top comedy on Liverpool stages in 2024
Comedy flourishes in uncertain times, so it seems Liverpool audiences can expect a bumper year for laughs in 2024.
And with the strength of the confirmed line-up already heading for the city, that’s no idle boast.
Along with the many regular comedy club nights and special guests in venues like Laughterhouse and Hot Water, many of the city’s theatres and other venues are also hosting comedy names – from superstar funny men and women to rising talents to catch before they go stratospheric.
From arena shows in front of 10,000-strong crowds to intimate gigs for 100 comedy afficionados, and from storytellers to surreal flights of fancy and funsters to punsters, there really is something – and someone – to appeal to all tastes.
Here are some of the shows coming to a stage near you over the next 12 months.
Liverpool Empire
James Acaster – February 5-7
Acaster, described as ‘one of comedy’s most original voices’, brings his new live stand-up show Hecklers Welcome to the Empire for three consecutive nights in February – and tickets for all three are already in short supply.
Liverpool comedy fans will no doubt want to see if it lives up to its name.
Adam Rowe – March 9
Liverpool funnyman Adam Rowe asks ‘What’s Wrong With Me?’ in his show which he’s bringing to the Empire this spring.
Like Acaster, tickets for the Saturday night date have been snapped up so if you want to catch him, act quickly or face disappointment.
Romesh Ranganathan – April 10-11
After a sell out tour in 2022, Ranganathan is back with a new show, Hustle, coming to Liverpool for two nights.
In it he examines the human condition – are people inherently good? Is charity always a positive thing? Is hustling the key to success? Or is all this a load of nonsense made up to keep people working hard for no reason?
Tom Allen – April 12
Allen showcases his acerbic wit and riotous storytelling style in Completely, his new stand-up show landing in Lime Street for one (practically sold out) night.
Having finally moved out of his parents’ home, he’s on the road sharing his life updates, asking for opinions on his vegetable patch and delving into the protocol of inviting friends with children for dinner.
Frankie Boyle - April 28
Frankie Boyle is making a Lap of Shame this spring with a stop at the Empire.
Buy a ticket because by the time he arrives, the currency will be worthless and you and your neighbours part of a struggling militia which could probably do with a few laughs.
Rhod Gilbert – May 17-18
The multi award-winning comedian is bouncing back (after well documented serious health issues) with a new show, Rhod Gilbert & The Giant Grapefruit.
Billed as ‘hilariously dark, passionate and way too personal’, fans can expect some classic Gilbert, squeezing every last drop out of life’s zesty curveballs (and with a little help from an old adversary).
Mo Gilligan – November 29
The triple BAFTA-winning stand-up and presenter brings his In The Moment mammoth world tour to Liverpool for a pre-Christmas visit and the penultimate date of its British leg.
M&S Bank Arena
Bill Bailey – March 2
Comedian, musician and twinkle toed Strictly glitterball champion Bailey comes to Liverpool with his latest arena tour Thoughtifier.
At a time when it feels like we’re sleepwalking into a world where humans might be redundant and much of what we can do can be done better and more efficiently by machines, what better time to celebrate our own flawed humanity?
Michael McIntyre – April 19-20
It’s five years since comedian and gameshow host Michael McIntyre last toured the UK, and a lot has happened.
Magnificent will see McIntyre making mirth from the madness of it all.
Sarah Millican – June 1-2
Geordie favourite Sarah Millican swings by the Auditorium for two nights of laughs courtesy of her latest live show Late Bloomer.
When Millican was a bairn she wouldn’t say boo to a goose and had few friends at school. Now she’s loud, with good friends, and goose booing all over the shop. Come along and laugh at her, with her and beside her.
Paul Smith – October 26
Hot Water Comedy’s resident compere, Smith returns to the altogether bigger M&S Bank Arena with his new touring show Pablo.
Expect a mixture of his trademark audience interaction and hilarious true stories from everyday life in a show that promises to have you rolling around with laughter.
Jason Manford – November 22
Manford’s last live tour saw him play 280 dates across the country.
Now the hard-working Salford comedian, actor, singer and radio presenter is back for autumn 2024, this time with his latest show, A Manford all Seasons.
Philharmonic Hall
Jonathan Pie – January 23-24
Jonathan Pie talks Heroes & Villains at the Philharmonic Hall this January.
Join him as he celebrates the UKs greatest heroes and takes a verbal blowtorch to its villains, and marvel in wonder as he kicks open the backdoor of the Establishment and rifles its kitchen cupboards.
Stewart Lee – February 6-7
Lee returns to Hope Street (following a sell-out date in 2023) with his current stand-up show Basic Lee.
