What it might be, how we can miss it and how we can find it again…
Like all those who spread mirth for a living, Mitch Benn ('the country's leading musical satirist' The Times) has been wondering if he's really making a difference, and if there is - yes - a POINT to what he - or anybody - is doing.
Well the good news is he's had a long hard think about it and he's figured it out, and he's coming back to tell us all what the POINT of comedy - and much else besides - might be…
'Song after song of exquisitely crafted satire' The Scotsman
'Well crafted, well sung, his songs are just plain funny' The Guardian
Studio
£19
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After a year of performing worldwide, award-winning comedian Aurie Styla is back on tour, with his biggest one to date.
Join him as he talks about this wild world, and his journey to make sense of it, in The Aurator!
As seen on ITVX's Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, Comedy Central Live, ITV's Jonathan Ross’ Comedy Club, Sky's Life’s A Pitch, ITV's Don’t Hate The Playaz, ITV's The Stand-Up Sketch Show, Channel 4's Mo Gilligan’s Black British & Funny and more.
Suitable for ages 16+ years.
Courtyard Theatre
£16
Presented by Live Nation in association with Ebdon Management.
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Insta auriestyla
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Tiktok AurieStyla
Attributed to Mark Twain, humour is defined as Tragedy Plus Time. Join Ed as he tests that formula by mining the most tragic event in his life for laughs.
Proudly presented by Phil McIntyre Live Ltd.
'Hilarious, extremely dark, profoundly touching and resolutely unsentimental. Ed Byrne has plumbed the very depths of his soul and found something verging on greatness' ★★★★★ Rolling Stone
'A delicate, sensitive high-wire act of a show, yet Byrne never once stumbles' ★★★★★ Mail on Sunday
'This is no misery memoir, Byrne is too talented a comic for that' ★★★★★ The Arts Desk
'Poignant, touching, spiky and laugh-out-loud funny… beautifully written and flawlessly performed' ★★★★★ Edinburgh Reviews
'He has delivered a fantastically funny and moving monologue where there is no doubt that we are seeing the authentic Ed… Byrne has hit new heights' ★★★★★ London Evening Standard
'A full range of human emotions, from rage to dark humour to poignancy and back again, is felt during this magnificent comedy hour' ★★★★★ London Theatre 1
'Side-splitting... Byrne is comedy gold' ★★★★★ Theatre & Arts Reviews
'A fierce tribute... tremendously funny, thoughtful and fond' Fest Mag
Courtyard Theatre
£32.50
Age guidance: 14+ years
Content warning - discussions of death.
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Insta MrEdByrne
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The comedian is back on the road with a hilarious brand new show - his biggest tour to date.
Robin has been seen on BBC2’s Mock The Week and BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz. His previous shows have dealt with a proposal, marriage, kids and a vasectomy. So what’s next on the list? Divorce? No, not divorce. It’s about how to keep the spark alive. Not just in a marriage, but also in yourself?
Robin’s been a busy bee since the last tour. He created and hosts topical comedy panel show What Just Happened? for BBC Radio Wales; he’s supported Adam Kay and Sophie McCartney on their nationwide tours; and has written for shows such as Have I Got News For You, The Weakest Link and Bake Off: The Professionals.
He's also become somewhat of a favourite on BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz, in an episode so popular that even the government complained about it.
Robin’s shows have always been about others. Now it’s time to focus on himself.
'Bloody funny, well-written, hard-working stand-up from a massively likeable performer who must surely be on the verge of nationwide fame' Chortle
'An hour of belly-hurting chortles' ★★★★★ Mumble Comedy
Age Guidance: 14+ years.
Presented by Little Wander in association with Sophie Chapman Talent.
Photo credit: Michelle Huggleston
Studio
£16
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Insta robinjmorgan
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Tiktok Robin Morgan
With the 3rd millennium almost 2.5% complete, Andy Zaltzman, one of the UK's leading satirical comedians, assesses the state of Planet Earth and its most famous and controversial species – the human race.
In the biggest stand-up tour of his career, Andy will attempt to concoct vaguely plausible answers to perennial questions such as What?, Who?, Where?, and above all Why?
As chair of The News Quiz since 2020, Andy has brought his inventive brand of satirical comedy to BBC Radio 4's long-running flagship topical comedy show, earning the show multiple awards, critical acclaim and a growing listenership.
