The most popular comedy shows in London

  You have a nagging problem in your life, who are you turning to? Your friends? Your therapist? What about your favourite agony aunt? Ultimately, the concept is flawed because it’s impossible to expect some celebrity journalist to sort your life out. Getting a clown to do it makes just as much sense, really.  Julia Masli’s widely acclaimed live agony aunt show was a runaway hit at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. On its opening night at Soho Theatre, the Estonian comedian comes out in a kind of deconstructed pantomime gown, bowling shoes and on her left arm, a full-sized mannequin leg with a microphone at the end. Beaming a light from the bike helmet on her head like a kind of ‘X-Files’ alien, she approaches audience members with laser-focus, asking, ‘Problem?’. The idea behind this wonderfully odd setup is that a problem shared is a problem halved.  A clown by trade, Masli’s 2022 show ‘Choosh’ traced a migrant’s journey from Eastern Europe to the US through Chaplin-style slapstick. This nonsensical humour underpins her style of stunt comedy, yet you can’t escape the sense of real earnestness coming from our hipster host. She plays the part of an innocent, otherworldly naif with aplomb.  The show is part-meditation (our host enters to the slow voiceover of ‘ha, ha, ha,’), part-group therapy session. And the direction of it is completely determined by the audience. Tonight, the issues range from the mundane ‘my dog barks at foxes’ to the all too relatable ‘my boss is...

In his latest dizzyingly high concept show, avant comedy legend Stewart Lee bemoans his irrelevance – something he’s been been bemoaning for decades, often with zeitgeisty results – in a new show in which he promises to unleash a new, callously offensive stage persona to compete with the likes of Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle. The Man-Wulf is, apparently, ‘a tough-talking werewolf comedian from the dark forests of the subconscious who hates humanity’. Expect nuclear levels of irony. 

Leftfield comics Riches and Kearns both are and aren’t keeping their cards close to their chests for this oddball seasonal extravganza. On the one hand we know exactly what it’s about: the duo will play Michael Ball and Alfie Boe, the actor-singers who are superstars in their own right and have done serious business as a double act. On the other hand they’re being deliberately opaque about what they actually have planned, even down to who is playing who. Neither Riches nor Kearns are noted for their singing voices; they are renowned for extreme commitment to the bit, no matter how absurd – in Riches’ case it borders on method. Whatever the hell happens, you’re unlikely to forget it in a hurry.

The glamorous Russian-born comic eviscerates her own oligarchical upbringing in this amusing slaying of various elephants in the room. A hit at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, Comes from Money beds down for an extended Soho Theatre run.

The surrealist comedy legend and prog lover returns to the West End with a new show in which he promises to celebrate flawed humanity in an age where things can increasingly be done better by machine.

This review is from the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The big word-of-mouth comedy hit at the 2024 Fringe is this outlandish yet perversely enjoyable late night gem from newcomer Huddersfield comic Joe Kent-Waters. Kind of like the degenerate, basement-raised offspring of ‘Phoenix Nights’ and ‘League of Gentlemen’ - not to mention Marlowe’s ‘Doctor Faustus’ - the nominal premise is that 24 years ago, Rotherham working men’s club owner Frankie made a pact with infernal powers: they offered him a wish and he asked that they preserve his club exactly how it was - immune to the outside world - until such time as they would return to drag him into hell. I would say that one hundred percent explains what happens in this show, but that’s kind of beside the point. Lumbering on in thick white face makeup that dissolves throughout the sweaty set, Monroe seems part infernal himself. Acting as emcee, he presides over a series of bizarre games, guest acts (all played by Kent-Waters) and audience interactions that do not in any way feel like they would have seemed current in the late ‘90s, or probably the early ’70s.  I was, er, delighted to find myself the participant in one of the interactions: early on Kent-Waters/Frankie – who is a pretty big lad it has to be said – demanded I hand over my wallet. Throughout the remainder of the night I was given a series of absurd, rigged opportunities to win it back – like guessing which marigold glove was filled with scampi fries. That sort of...

David Blaine collaborator and master of mindreading Asi Wind bring his new show to the Boulevard for a stint.

The time is finally nigh. After a huge rush all the way back in 2022 to bag tickets for Peter Kay’s huge comeback tour, his residency at the O2 arena is here. Last yeat the Bolton funny man began his first stand up tour in 12 years, and now to round it all off in epic style he’s pulling an Elvis-style move and doing a monthly residency at the O2 Arena – the first stand-up in the world to do so. The gigs will continue all the way into 2025, so even if you missed out on tickets the first time round there should be plenty of opportunity to catch the Lancastrian’s signature gags, guffaws and one-liners in the capital. 

15 acts compete in this heat of the 2013 Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competition, plus MC Lewis Bryan.