Doesn't this lockdown drag on? | Today's best comedy on demand

Doesn't this lockdown drag on?

Today's best comedy on demand

Here's Chortle's daily round-up of new comedy to watch at home during lockdown.

This list, updated at around 3pm daily, covers subscription services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer and NextUp, to podcasts and live streaming, is your essential guide to getting a daily dose of laughs.

You can search our listings for a more comprehensive list of online events using the blue box at the left or top of this page. Or if you're a promoter wanting to add an event, details are here.


Saturday September 5

PIFF THE MAGIC DRAGON: Live from Vegas, where he now lives following his success on America’s Got Talent, the British comedy-magician presents a show for Just The Tonic comedy club, starting at 8.30pm. Tickets, priced from a fiver, are available here.

STAGED: The BBC’s lockdown comedy starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant arrives on Netflix. At their director's request, the actors try to rehearse a postponed play remotely while stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

REGGIE PERRIN: The 21st Century reboot of David Nobbs classic sitcom, with Martin Clunes taking over the title role of an executive having a midlife crisis from the late Leonard Rossiter, has just arrived on Amazon Prime. Both six-episodes series, which also co-starred Fay Ripley and Wendy Craig, are online.


Friday September 4

SHEDINBURGH FRINGE: The virtual festival continues with a couple of comedy shows tonight. At 7.30pm, Deborah Frances White presents an at-home version of her one-woman show Rolls the Dice, the true story of hunting her birth mother to find out why she gave her away, which has previously been adapted for Radio 4. Tickets Then at 9.15pm there's a double-bill of stand-ups Ahir Shah and Olga Koch. Tickets.

THE COMEDY STORE ONLINE: Adam Bloom, Lou Conran, Marcus Brigstocke and Steve Harris feature in tonight's show from the legendary venue, filmed in front of a real audience pre-lockdown. Tickets are available here.

NICK REVELL: BROKEN DREAMCATCHER: Comedy storyteller Nick Revell has just returned to Radio 4 with a new series that adds a touch of magical realism to his extended, outlandish stand-up yarns. In the first episode of series two, available now on BBC Sounds, the coincidental opening of two 'shaman shops' in north London leads to previously undreamed of events unfolding at the Nag's Head crossroads in Holloway, with Gwyneth Paltrow revealing her visceral dislike of Taylor Swift and a secret passion for 1970s Rugby League as she asks to borrow Nick's kettle.


Thursday September 3

THE TOMMY & HECTOR PODCAST: Tommy Tiernan reunites with his old pals Hector O'hEochagain, now a TV and radio presenter, and Laurita Blewitt, who is described merely as a 'Mayo woman', in this podcast, launched onAcast today. Producers say: 'Expect pure conversation of the language loving storytelling variety, where topics are unpredictable and funny, carefree and intimate'.

SHEDINBURGH FRINGE: The virtual festival set up in the absence of the Edinburgh Fringe tonight features a comedy double-bill. At 7.30pm, Sara Pascoe and Steen Raskopoulos improvise condensed versions of full length Edinburgh shows having never seen them. And at 9.15 Shedinburgh founder Gary McNair is in conversation with Steve Coogan - the interview in which the Alan Partridge creator said he was eying a potential return to the Fringe. More details on the Shedinburgh website.

GRIEFCAST WITH Cariad Lloyd The award-winning podcast with funny people discussing death and grief, returned for a second series yesterday, with the comedian talking to writer Candice Brathwaite, author of I Am Not Your Baby Mother, about her experience of losing her dad Richard, when she was 20. Listen to all the episodes on Acast


Wednesday September 2

WACKY RACISTS: Sophie Duker presents a version of her acclaimed 'melanin-rich comedy milkshake' online tonight as part of the Shedinburgh Festival. On tonight's showcase are Ken Cheng, Fatiha El-Ghorri and Gbemi Oladipo and 'one-man-white-man-house-band' The Tone Deafs. The blurb promises'socially-distanced hilarity from the show that brought you "Pin the Tail on the Honky".' Kick off is 7.30pm and tickets, priced from £7, are available here.

THE TIME I ALMOST: Tiff Stevenson, Shazia Mirza and Sophie McCartney are the guests in tonight's online version of Alexis Strum's regular comedy storytelling night. It's being staged with Funny Women and all profits go to domestic abuse charities. Tickets, priced £5.98 ad £11.37, are available here.

