The Edinburgh Festival Fringe may be over but it continues to cast a shadow over London comedy – in a good way. As is the may our comedy ecosystem works, many of the best shows from the Fringe have made a swift transfer to Soho Theatre – you can catch both best comedy show winner Sam Nicoresti’s triumphant Baby Doomer, and best newcomer winner Toussaint Douglass’s Accessible Pigeon Material this month at the central London venue.
Post-Edinburgh triumphs are the biggest game in town, but they’re not the only one. The Greenwich Comedy Festival is London’s biggest and eschews fringey thrills for a satifying blast of massive comedy names. And speaking of which – controverisal US superstar Dave Chappelle is in town for a trio of short notice dates at the Forum.
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.
What is it? The old adage ‘everything good comes to London anyway’ once again holds true as the winner of the main Best Show comedy award at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe transfers to Soho Theatre in very short order. Trans comic Sam Nicoresti had sort of hovered on the fringes of the Fringe in previous years. But the pointedly more mainstream Baby Doomer did the trick perfectly, an eccentric but accessible meditation on the trans experience, groaning with actual jokes.
Where is it? Soho Theatre.
What is it? Edinburgh had its turn in August: in September the UK comedy world revolves around Greenwich. Across five nights and weekend afternoons in September, top-tier comedians will descend on the Old Royal Naval College for London’s largest and longest-running comedy festival. Television faves Frankie Boyle and Sara Pascoe are probably the biggest names here, but you can’t swing a cat without hitting a famous comedian – they’ll be joined by the likes of Tim Key, Fern Brady, Bridget Christie, Nish Kumar, Phil Wang and Bridget Christie.
Where is it? Old Royal Naval College.
What it is? Having ‘killed comedy’ with her last show Skin Pigeon, sketch oddball Lorna Rose Treen returns to – in her own words – kill theatre in her excellent second outing. The Americana themed 24 Hour Diner People follows a series of oddball characters at a quintessentially American diner and is extremely good fun.
Where is it? Soho Theatre.
What is it? Having made shows exploring his relationship with Scotland (Big in Scotland) and the EU (’75), the unfailingly high conept Kieran Hodgson now turns his sights on the US. In it, he explores how the country he was fascinated with as a child stacked up to the real thing when he auditioned for Hollywood, and what actual Americans thought of the accent he’d always assumed was flawless (spoiler: he has a small role in The Flash and his accent isn’t bad).
Where is it? Soho Theatre.
What is it? Leftfield comics Riches and Kearns play granny’s favourite singer-superstars Michael Ball and Alfie Boe. Last seen at Christmas, the show – which they have been reviving sporadically ever since – features ‘Ball’ (Riches) and Boe (Kearns) plotting their latest soulless arena extravaganza.
Where is it? Soho Theatre Walthamstow.
What is it? In this sweet debut Fringe hour, Lewisham-born-and-bred stand up Toussaint Douglass threatens us with 55 minutes of jokes about pigeons. That’s not quite what we get (maybe 15 minutes) but it’s a charming show that deservedly netted him the best newcomer award at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Where is it? Soho Theatre.
This review is from the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
I very much enjoyed this berserk late-night hour from Alice Cockayne, a selection of inscrutable but hilarious character sketches that might offer a sort of anxiety dream interrogation of contemporary femininity, or might just be a load of random shit that exists purely for the lolz.
If that sounds hifalutin it’s definitely not: Cockayne has a colossal pair of fake boobs strapped to her for the entire show, starting with the lengthy opening scene in which she plays the deadpan owner of what one assumes to be a brothel, although all her working ‘girls’ – represented by wigs that are sometimes thrust at audience members – seem to be very old and have a lot of problems (‘riddled with neurodiversity’).
Other characters include the posh, wildly overbearing Penelope Jane Pendlewitch, whose entire worth is tied up in motherhood and who claims to have had ‘556 children’; a cleaner, also apparently incredibly old, who fills the air with cleaning spray and dirty thoughts; and an Eastern European woman with incredibly long nails.
To be honest, describing the characters doesn’t make them make sense and Licensed. Professional. Trained. Qualified. is one of those balls-trippingly weird shows that would conceivably not work if it were staged for an afternoon crowd (it is currently running in the 10.40pm slot). But while the WTF absurdity is a lot of the point, it’s Cockayne’s eye for layering her oddball creations with details that defines them - the brothel sketch is, among many other things, partly based around a joke about call centres that tell you to go to the website.
Does it mean anything? A lot of Cockayne’s sketches revolve around aspects of the female experience being pushed to nightmarishly absurd extremes. Even the only man she (kind of) plays feels like a surreal embodiment of a particular sort of fear: a boring punter who sees himself as a nice guy and bothers the brothel madam with an excruciatingly idiotic feminist rap.
Cockayne’s performance style is not so much impressively committed as totally chameleonic, blending with each of her characters, like actually having each of these disturbing people in the room with us. And because there’s no real sense given of who the real Alice Cockayne might be – I left somewhat hazy on what she looks like or what her accent is – we’re not given any winks or nudges to help us navigate her surreal menagerie. Even her seemingly sincere audience thanks at the end appears to have been yet another character. She’s an enigma, but a very funny one.
It was only a decade ago that US comedy megastar Dave Chappelle made his London stage debut – at a slew of dates that were generally hailed as a triumph. It’s hard to deny that in the years since, Chappelle’s edginess has curdled somewhat, not least because of his insistence on including transphobic jokes in basically everything he does now (he insists he’s not transphobic), plus that time he invited the loathsome Elon Musk out on stage to a hail of boos didn’t exactly help. Is he still one of the all time great comedians? Well probably, yeah, certainly when on form, and his dedication to playing relatively small venues – as opposed to hoovering up cash he doesn’t need on the area circuit – is heartening, even if the prices are eye-watering
What is it? To drink, or not to drink? The Sh!t-faced Shakespeare crew resprise their production of the Bard’s greatest play: as ever, with one member of the company smashed out of their faces. Is it going to be a ‘Hamlet’ for the ages? Absolutely not. Is it going to be a fun, short ‘Hamlet’ best watched over a few beers? Aye, there's the rub.
Where is it? Leicester Square Theatre.
What is it? Neon Nights is the gorgeous Soho Theatre Walthamstow’s monthly showcase spectactular and typiclaly features a big name headliner with stars ion various degrees of rising in support. This month’s show is headlined by Phil Wang with Catherine Bohart as host and Olga Koch, Jin Hao Li, Josh Pugh and Fatiha El-Ghorri supporting.
Where is it? Soho Theatre Walthamstow.
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