Andy has hosted The Bugle, one of the world's longest-running and best-loved comedy podcasts, since 2007 (alongside John Oliver until 2015, and with numerous co-hosts from numerous continents since 2016). Renowned for its unique cocktail of up-to-the-minute global satire and premium-grade hogwash, and listened to by hundreds of thousands around the world, The Bugle recently passed the 600-episode mark, and has clocked up around 100 million total downloads.
Andy is unquestionably amongst the very best of the one-person list of Satirical Stand-Up Comedians Who Are Also Professional Cricket Statisticians. Since 2016, he has been a key member of the Test Match Special team, adding his distinctive blend of knowledge, expertise, humour and numerical inquisitiveness to the BBC's legendary cricket broadcast.
He has toured in the USA, India and Australia, wrote a book about the 2008 economic crisis, and will be appearing in series 18 of Taskmaster in Autumn 2024.
'Outright hilarious… beautifully formed' ★★★★ Dominic Maxwell, The Times
'Andy Zaltzman has revitalised the News Quiz… fizzes with a vitality and sense of fun that’s rare in such topical comedy warhorses' Steve Bennett, Chortle
'The Bugle: Silliness and laughter… Zaltzman is a sharp writer and an excellent satirist who combines political observation with daft whimsy' Fiona Sturges, Financial Times
Courtyard Theatre
£18
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Insta zaltcricket
Insta buglepodcast
Fb Andy Zaltzman
Hosted by Jeff Lloyd.
Seven challengers take on Vinyl Frontier host, Jeff, in seven battles of taste in a variety of categories with the audience choosing their favourite. After 3 years the score is currently Jeff 3 The Public 2 (and one draw)!
Studio
£12
Other Vinyl Frontier events this season include:
Sat 9 Nov: Vinyl Secret Singalong 2
A brand new magic show for 2024.
Star of The Greatest Magician™, and the BBC’s most broadcast magician of the last decade - the award-winning James Phelan - debuts this breath-taking new magic show.
Most infamous for jamming the BBC switchboard after correctly predicting the lottery, and described as ‘Joel Dommett meets Derren Brown’ - The Dreamer is a celebration of the impossible becoming possible.
With ‘heartwarming story-telling’ The Standard and unparalleled ‘mind-blowing magic’ Herald - you’ll find yourself swept into a wonderful world of amazement, laughter and mystery.
The Dreamer is an astonishing, enigmatic, five star rated spectacle that will leave you aching with laughter and dizzy in disbelief. You can’t afford to miss it.
‘Magic is in his bones. Disbelief, flabbergasted, stunned’ ★★★★★ Henley Herald
‘One to watch in the world of magic’ The List
Courtyard Theatre
£24.50
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Insta phelanmagician
Fb James Phelan
Sophie Duker is back and warming up her show before she heads out on tour!
But Daddy I Love Her sees Sophie take the stage with her trademark naughtiness, this time arguing that we should all choose silliness over common sense and hot wet fantasies over cold, bleak reality. In this intentionally unhinged hour, delulu is the solulu.
'She rips through sex and race with relish' ★★★★ The Sunday Times
'Shrewd storytelling and pop culture hot-takeṣ̣̣̣' ★★★★ FestMag
'Laugh-out loud funny' ★★★★ The Telegraph
'She is clearly going places' ★★★★ Evening Standard
'Wickedly funny' ★★★★ The Herald
'Riotously funny' ★★★★ Skinny
'Extremely funny' ★★★★ Scotsman
Studio
£14
Eshaan Akbar is back doing jokes on tour! His previous tour was described by The Times as 'pretty sick' (not an actual quote) so this one is likely to be mad good.
Eshaan has supported some of the biggest acts in the UK, including Micky Flanagan, Jason Manford and Kae Kurd.
He's been seen on Netflix's Sex Education, BBC's Mock The Week, QI and Live At The Apollo, Comedy Central Live and many more. Forthcoming TV includes Channel 4's The Last Leg and BBC's Pilgrimage. He's also been heard on award-winning podcasts Have A Word, Ninetwentynine and Spitting Image, as well as LBC, Times Radio, and BBC Radio 4.
‘An artfully pointed, refreshingly funny hour that suggests a big talent in the making' ★★★★ The Times
'A fine comic entertainer, an intelligent maker of points and a wealth of fascinating facts' ★★★★ The Scotsman
'Genius stand-up comedy' Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
'A story that’s likely to go far' Chortle
Courtyard Theatre
£18.50
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Insta eshaanakbar
Fb Eshaan Akbar
Tiktok eshaanakbar8
From the comedian who invented the phrase ‘No Planet B’ comes a new show about future cities, lost beavers, philistine Bingo callers, Dorothy Parker’s Multiverse Diaries and A Man Called Clive.