DADS: THE PODCAST: American comedian Rory Scovel and producer Ruthie Wyatt have just launched this podcast about fatherhood. It's made by Conan O’Brien's production company Team Coco and in the first episode the comic turned talk-show host recalls what it was like to grow up with an "evil scientist" for a dad as well as the dopamine rush of making him laugh for the first time. Listen here.


Tuesday September 1

PODCAST OF UNNECESSARY DETAIL: Festival of the Spoken Nerd today launch their first podcast. In each episode, stand-up mathematician M​att Parker​, experiments maestro ​Steve Mould​ and geek comedy songstress H​elen Arney look for quirky facts and clear explanations of the world with the good humour they bring to their stage shows. Three episodes have dropped today, entitled Fuel, Interstellar and Rings, and three more are coming over the next three weeks. Listen and subscribe here. In the first episode Arney sings this song:

HOW DO YOU COPE? …WITH ELIS AND JOHN: Messrs James and Robins return for a second series of the BBC podcast in which they talk to celebrity guests about some of the greatest challenges they’ve faced – both mental and physical. Up first is George Ezra, who talks about his obsessive-compulsive disorder, while other upcoming guests include comedian Josie Long, naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham and cricketer Monty Panesar. Listen here

BETWEEN US: Mervyn Stutter is a stalwart of the Fringe, unflaggingly presenting a daily showcase of talent and interviewing them for the past 28 years. Without the festival this year, he's instead turned to the internet to present a series of chats with Edinburgh regulars, including comedian Alexis Dubus, magician Ben Hart, cabaret star Dillie Keane and comedy reviewer Kate Copstick. Watch on his YouTube channel.


Monday August 31

ENVIRONMENTALS: This zero-budget comedy short about two wannabe environmentalists who attempt to give up meat in order to save the planet has already been selected for a few indie festivals and was last night released online. Needless to say it doesn’t go well for the would-be Greta Thunbergs. Writer Ben Behrens, who stars alongside comedian and Broadchurch actor Becky Brunning said: 'We’re all trying to be greener in our lives – but there’s something about screwing up when trying to do the right thing that’s an irresistible subject for comedy.' Watch it below:

THE GONG SHOW: The Comedy Store's brutal open mic night goes online, with new comics trying to survive three minutes through their webcams. Adam Rowe hosts the show, which kicks off at 9pm on Facebook. QUARANTINE BOPS: Canadian musical comedian Anesti Danelis has been releasing a weekly comedy song, and accompanying video, on Youtube even week since the beginning of lockdown, and has now released the collection as an album on Spotify and elsewhere. Tracks include No More Toilet Paper, Millennial on TikTok and Ingest Disinfectant. Or watch all the videos on YouTube.


Sunday August 30

YOUR PLACE COMEDY: Comedian and Chaser Paul Sinha, News Quiz and Mock The Week regular Angela Barnes, and enthusiastic upper-class eccentric Tim FitzHigham perform at this free gig tonight to support a group of ten small, independent venues across the north of England. Donations will help keep them afloat during the pandemic. More details here.

IT'S THE FIREWORKS TALKING: Daniel Kitson has put an audio recording his enchanting 2007 show about 'the courage of kindness' online via Bandcamp. It was recorded at The Stand during that year's Edinburgh Fringe and half the proceeds will be going to the venue - and its sister sites in Glasgow and Newcastle – after it revealed that it was close to collapse because of the financial hammer-blow inflicted by Covid.

FRED MACAULAY IN CONVERSATION: In the last of theses online talk shows, presented by by the Gilded Balloon, Macaulay is joined by fellow comics Jo Brand and Justin Moorhouse. The show is at 5pm, and tickets, priced from £2, are available here.


Need more suggestions?

• Click here for those from the week starting August 23
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Click here for those from the week starting August 9
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Click here for those from the week starting August 2
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Click here for those from the week starting July 26
• Click here for those from the week starting July 19
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Click here for those from the week starting June 28
• Click here for those from the week starting June 21
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Click here for those from the week starting June 14
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Click here for those from the week starting May 31
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• Click here for those from the week starting May 3
• Click here for those from the week starting April 26
• Click here for those from the week starting April 19
• 
Click here for those from the week starting April 12
• Click here for those from the week starting April 5
• Click here for those from the week starting March 29
• 
Click here for those from the week starting March 22
• Click here for those from the week starting March 15

NOTE: Sometimes links and videos of live events expire after the event. All were valid at the time of publication

Published: 5 Sep 2020

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