Comic returns to an early stand-up show... and the rest of the week's live comedy picks

The best of the week's live comedy, picked from the 5,913 events Chortle currently has listed. Use our search panel to check our full listings by date and region.

Sunday February 11

LEICESTER: Comedian and anaesthetist Ed Patrick starts his first tour - a relatively modest nine dates - at the Leicester Comedy Festival (at The Big Difference at 2.30pm to be precise). In the Vein of This Is Going To Hurt, Catch Your Breath is described as a 'gut-punch show' about becoming a junior doctor, the NHS, the pitfalls of modern medicine and the power of questioning it. And Patrick, too, has a book. Ed ​Patrick tour dates.

GLASGOW: Former Britain's Got Talent finalist Daliso Chaponda also starts his tour today. Feed This Black Man Again is an updated version of a show he first performed 20 years ago in Canada, in which he discussed the way Africans were always portrayed as starving, negative stereotypes who were all supported by charities. However, with hindsight, he considers that ‘the jokes were mediocre' and that the rap about poverty was 'offensive'. So this is him revisiting the topic with two decades more experience of comedy… and of life. Daliso ​Chaponda tour dates.

Tuesday February 13

BIRMINGHAM: Nigerian comic Bright 'Basketmouth' Okpocha performs his new comedy special Cancel Culture in the UK for the first time at the Glee. He's also playing the chain's Cardiff and Oxford branches - and The Indigo in London's O2 this week.

LONDON: Marjolein Robertson kicks off her first UK tour, Marj with two nights at the Bill Murray - and concluding at the Mareel venue in the Shetlands, where she lives, in May. The show is billed as an hour of surreal stand-up entwined with one of Shetland's most famous folk tales, The Selkie Story, about a mermaid-style woman. Marjolein ​Robertson tour show.

Wednesday February 14

ABERYSTWYTH: The best up-and-coming Welsh comics are celebrated in a tour hosted by double 2024 Chortle nominee Kiri Pritchard-McLean and featuring Mel Owen, Anna Thomas, Bella Humphries and Tadiwa Mahlunge. There are a few changes to the New Welsh Wave bill over its 15 engagements, but not too many as promoters Little Wander showcase who they hope will be stars of the future. Tour dates

Thursday February 15

LONDON: The very intimate Aces and Eights bar in Tufnell Park hosts louche-yet-geeky musical comedy genius Jazz Emu, supported by an appealing quirky bill comprising Alex Kealy, Joz Norris, Lucy Pearman and Yuriko Kotani.

Saturday February 17

CHRISTCHURCH: Britain’s Got Talent 2020 winner Jon Courtenay embarks on his new tour, Bigger, at the Regent Theatre. Part one is a collection of new songs and stories, some of which may tug at your heartstrings. The second half is a personal one-man comedy musical, a development of the show he performed at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Jon ​Courtenay tour dates.

NOTTINGHAM: Just The Tonic at the Metronome has a strong bill, headed by faux Frenchman Marcel Lucont, backed by circuit faves Mick Ferry, Barry Dodds, Simon Lomas

Published: 11 Feb 2024