Who's on the road in 2009?

After an autumn of big-name tours from the likes of Steve Coogan, French & Saunders and Lee Evans, the new year sees less famous – but critically admired – acts take to the road.

Among the acts travelling the UK in the next few months are Pappy’s Fun Club, Stephen K Amos, Ivan Brackenbury, Robin Ince and 6 Music’s Jon Richardson, who is embarking on his first solo tour.

2008 if.comedy winner David O’Doherty, as well as nominees Rhod Gilbert and Russell Kane will be hitting the road; as will Richard Herring, Alex Horne, Mark Watson, Micky Flanagan, John Shuttleworth and Lucy Porter.

Al Murray and Rob Brydon are among the few big names to be touring in the new year, while Ross Noble kicks off a new run of dates in March.

Meanwhile, Dylan Moran and Ed Byrne continue their tours – and Jimmy Carr is rarely off the road.

And in a slightly different type of show, Mark Thomas is running a series of gigs that will try to explain the credit crunch – and the financial machinations that got us there.

It’s The Economy Stupid!, on at London’s Etcetera and Hen and Chickens theatres from January to March, will invite guests such as journalists, academics and economists, who Thomas will iinterview in an attempt to get to the bottom of the world of international finance.

See our On Tour page for dates of all the comedy acts touring nationally

Published: 6 Jan 2009