Where to find funny next week
Sunday: Freeze! (Tim Key and Tom Basden) has reached the eastern leg of its comedic poetry / poetic comedy London compass-point tour. See them at the Arcola tent (8pm, £12).
Monday: Always an excellent venue with its sunken stage and many vantage points, the Good Ship in Kilburn also has an excellent line up tonight. Josie Long headlines, with Tobias Persson, Miles Lloyd and Bobby Mair also on the bill (8.30pm, £4 / £5, try and book in advance).
Tuesday: Stewart Lee's Carpet Remnant World starts its long, long residency at Leicester Square Theatre (£20 / £17). You can't get in tonight, so after you've booking ahead why not go to the Soho Theatre to see his former telly partner Richard Herring asking What is Love Anyway? (10pm, £17.50 / £15). We apologise for the earworm.
Wednesday: Still at the Soho Theatre, Aussie Hannah Gadsby has a four night run of her Edinburgh show, Mrs Chuckles (8pm, £15 / £12.50 / £10). The title is ironic.
Thursday: Mark Watson's doing a Q&A at the Apple store on Regent Street from 7pm (free) - but coming from a man whose approach to a quiz show was surreally brilliant, we expect not just the usual dull Q&A crap. For an actual comedy show, we can't do better than recommend the wonderful Robin Ince's latest freewheel through science, rationalism and whatever's made him angry that day, over at Stratford Circus (8pm, £14 / £10).
Friday: If only all threats were as easy to comply with: Laugh or the Polar Bear Gets It is a fundraiser for Friends of the Earth at Hammersmith Apollo (7pm). Your £19.50 gets you Tim Minchin, Russell Howard, Lucy Porter, Greg Davies, Josie Long, Richard Herring, Dan Antopolski, Jeremy Lion, Francesca Martinez, Rob Rouse and music from Badly Drawn Boy.
Saturday: We're big fans of Andrew O'Neill; catch his brilliant, intelligent, surreal comedy at club 7 on Red in Covent Garden, with Joel Dommett, Matt Richardson and hosted by White Van Man-writer Adrian Poynton, who we also like (8.30pm, £10).
Book ahead: Crisis is putting on a Christmas show at the Hammersmith Apollo with comedy from (so far) Tim Minchin, Jo Brand and Ross Noble (hosting. That should be something to see) and music from (so far) Graham Coxon and Paul Weller. Tickets start at £39.50 and go up to a wincemaking £75, but it's all for a good cause.
Tip us off to intelligent, alternative, friendly comedy gigs, clubs and shows around London: [email protected]. Photo by daveograve@ via the Londonist Flickrpool
