The week's best 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.  

Sunday July 12

YORK:  The Museum Gardens are hosting a big outdoor comedy festival from 2.30pm with an unmissable line-up that includes Russell Howard,  Ross Noble, Russell Kane,  Suzi Ruffell and many more.

SHEFFIELD: Funhouse Comedy Club is hosting a full day of Edinburgh Fringe previews at the New Barrack Tavern,  including Phil Nichol,  Adam Flood, Andrew Bird, Patrick Monahan and others, from 2pm. 

DERBY: And a similar event in Derby’s Bar One includes Diane Spencer, Jules Oliver and Paul ’Silky’ White.

Monday July 13

LONDON: Chortle’s Fast Fringe returns to Pleasance Islington with host Arthur Smith introducing a fun and manic bill of 30 Edinburgh-bound acts representing the full spectrum of comedy, variety and cabaret, including musical comedy impressionist Jess Robinson,  stand-up from SNL UK writer Omar Badwy,  clowns such as Lil Wenker and  Maya Ricote, cult favourites John-Luke Roberts and Adam Larter, and character and sketch comedy from Rosalie Minnit and  Rory Marshall. Plus many, many, many more. Go here for a full list, and to buy tickets.

GLASGOW: The long-running tour of Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf, in which the progressive comedian tries to tap into the primal  power of his anti-woke counterparts, begins a run of Scottish dates at the King’s Theatre. . Stewart Lee tour dates

Tuesday July 14

LONDON: Laura Benanti has won a Tony Award for her role in musical theatre,  a talent she mixes with stand-up and storytelling in her solo comedy show Nobody Cares, which comes to Underbelly Boulevard in Soho for a two-week run from today. It’s described as ’a completely unfiltered take on modern womanhood, people-pleasing, ageing, motherhood, and the absurdities of everyday life’. Benanti also has a periodic role on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where she impersonates Melania Trump.

Wednesday July 15

LONDON: Renamed The Greenwich Comedy Garden to fit in with the other festivals run by the same organisers across the country, the marquee-based stand-up extravaganza formerly known as the Greenwich Comedy Festival returns to the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College.  Tom Allen, Suzi Ruffell, Ivo Graham, Kiran Saggu and Laura Smyth open proceedings, with the likes of Alan Davies, Sara Pascoe and Jack Dee popping by before the festival ups sticks on Sunday. 

LONDON: American comic Emil Wakim - a cast member on Saturday Night Live for its 50th season - talks about identity, guilt, and the quiet pressure of living in the 21st Century at the Soho Theatre from tonight until Saturday.

Thursday July 16

LONDON: Alt comedy and clowning show LEMONFACE returns to Underbelly Boulevard in the heart of Soho with a lineup that includes Elf Lyons, Katie Norris and  Mark Silcox.

LONDON: A free 6pm gig in Old Spitalfields Market features Aurie Styla, Jamali Maddix, Li Jin Hao, Lindsey Santoro and Limahl Germain.

Published: 12 Jul 2026