New Year’s Eve comedy in London

There’s no shortage of great entertainment venues in London, but one of the best things about this city is that new ones are still popping up all the time. The latest arrival? A brand-new comedy club in Southwark. The Old Union Yard Arches club, which will open its doors for the first time on Thursday October 16, will become the permanent home of improv group the Free Association. The Free Association has been training up comedians and putting on shows for over a decade now, so it’s about time it had a place to call its own. There’s a big launch event/celebration on Thursday, which consists of an inaugural performance, complete with champagne and ribbon cutting. Then, on Friday (October 17) you can catch This Doesn’t Leave The Room, the troupe’s ‘flagship show’ where the improvisers take confessions and gossip from the audience and turn them into something wonderful. In the past, people like Amelia Dimoldenberg have joined for this particular bill. Over the opening weekend there’s a full lineup of shows ranging from St Doctor’s Hospital, an ‘improvised medical drama’, to Fabled, a ‘fantasy adventure tale’ with a live band playing a soundtrack. As well as being a 104-seater performance space, the venue aims to be ‘a creative hub for performers, audiences, and the wider community’. It will also house purpose-built classrooms to train up the next generation of comedians (alumni include Ambika Mod, Phil Wang and more), and a café/bar area open to the public. Photograph Amy...

Though Ricky Gervais is an infinitely more polarising figure than he was 10 or 20 years ago, his popularity remains undeniable, with a lengthy run of London dates split between the Palladium and Wembley Arena lined up. Honed by a tour that’s already run for over a year, new show Mortality promises to look at the absurdities of life and death.

October in London comedy and the Edinburgh Fringe transfer season is still very much ongoing: you can pretty see most of the best newcomer nominees this month, including winner Ayoade Bamgboye and nomninees Elouise Eftos and Toussaint Douglass. If you}re looking for some slightly bigger names, you won’t go wanting – it’s well worth getting down to Greenwich to see Mo Gillighan’s low key work-in-progress stint. Or if you like something a bit more mainstream, Ricky Gervais will be descending upon us for what feels like several hundred shows with his newie Mortality. 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.

As the unofficial comedy capital of the world, London's comedy circuit doesn't take a break. There are stand-up shows seven days a week, from early evening through to the small hours. To help you plan your week of witticisms, here's a nifty calendar of regular comedy shows in London.

Nigerian standup Bamgboye took the best newcomer award at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Swings and Roundabouts her debut show which charted her move to the UK in her twenties, and showcased her often disorientating mastery of accents. Critics praised her confidence, poise and original, outsider-ish eye on British culture.

Superstar comic Gilligan has never forgotten about Greewich’s beloved Up the Creek comedy club: even when in the middle of an arena tour, he still records his podcast there. And now he’s back for a lengthy stint of work in progress shows. They’re low key enough that at time of writing, there’s still decent availability across the run. 

It’s my first visit to London’s newest theatre, and the press officer says she wants to hang about for a bit: ‘just until I see the look on your face when you see the auditorium for the first time’.  I immediately start worrying that I’ll offend everyone by not looking impressed enough, but it’s all good: my jaw duly thuds to the floor when I step into the main house of Soho Theatre Walthamstow.  The ‘original’ Soho Theatre on Dean Street in central London is a truly wonderful comedy, cabaret and theatre venue, but the building is not what you’d call architecturally noteworthy. Soho Theatre Walthamstow is a different matter entirely.  Photo: David Levene It has a long and complicated history, but the short version is that it opened in 1930 as The Granada, a 2,700-seat cinema on busy Hoe Street. It eventually fell into disrepair. Now it’s been born again as a 1,000-seat comedy and theatre venue. And it looks incredible. While the exterior has been given a clean, white, unobtrusive paint job that brings it somewhat in line with the Dean Street venue, the inside is like stepping back in time – a ravishing art deco masterpiece so instantly iconic that I feel a twinge of frustration that it’s just been sitting here unused for decades.  The slide into dereliction The original Granada cinema was a special place: built by prolific London theatre architect Cecil Masey and with interiors by the great stage designer Theodore Komisarjevsky, it was beloved by noted Leytonstone...

‘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

What is it? Angel Comedy has a cosy home at The Camden Head, the classic pub in Angel   with a charming beer garden out front and a dedicated events space upstairs. This venue (along with the iconice The Bill Murray down the road) hosts the collective’s comedy nights, showcasing everything from seasoned acts trying out new material to emerging comics giving it their all. Why go? If you like comedy, this night is an absolute bargain. And even if you don't, well you're losing nothing by just going along (the nights are completely free!) If you’re after top-notch laughs in a relaxed, friendly setting, this is the place to be. The line-ups change nightly, guaranteeing fresh materials and lots of surprises. Don’t miss: Obviously, order a drink to take into the show.  When to visit: Shows run most nights. Check the Angel Comedy website for exact times and line-ups. Ticket info: All shows are free, making it one of London’s best-value comedy nights. But once it's full it's  full! Time Out tip: Arrive early to grab a spot in the beer garden or a front-row seat upstairs.