After a decade of ground-breaking high concept shows involving overarched, interlinked narratives, massive sets and enormous comedy props, Lee enters the post-pandemic era in streamlined solo stand-up mode.
Matt Green – February 11
Satirical comedian Matt Green is embarking on his inaugural UK solo tour with a date at the Phil’s Music Room this February.
Expect a stand-up show featuring jokes about politics and jokes not about politics as Green tries to make sense of the world.
Ross Noble – March 1
Jibber Jabber Jamboree is Noble’s 21st solo tour.
And to celebrate the Geordie comedian is inviting his audience to join him for an evening of the sort of inspired nonsense that has cemented his reputation as the supreme master of freewheeling, stream-of-consciousness stand-up.
MC Hammersmith – March 29
Multi award-winning freestyle rap comedian MC Hammersmith heads for the Music Room ahead of Easter with his show Straight Outta Brompton.
Comedy fans can expect an evening of improvised comedy raps based solely on audience suggestions, making each show unique.
Leigh Francis – March 30
You may know him best as Keith Lemon, or as the creator of Bo’Selecta!
But now presenter, writer and funnyman Leigh Francis is stepping out on stage as himself for the first time in a show called, perhaps unsurprisingly, My First Time.
Saying that, Francis is also promising live appearances from some of his favourite characters, and ‘buckets of audience interaction’.
Troy Hawke – April 13-14
Everyone’s favourite 1930s throwback, urbane smoking-jacket clad Troy Hawke, has had a meteoric rise since his ‘Greeters Guild’ videos hit the internet.
See him in the flesh in two solo shows at the Philharmonic, in which Troy examines his unlikely genesis and explores exactly why a well-dressed man simply being nice to people has caused such a kerfuffle.
Tommy Tiernan – April 27
Tommy Tiernan is promising audiences a fun-filled trip through his comic imagination in his new show Tommedian, involving a madcap parade of characters, memories and flights of fancy.
But fans take note – Tiernan is declaring his gig a ‘phone free’ experience which means you’ll need to put your phones and smart watches in a special pouch for the duration of the show. Tickets will be of the good old paper variety and you’ll need to bring a debit or credit card for purchases on site.
Julian Clary – April 28
You’ve heard of the man with no name? Well, meet the man with no shame.
After playing Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar last autumn, ‘comedian, homosexual and national trinket’ Julian Clary returns to Liverpool with his new Western-inspired stand-up show A Fistful of Clary.
Alfie Moore – April 28
Thirty years’ work, first as a steelworker and then a policeman, has left comedian Alfie Moore with A Face for Radio – a face not so much lived in as inhabited by a settlement of careless squatters.
Now he’s bringing that face to the Phil’s Music Room
Ed Gamble – May 22
Off Menu podcast co-host, Great British Menu judge (and Taskmaster champion) Ed Gamble has cooked up a new live show and he’s serving it up at the Philharmonic Hall.
Hot Diggity Dog is likely to contain some classic ranting, raving and spluttering. But he’s doing fine mentally. Honest.
Al Murray – October 27
Standing up so you don’t have to take it lying down anymore, everyone’s favourite, take-no-nonsense pub landlord is back with Guv Island, making sense of the questions you probably already had the answers to.
Everyman and Playhouse
Guz Khan – February 23 (PH)
Comedian and actor Guz Khan returns to the Liverpool Playhouse this February with his latest live show and as part of what is shaping up to be a sold-out UK tour.
Khan, creator of Man Like Mobeen, is known for bringing his big-screen persona and BAFTA-nominated hilarity to the stand-up stage.
Babatunde Aleshe – February 24 (PH)
A powerhouse performer, Babatunde Aleshe’s stand-up presents a hilariously fresh perspective with plenty of charisma, stagecraft and timing.
In this debut solo touring show Babahood (and a re-scheduled date from last October) he muses on his comedy career (including the worst gig he ever did), family life and time on I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
Tim Vine – March 16 (E)
Vine is back with his latest touring show, Breep! And afficionados can expect a mountain of nonsense, daft one liners, joyful songs, wobbly props and ridiculous humour.
All tickets non repundable.
Rosie Jones – March 26 (E)
Triple Threat Rosie Jones visits the Liverpool Everyman where she ponders whether she’s a national treasure, a little prick, or somewhere in between.
The show promises to be full of unapologetic cheekiness, nonsensical fun and unadulterated joy from the ‘triple threat’ herself.
Jon Courteney – April 5 (PH)
Following a successful visit to the Edinburgh Fringe, Britain’s Got Talent winner Courteney takes to the road for 2024 with a show that’s his biggest yet (hence its title Bigger) – jam-packed with comedy, live music and entertainment.
