The best of the week's live comedy

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

Tuesday May 13

LONDON: He's a former Saturday Night Live writer, but Julio Torres's live work is much more delightfully esoteric than that might suggest. His latest offering, Color Theories, brings the audience into a world of metaphor that first seems surreal, but eventually comes to make perfect sense. He is at the Soho Theatre until Saturday and you can read our review here.

LONDON: The Comedy Store hosts the benefit Stand Up for Game Therapy with a line-up that incldues Jo Brand, Joel Dommett, Angela Barnes, Alasdair Beckett-King, Imran Yusuf and comedy pickpocket James Freedman

Wednesday May 14

LONDON: Another benefit and another starry line-up as the Bloomsbury Theatre hosts Laugh Till It Hurts in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. The line-up includes podcaster extraordinaire Adam Buxton, wordplay wizard Glenn Moore, Melbourne comedy festival award-winner Sarah Keyworth and many more…

NORWICH: Rob Copland, the winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards' Victoria Wood panel prize last year and recipient of a rare five-star Chortle review last Fringe, begins a run of UK dates this month at the Norwich Arts Centre. Rob Copland tour dates

Thursday May 15

LONDON: American political comic Michelle Wolf, as recently seen on Have I Got News For You, plays a one-off gig at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre.

LONDON: The Theatre Royal Stratford East is hosting an excellent one-off stand-up gig called Comedy Royalty, headed by Taskmaster favourites Rosie Jones and Sam Campbell, hosted by Eshaan Akbar and also featuring up-and-comer Sharon Wanjohi. And on Saturday: Desiree Burch, Jeff Innocent and Kiell Smith-Bynoe take part in ‘A Right Old Royal Variety Night’ at the same venue.

EXETER: Innovative Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Elf Lyons begins a tour of her acclaimed show Horses, the first comedy show ever performed entirely by a horse, Treacle. It is described as a 'celebration of the child within' with mime, stand-up, clown pieces and shadow puppetry. Elf Lyons tour dates

Friday May 16

LONDON: Ahir Shah brings his award-winning stand-up show Ends to Soho Theatre’s plush new Walthamstow venue. Spanning six decades of personal, social and political history, the comedian offers a more optimistic take on multiculturalism than you might expect from these divided times…

MANCHESTER: Josh Jones - as recently seen on ​​ Dancing On Ice – is behind a new night at the Fairfield Social Club with Morgan Rees and Louise Young among those on the opening-night bill.

Published: 11 May 2025