★★★★ 'One of comedy’s most skilled performers… this is an exquisite, erudite, well-crafted show' Evening Standard
★★★★ 'Hugely entertaining, gleefully jaunty, and refreshingly intelligent… I loved it.' The Guardian
'Intellectually charged and adorably ambitious…a delightfully digestible dose of brain food' The Times
Winner of Best Scripted Comedy and Best Comedy with a live audience - BBC Audio Drama Awards 2019
Studio
£20
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Fb Rob Newman
65 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth…
30 years ago, a movie about dinosaurs ruled the box office…
This season, you are invited to Hold On To Your Butts!
Hold On To Your Butts is a must see shot-for-shot parody of the greatest dinosaur film of all time. After selling out in New York and at the Edinburgh Festival, this wildly inventive tour-de-force of comedy, Foley sound and physical theatre is coming to Norden Farm.
Don’t walk, run to get your tickets!
'Painfully funny... made us cry actual tears of laughter... a pure joy from start to finish' Critics’ Pick - Time Out New York
Age guidance
8+ years.
Courtyard Theatre
£18 I £16 (Supporters)
Presented by Watford Palace Theatre.
Whipped Up! follows Dottie, an eager to please 50s style diner server on their first day on the job – where the baby is the customer, and caregivers are along for the ride.
As the server waits on their demanding clientele (imagine babies doing what babies do best – creating adorable chaos!) the server grows increasingly frazzled – and more and more entertaining!
Stimulating for tiny audience members with sensory play served up throughout the show, and hilarious for parents/ adults watching their loved ones take on roles in an unfolding comedy.
Age guidance
2 months to 2 years.
Run time
50 minutes without an interval.
Studio
£15 for one adult and one child I Additional adult £12
If life is a journey, Zoe’s has had more than its share of potholes and diversions.
From diving with sharks, to sitting in a shed in Vietnam with a former health secretary (and discovering that MPs aren’t the only parasites she has to worry about). Navigating the road to happiness can be exhausting and baffling. Zoe’s begun to think that even Wim Hof would prefer to be tucked up with a nice hot water bottle every now and then.
But Zoe’s been on that road long enough now that she’s felt a change – not as in the menopause. A real change. If happiness is ending up the best version of yourself, Zoe is finally getting there. She is where she needs to be. She is… werewolf.
The host of BBC’s Lightning, a regular on Have I Got News For You, QI, and Mock The Week – and a survivor of Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins and World’s Most Dangerous Roads on Dave – Zoe is one of the country’s best-loved comedians.
'A hugely enjoyable mix of brutal put downs and richly funny stories, Lyons has what it takes to delight any crowd' Guardian
'A tremendously good comic operating at a vertiginous level.' ★★★★ The Wee Review
'Confident and razor sharp' Observer
Age guidance: 14+ years
Courtyard Theatre
£17
X Zoe Lyons
Insta zoelyonscomedy
Fb Zoe Lyons
Finally, the UK has a new government. That can only mean one thing: new people to take the piss out of.
Leading political comedian and satirist Matt Forde (British Scandal, Spitting Image, The Last Leg) makes this his personal mission.
'Possibly the best political comedy show on the Fringe' ★★★★★ The Telegraph
'Our foremost satirical stand-up... Whatever your politics, you’ll find excellence here' The Sunday Times
'Demand to see Forde in action at the Pleasance outstrips supply – the place is rammed…dependably slick' The Daily Telegraph
'The excellent Matt Forde… even more accurate than Starmer’s needling voice' The Spectator
Courtyard Theatre
£18
The smash hit, critically acclaimed debut solo show from an agricultural icon.
Likely to cause delight or distress to anyone who becomes involved with her, or her livestock.
‘Tremendous… Wonderfully batty and unapologetic, a solo debut to cherish’ ★★★★ Guardian
'What an intense, unpredictable and hilarious show this is... Brought to exhilarating life by a sensational performance that it takes on an epic life' ★★★★ Chortle
'The poise she displays with her expressive comic physicality, well, it's a sublime, witch's brew of ingredients for a first-rate debut' ★★★★ Scotsman
'Cracking solo debut hour... Norris really cannot put a foot wrong' ★★★★ List
As seen on BBC New Comedy Awards 2023.
Musical Comedy Awards 2023 | Winner
NextUp Biggest Award in Comedy 2024 | Nominee
Mervy Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe 2024 | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Age guidance
16+ years.
