Laughter is certainly the best medicine - even if you’re not ill! Why not get your ribs well and truly tickled over the next few weeks by attending one or more of the following laughter-fests...  

PHIL WANG AND GUESTS

Phil Wang’s first-ever five minutes behind the mic as a stand-up comedian were spent telling other people’s gags. “I thought stand-up was like karaoke with jokes,” he recalls. “Most of the material I used was stolen, but I learned fast and immediately started writing my own material.” 
Inspired to become a comedian by his desire to avoid having to get up in the mornings, Phil describes his style of humour as smart, cheeky and always changing.
He’s sharing the Garrick spotlight mid-month with Tom Ward and Shaparak Khorsandi.

Lichfield Garrick, Friday 16 January

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SUE PERKINS

Here presenting her first stand-up show in more than a decade, Bake-Off, Taskmaster and Just A Minute star Sue Perkins is promising ‘a hilarious treatise on stigma, humiliation and misunderstanding’. 

In the process, she’s aiming to answer a tsunami of questions: what’s the fallout when your pituitary gland goes haywire on live TV? How do you convince the public you didn’t really fall onto that hoover attachment? And when intimate photos get splashed all over the internet, how do you switch the shame to dignity and joy?

Birmingham Town Hall, Friday 23 January; Malvern Theatres, Saturday 24 January; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Sunday 25 January; Warwick Art Centre, Coventry, Saturday 14 March

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COMEDY ALL STARS

The organisers of this first-ever Comedy All Stars night are very much starting as they mean to go on, presenting a bill that features four seriously talented comedians. Headliner Sara Pascoe (pictured) is joined for the show by Rhys James and Midlands-born comics Sarah Keyworth and Josh Pugh.  

Dudley Town Hall, Saturday 24 January

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MILTON JONES

With a style of humour that’s mainly based around puns and one-liners, Milton Jones has established himself as one of Britain’s most in-demand funnymen. “If my comedy is working well, I put a cartoon in people’s heads that surprises them,” explains Milton. “So you start off and they’re thinking one thing, then you surprise them by changing the ending as you go along. It’s not political or particularly edgy, it’s just daft.”

Gags include: “Militant feminists - I take my hat off to them. They don't like that,” and, “Recently on a flight to America, all the way across, my wife was going, ‘Why don't you get an upgrade, why don't you get an upgrade?’ It took a bit of time, but in the end I got a better wife.”

Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Tuesday 27 January; Artrix, Bromsgrove, Wednesday 4 February; Rugeley Rose Theatre, Thursday 5 February; Civic Centre, Stourport, Friday 6 February 

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MATT FORDE

A one-time advisor to New Labour (he gave up his membership of the party when Jeremy Corbyn became leader), Nottingham-born Matt Forde is this month returning to the Midlands with Defying Calamity, a show in which he aims to ‘find positivity in life, despite all the evidence to the contrary in politics and his own health’ (Matt was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in 2023 but is now disease-free). 

The Glee Club, Birmingham, Wednesday 28 January; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Wednesday 4 March; Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, Wednesday 15 April; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Thursday 4 June 

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MARK SIMMONS

A runner-up in the Top 10 Jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe competition in 2022 - “Did you know, if you get pregnant in the Amazon, it’s next-day delivery” - Mark Simmons went one better in 2024, emerging from the summertime get-together in the Scottish capital with the Funniest Joke award: “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship, but I bottled it.”

And there’s plenty more where those little gems came from, with Mark’s talent for one-liners knowing no bounds. 

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Saturday 31 January; New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Monday 2 March; Lichfield Garrick, Thursday 2 April; Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, Thursday 7 May; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Friday 8 May; Stafford Gatehouse, Thursday 17 September; The Glee Club, Birmingham, Thursday 26 November

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RIA LINA

The state of the world, the eternal battle of the sexes - and the delight of throwing life up in the air after years of following the rules - are among the subjects that comedian and forensic scientist Ria Lina puts under her microscope in brand-new touring show Riabellion. Her jokes include: “I wanted to do a show about feminism, but my husband wouldn’t let me.” 

The Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, South Shropshire, Sat 14 February

 

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CALLY BEATON

Comedian Sally Phillips is among Cally Beaton’s many and varied admirers. “She spins tales like Aisling Bea,” says Bridget Jones star Sally, “has the hair and strength of Pippi Longstocking, and the punk edge of Debbie Harry. Do I want a Cally Beaton rebrand? Hell yeah!” 

Cally is visiting the Midlands with Namaste Motherf*ckers, a show described by its publicity as ‘a quick-witted, unexpected and unapologetic insight into life in midlife’.

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Saturday 21 February

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ROSS NOBLE

Geordie laughter merchant Ross Noble may not have hit the heights once expected of him, but he’s a hugely talented comedian nonetheless. Peddling a nice line in surreal and quirky stream-of-consciousness humour, he’s heading for the Midlands this month with latest touring show Cranium Of Curiosities. Examples of his comedy include “How come Miss Universe is only won by people from Earth?” and “I had to take the batteries out of the carbon monoxide detector. It was beeping all night.”

Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Thursday 26 February; Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Thursday 19 March

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SHAPARAK KHORSANDI

A regular contributor to radio and television programmes, Iranian-born comedian Shaparak Khorsandi describes herself as a ‘spit and sawdust’ stand-up comic, happily pulling on her wellies and trudging through muddy fields to perform at any and every music festival that boasts a comedy tent.
She visits the Midlands with long-touring show Scatterbrain.

Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Sunday 1 March

       

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ANDY PARSONS

With complimentary reviews including such observations as ‘what he lacks in hair, he more than makes up for in originality,’ Andy Parsons is a sharp and topical comedian who’s well known from TV shows such as BBC’s Mock The Week and Live At The Apollo. 
Jokes include: “If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in tonight’s episode of EastEnders, they must have been acting better than they usually do.”
Andy’s currently performing his new touring show, Please #@!$ Off To Mars.

Lichfield Garrick, Sat 21 March; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Thurs 26 March

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JEN BRISTER

As she attempted to establish herself on the circuit back in the early noughties, Jen Brister received a much-needed boost from a comedy legend. The occasion was the BBC New Act semi-finals in Brighton. The legend in question, Spike Milligan, who was one of the judges. Although Jen didn’t get through to the final, she did find out from the show’s producer that Spike had voted for her. “He’d also remarked that I had ‘a great pair of Bristols’,” she recalls. “So clearly he had great taste in comedy and, er, tits!”
Jen visits Birmingham this month with latest show Reactive.

Birmingham Town Hall, Friday 27 March; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, Friday 8 May

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DANIEL O'REILLY

Daniel O’Reilly reckons his life has resembled a rollercoaster ride - and he’s stopping off in the Midlands this month to tell his legion of fans all about it.
The London-born comic originally made his name over a decade ago as the character Dapper Laughs, but an ill-advised joke about rape put the brakes on what had seemed to be a promising career. 
The years which followed saw him battling a drug and alcohol addiction, and fighting hard to reestablish himself on the UK comedy scene.  
Now, having been sober for more than 1,000 days, Daniel is out on the road again. He’s performing his latest stand-up show, Let’s Have It, under his own name - and joking that he hopes he gets cancelled, as he could do with a bit of a break.

Walsall Arena, Sat 21 March; Swan Theatre, Worcester, Sat 2 May; Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Sat 26 September; Crewe Lyceum Theatre, Fri 2 October

     

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MARK WATSON

Well established on the UK comedy circuit, Mark Watson was born in Bristol to Welsh parents and initially delivered his act with a Welsh accent, claiming he felt “more comfortable talking in a voice that I didn’t quite recognise as my own”. 

“Comedy is certainly a time-consuming element of my life,” he admits, “but then while I’m out touring and on stage, there are people at home doing far less glamorous things. There have certainly been times when I’ve been very happy to say, ‘Of course I’d like to stay and help out with that plumbing crisis, but the Midlands awaits!’”

 Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, Saturday 16 May

 

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TOM STADE

Clever, controversial and Canadian pretty much sums up Tom Stade, a familiar face on television programmes including Live At The Apollo and Mock The Week. 

Having racked up 30 years on the comedy frontline, Tom is visiting the region with brand-new touring show Naughty By Nature.

Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek, Staffs, Sunday 21 June 2026