930s throwback Troy Hawke lists his hobbies as playing scrabble, conspiracy theories and calling Manchester City’s Erling Haaland “a tremendous Nordic meat shield”.

The foppish Errol Flynn-lookalike (Troy, that is, not Erling) - as played by character stand-up Milo McCabe - had been out and about on the comedy circuit for a good few years before finally hitting the online jackpot and going viral on TikTok. 

Troy is visiting the Midlands this month with The Greeters Guild, a show in which he ‘examines his unlikely genesis and explores exactly why a well-dressed man simply being nice to people has caused such a kerfuffle’. 

Expect an evening of splendidly incongruous, occasionally brain-addling, delivered-with-warmth comedy.

The Civic at The Halls Wolverhampton, Saturday 30 November

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A LAUGH SUPREME

Debuting this month, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s (RBC) A Laugh Supreme is described as ‘a series of shows bringing together the best of comedy and jazz in the incredible Eastside Jazz Club’.
The opening line-up features Chelsea Birkby, RBC jazz musicians and headliner Simon Munnery (pictured). 

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Friday 6 December

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ANDY PARSONS

With complimentary reviews (sort of) including such observations as ‘what he lacks in hair, Parsons more than makes up for in originality,’ Andy Parsons is a sharp and topical comedian who’s well known from TV shows such as BBC’s Mock The Week and Live At The Apollo.
Jokes include: “If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in tonight’s episode of EastEnders, they must have been acting better than they usually do.”

Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek, Staffordshire, Friday 6 December

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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.”

 Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Friday 6 December; Stourbridge Town Hall, Saturday 7 December; 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

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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.”

Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, Saturday 8 December; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Friday 28 February; Birmingham Town Hall, Friday 7 March

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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 Civic at The Halls Wolverhampton, Friday 13 December; 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

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LIVE AT CHRISTMAS

A handful of years back, the seriously posh and admirably self-deprecating Ivo Graham almost won the coveted ‘best joke of the Edinburgh Fringe’ award with a Christmas-related gag...
“I’ve got an Eton-themed advent calendar,” explained Tokyo-born Oxford alumnus Ivo to the assembled throng, “All the doors are opened for me by my dad’s contacts.”
Ivo will no doubt have a Santa’s-sack-worth of other seasonal material when he stops off in the Midlands to host this touring chuckle fest. Sara Pascoe (pictured), Ivo Graham and Steen Raskopoulos appear in both shows. Rhys James, Jamali Maddix and Jin Hao Li join in the fun at Birmingham Town Hall, with Phil Wang and Lou Sanders featuring on the bill at Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre.   

Birmingham Town Hall, Thursday 12 December; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Friday 13 December

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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

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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 with latest show Yonks!.

The Alexandra, Birmingham, Sunday 26 January; Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Thursday 30 January

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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. 
Katherine hits the road this month with a brand-new stand-up offering. 
“My new show is called Battleaxe, because it means a tyrant and a loud, outspoken feminist,” Katherine recently 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 

 

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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

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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