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 National Maritime Museum for London’s largest and longest-running comedy festival. Take your pick from stellar line-ups fronted by a sucession of proper comedy A-listers. 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. Inevitably several of the shows are sold out, but really you can’t go wrong whatever you choose.
The setting is pretty spectacular, too – performances take place in an outdoor stage with the Royal Naval College as the backdrop. Get there early to take advantage of the food stalls, bars and breezy end-of-summer vibes.
In case you haven't been to one of his shows, Tim Key – poet, comedian, denim jumpsuit-wearer and Alan Partridge sidekick – reads aloud his brilliantly silly poems written on the backs of playing cards. Key very kindly let us borrow a bunch of his poetical cards to make this gallery. So flick through the slideshow below to read poems about sparrows, hanky panky, Barack Obama and more. Quick warning: most of the playing cards happen to be pornographic (don't worry, we've covered up the naughty bits).