New Year’s Eve comedy in London

London’s Pokémon fans have been totally spoiled this year. In honour of the brand’s 30th birthday, and Pokémon GO’s 10th anniversary, there have been all sorts of Poké-themed events taking place. In January, there was the rare merch drop at the Natural History Museum, followed by the Pokémon Europe International Championships at the ExCeL in February. April saw the opening of the ‘Pokopia Garden’ in west London and in August, there was the huge Team Rocket-themed event in Potters Field Park. And there’s still more to come.  Now, Pokémon has partnered with London’s Science Museum and the European Space Agency to create an exciting new free trail. The Pokémon Space Trail has been designed to coincide with World Space Week. That’s happening from October 4 until October 10, but the event will run until January. Here’s what you can expect.  First, you pick up a free copy of the trail from the Energy Hall, then you set off on your expedition. As you wander through the museum’s galleries, you’ll come across the likes of Pikachu, Lunatone, Arceus and more, alongside large-scale installations and real stories of European space science and exploration.  In the Power Up gallery (a space filled with 160 functioning video games and consoles), you can try your hand at retro games like Pokémon Snap on Nintendo 64, Pokémon Battle Revolution on Wii as well as more up-to-date ones like Pokémon Legends: Z-A on Switch 2. If you’re a keen Pokémon GO-er, the trail will also offer the chance to...

As with September but more so, October is a month where the buzziest Edinburgh Fringe shows arrive in London, with oddball endeavours like Sam Eley’s hateful old man alter ego Basil Crumbwick or Lin Jin Hao’s ambient comedy smash Falling from a Moon. There is, as ever, plenty more besides, from a last chance to see Tim Key’s hits show Loganberry to a first look at the latest from musical comedy duo Flo & Joan at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. There are far, far too many one-off, multi-performer comedy nights in London for us to compile a single coherent page with our favouites on, which is entirely to London’s credit. So do check individual bills of comedy clubs online for that sort of thing. But if you’re looking for an individual comedian with a full headline show then this page is here to compile the Time Out editorial team’s top choices, often with our reviews from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The best comedy clubs in London.The best new theatre shows to book for in London.

London has the biggest and best comedy scene in the world, so if you love a good laugh (or a good heckle) you're in the right place. From tiny basements and rooms above pubs to boats to huge venues, there’s comedy in the capital for comedians (and audiences) of all shapes and sizes. But not all spaces are created equal. Avoid getting sucked into a rip-off joint with a vibe that's deader than Monty Python's notorious parrot with our list of London’s liveliest and best comedy nights and clubs. Whether you're up for try-out nights at pocket money prices or massive gigs from names off the telly, here's where to look for your next comedy night out. RECOMMENDED: Here are the very best cinemas in London.

Nominated for Best Newcomer at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Awards, Freddie Meredith’s Need a Light? is a by all accounts delightful hour of sketch comedy in which Meredith plays a nerdy, wannabe hip loser who spends 60 endearing minutes trying to start conversations with randoms in the smoking area of a club. The show was indeed so successful that Meredith was snapped up by SNL UK shortly after the Fringe, which has necessitated the rescheduling of his Soho run, which promptly sold out

There’s something genuinely heartening about the fact that Tim Key – essentially a weird poet – has become such a big deal, in part (of course) thanks to his appearances in less poetic guise in everything from talk shows to Alan Partridge to Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17. He’s been touring new show Loganberry – follow up to previous hit Mulberry – for a couple of years now and it’s another good ’un, a midlife crisis show dispatched in Key’s inimitable style, prompted by his outrage when Gabby Logan invited him on her podcast about middle age.  

One of the buzziest late night shows of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Soul Sewage is Sam Eley’s debut hour as Basil Crumbwick – a horny, embittered old man with a papier maché head. Both uncomfortable and hilarious, it’s recreating some of that Fringe magic by being staged about as late as Soho Theatre goes, or at least it is for its initial October run. That’s now sold out, but Eley (and Basil) will be back for another crack at it in January 2027.

Singing sisters Flo & Joan – aka Nicola and Rosie Dempsey – had taken a little step back from their own burgeoning success as purveyors of comic song via their highly successful Andrew Lloyd Webber spoof One Man Musical, which did the rounds for ages and gave a big pre-SNL career boost to its star George Fouracres. Precisely what to expect from With Feeling we’re not sure: lots of funny songs, that’s for certain, but the slightly vague press release suggests a concept: ‘they use another “real band’s” setlist to write their own show’, apparently. What does this mean? We’ll find out soon!

This atmosphere-heavy, nostalgia-suffused second show from Singapore-raised comic Hao deliberately intercuts the mythic and the mundane – the arty stuff and the gags – as it details his longing for home as his moves to unfamiliar London. It’s certainlty quite a different style of comedy but it is funny as well as the more out there stuff, and it bagged Hao an unexpected but not unwelcome place of the Edinburgh Comedy Award shortlist this Fringe.

‘My main goal of the show, and my life, is to clear the name of Yoko Ono,’ says James Acaster, matter-of-factly, at the top of his show. Quite how we get there via examining his love of mariachi music, or the identities of Percy Pig’s mates, we’re not sure. But it all seems to make sense, at the time. Honest. Three solo shows in, and Acaster’s quickly becoming a reliable Fringe favourite. The Kettering-born comic is quiet, pedantic and refreshingly low-key. He's in no rush to get laughs, his shows are slow-burners, but every carefully chosen word or pause builds up to a sturdy, satisfying punchline. From Twister-etiquette to French rhyme structures, the Marks and Spencer-donning comic has a knack for flipping observational comedy on its head, studiously examining things most of us have dismissed as inconsequential. His confident, yet gawky, persona is wonderfully aloof, too. But what Acaster has mastered, which most comics fail at, is structuring an hour-long show. Seemingly throwaway jokes cleverly re-emerge, and no callbacks are crowbarred in. By the end of the hour you’re totally sucked into his minute, quizzical world, where Yoko Ono is addicted to biscuits, and Joe Bloggs is a prat. And it’s a wonderful world to visit. See 'James Acaster – Lawnmower' at the Edinburgh Fringe

Sir Lenny Henry has long since transcended being a ‘mere’ comedian – if he ever really was – with a career that has long leant more towards the stage, kids’ books and general elder statesman-ing. He’s still got it, though: aged 67 he heads out on his first stand-up tour in over a decade with Still at Large. His first since 2010, it’s billed as ‘part stand-up, part storytelling and part conversation’.