Ivo Graham – April 6 (PH)
Expect some Organised Fun when Ivo Graham arrives at the Playhouse on April 6.
After dismantling a barge, doxing himself in the Doubletree and blanking on the 1992 Ipswich Town crest (Taskmaster, Off Menu, University Challenge) Graham ropes his audience into more chaos against the clock.
Griff Rhys-Jones – April 30 (PH)
Join Griff Rhys Jones for The Cat’s Pyjamas and hear the comedian, actor, writer and presenter ramble on the developing national permacrisis, age, family, fraud, nostalgia, the Tik Tok generation, travel, dogs, hotels and midnight trains.
He takes questions from his audience and lets rip as his associations wander.
Tom Davis – May 4 (PH)
Embarking on his biggest tour to date, Tom Davis brings Underdog to the Playhouse this May.
Expect an exploration of life as the longshot, from leaving school with no qualifications to years working on building sites to the difficult road to fatherhood to acting in blockbuster films.
Rosie Holt – May 25 (PH)
Comedian, actor and satirist Rosie Holt follows a successful Edinburgh Fringe season by taking her show That’s Politainment! on the road, treading a tightrope between politics and entertainment.
The worse the political career, the more lucrative subsequent entertainment opportunities. Can Holt’s viral hit MP follow Hancock, Dorries et al and leap from the pages of Hansard to Heat?
Kiri Pritchard-McLean – September 7 (PH)
The Welsh comedian and writer heads for Williamson Square in September with her latest live show Peacock which she describes as her ‘funniest and most personal to date’.
In the words of one reviewer, expect ‘sequins, social commentary and massive laughs’.
Grace Campbell – November 8 (PH)
About to enter her 30s, Grace Campbell has recently made some huge life changes. She got a dog, stopped replying to internet trolls, tried non-monogamy – and then very soon after, celibacy.
In conclusion, she’s been on a journey to discover who she want to be as a grown up. Discover her conclusion in this live touring show.
Fern Brady – November 16 (PH)
Scottish comedian Brady returns to Liverpool, this time at the Playhouse, with her latest stand-up show I Gave You Milk to Drink.
What happens when you get everything you want but it’s not enough?
Royal Court Studio
Justin Moorhouse – February 16
Moorhouse is back on stage in Liverpool with his latest show, Stretch and Think, which may contain (in no particular order) yoga, getting older, Madonna, shoplifters, Labradoodles, middle aged cyclists, the menopause, Captain Tom, the environment and shop door etiquette.
And he’s got a new suit too.
Simon Munnery – March 20
Fancy seeing a truly unique stand-up show this spring?
Using William Blake’s poem Jerusalem, and The Fall’s take on it as a springboard, Munnery endeavours to serve up satire, comedy and poetry with one eye on the distant past and the other locked laser-like on the future.
Stephen Bailey – March 21 and May 25
Comedian and Corrie star Stephen Bailey pays not one but two visits to the Royal Court Studio with his latest live show Crass.
From a working class background in Manchester, six years working at Sainsbury’s, and putting his hometown Denton on the map, a lot has happened to Bailey; he’s five years deep into a relationship, has bought a home, become an uncle and climbed to the middle of the showbiz ladder – proving why he’s more than a crass act.
Paul Foot – March 22
Multi award-winning comedian Paul Foot is back on tour, this time with Dissolve, his most personal, surprising and ground-breaking show ever.
In the year 2022 AD, something momentous changed for Foot, and Dissolve will reveal how he discovered the secret of life on the outskirts of Lancaster. There may be some distractions on the way.
Unity Theatre
Stephen K Amos – January 26
Hotfoot from playing Alfred P Doolittle in My Fair Lady in the West End, Stephen K Amos is back with a new show, Oxymoron.
What a mad couple of years it’s been. Amos has got through it by ‘finding the funny’ – the opportunity in the crisis, the joy in sadness, the wisdom of fools.
Join him for an hour of solid jokes and guaranteed belly laughs.
Rob Auton – January 31
He’s taken no fewer than nine shows to the Edinburgh Fringe, and now Rob Auton is bringing his The Rob Auton Show to the Unity.
It’s the award-winning writer, comedian and actor’s most autobiographical show to date as he turns the pen on himself to explore the memories and feelings that create his life on a daily basis.
Omid Djalili – February 3
Fancy helping Omid Djalili shape and hone a work in progress? Of course you do.
The comedian and film and TV star promises an evening of experimentation as he tries out new material in front of one of the country’s most discerning comedy audiences.