The comedy week ahead

The comedy week ahead...

Sunday October 20

TV: Matt Berry returns for a full, bonkers, series of Toast Of London, in which he plays an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past who spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it.

Monday October 21

RADIO: Jennifer Saunders reads from her autobiography Bonkers: My Life In Laughs every weekday this week. Radio 4, 9.45am

Tuesday October 22

COMEDY IN GALWAY: The Galway Comedy Festival launches as bold assault on the the well-regarded Cat Laughs in Kilkenny for the crown of the most impressive line-up of any Irish comedy event. Visiting American acts such as Eddie Pepitone, Eddie Brill and Bobcat Goldthwait join monster theatre-fillers like Russell Howard, Lee Mack and Kevin Bridges plus quirkier names like Tony Law, Pappy’s and Stewart Lee. It runs across multiple venues until Tuesday. Website

RADIO: Small Scenes, a new four-part sketch series starring stand-ups Daniel Rigby, Mike Wozniak, Sara Pascoe and Henry Paker starts tonight. This week listeners will hear commentary from the World Ham Shouting Championships and a couple who are being harassed by a former England football hero... Radio 4, 11pm

Wednesday October 23

COMEDY IN LONDON: Ricky Gervais plays his second music gig as David Brent, backed by Foregone Conclusion, at the Bloomsbury Theatre. You have very little chance of getting a ticket, so instead, why not try...

COMEDY IN LONDON: A rare – and welcome – compering gig for Daniel Kitson as he hosts a benefit for Hackney Winter Night Shelter at the Hackney Empire. The rest of the line-up is strong, too, with the likes of David Baddiel, Bridget Christie and Paul Sinha, among others.

COMEDY IN LONDON: The capital is spoiled for choice tonight, as the Leicester Square Theatre host the first of a four-night run of Edinburgh hit Not The Messiah, a gripping and funny biography of Graham Chapman.

COMEDY IN MILTON KEYNES: Barry Humphries takes his final bow with the farewell show Eat, Pray Laugh, which comes to Britain this week, kicking off at the Milton Keynes Theatre. Bid adieu to housewife superstar Dame Edna Everage and inebriated cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson.

TV: David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s new project, the-three part Ambassadors start tonight. Set in the fictional Central Asian Republic of Tazbekistan, the plot involves the diplomatic machinations involved in trying to secure a lucrative helicopter contract, while also addressing human rights issues. BBC Two, 9pm

Thursday October 24

BOOK: Frankie Boyle’s latest, Scotland’s Jesus, is published - branded with the slogan ‘The only officially non-racist comedian’, thanks to his libel victory over the Daily Mirror. ‘A torrent of jokes about recent events provide the framework for a broader philosophical despair,’ say the publisher. Buy

COMEDY IN KINGSTON: A more modest four-day festival with names from teh circuit, including Jarred Christmas’s SNAFU and Matt Price telling the story of his ill-fated trip to gig in Turkey. Website.

Friday October 24

COMEDY IN PERTH: The concert hall hosts the Punchline comedy club tonight, headlined by fine observational comic Seann Walsh, and featuring the two creations of Tom Binns – astonishing medium Ian D Montfort and inept hospital DJ Ivan Brackenbury – as well as the personable Des Clarke. The same line-up is at Edinburgh Picture House tomorrow.

Published: 20 Oct 2013