Studio
£15
Shabaz Ali takes to the stage in his debut live comedy tour.
Jam packed with his roaring, on point and hugely requested observations of the mindboggling lengths that are taken to present a 'perfect' life online.
From designer ice cubes to Stanley cups and their wild and somewhat varied uses, nothing escapes his withering comedic commentary. A hilarious and interactive show where no one is off limits (including the audience!). It will make you fall in love with your own extraordinary, ordinary life.
Shabaz Ali is a global sensation who has fast become a pop culture phenomenon. He is a comedian and author of hit book I’m Rich, You're Poor. Shabaz has built a loyal community of millions of followers, who regularly demand his quick-witted take on the latest online craze.
'Hilarious and thought provoking' Davina McCall
'Brilliantly witty, always hilarious' Dr Ranj
'Smart, witty and refreshing' Katie Piper OBE
Studio
£18
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Insta shabazsays
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Tiktok shabazsays
Geoff Norcott returns to Norden Farm with a work in progress show!
Geoff Norcott has an established string of TV credits to his name including Live at the Apollo (BBC 2), Backstage with Katherine Ryan (Amazon), Mock the Week (BBC 2), Have I Got News for You (BBC 1) and many more. He is also a regular correspondent on Dave’s Late Night Mash, as well as fronting his own documentary How the Middle Classes Ruined Britain for BBC 2.
He’s also been popping up on the radio with his own BBC Radio 4 specials Withdrawal Disagreement and Right Leaning but Well Meaning (which won the 2019 BBC Radio and Music Award for Best Comedy Production).
Age guidance: 16+ years
Courtyard Theatre
£15
Geoff's website
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Insta geoffnorcott
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TikTok geoffnorcott
A poignant exploration of comedy intertwined with the essence of life's ups and downs.
Justin's unparalleled ability to blend side-splitting humour with touching insights offers a rare glimpse into the human condition through the lens of a comedian.
This performance is more than just a series of jokes - it's a heartfelt journey through the joys, sorrows, and hilarity of life, delivered with Justin's characteristic charisma and warmth. Prepare to laugh, reflect and connect deeply with every story, making this evening an unforgettable highlight in your cultural calendar.
'What sets him apart is the craft. Lightning fast wit, masterful delivery' ★★★★ Chortle
'If joke-telling is your thing, then Justin Moorhouse is your man...very high gag rate' ★★★★ Fest
'Skilful crafting... he keeps the laughs coming' ★★★★ British Theatre Guide
'He charms the pants off the crowd' Sunday Times
'The amount of first-rate comic craft that goes into his routines is worthy of admiration' Guardian
'Simultaneously down-to-earth and out of this world' The List
Age guidance: 14+ years.
Courtyard Theatre
£16 | £6 unwaged with proof of JSA
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Insta justinmoorhouse
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Tiktok justinmoorhousecomedian
One of the country's most exciting up and coming stand ups.
After a 5-star, sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, the 'almost sexily cerebral' (★★★★ Daily Telegraph) stand-up Alex Kealy is taking his new stand-up show about fear on a national tour.
Alex has been the tour support for Jack Dee, Shaparak Khorsandi, Tom Rosenthal and Kieran Hodgson.
Along with Ivo Graham, he hosts hit podcast Gig Pigs, which regularly topped the music podcasts charts during its first 2 seasons, as well as being featured in The Guardian's readers' Top 10 Podcasts of 2023.
His sharp joke-writing and political takes have been featured on multiple guest appearances on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show as well as Catherine Bohart's TL; DR and Rhys James's What Are You Talking About. He's also been a regular writer for Mock The Week and The News Quiz.
Studio
£16
The critically acclaimed comedian is back on the road with a brand new tour show.
Expect Jamali's trademark brutally honest and unflinching perspectives on the world at large.
His last tours have sold out shows across the globe, playing the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. He is a regular on Sky's Nevermind the Buzzcocks and was one of the most anarchic Taskmaster contestants the show has ever seen. Alongside this he was a regular contributor for BBC2's Frankie Boyle's New World Order and has been seen on BBC2's Live at the Apollo, More4's 8 Out of 10 Cats, CBS's The Late Late Show with James Corden as well as many others.
Courtyard Theatre
£22
This event goes on sale to Members on Thursday 29 August and on general sale on Friday 30 August. Find out more about becoming a Member by clicking here. Members can click here to login for priority booking.
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Insta jamalimaddix
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Tiktok jamalimaddix