Just one more week until the end of the Edinburgh Fringe, and comedy promoters around Manchester will be longing for that time when they see all the comedians come back in to town like warriors from the battlefields. In the meantime we have cobbled together the best shows fighting on the homefront.

Sidekick Comedy | Polari at Via | Mon 19 Aug | £3/£2 | 7pm
Sidekick kicks off Pride with a night of progressive comedy at Via on Canal Street. MC Kate McCabe welcomes four top young comedians to the village to get you in the mood for the weekend ahead. Check our full preview below.
www.manchesterwire.co.uk

Barry Dodds | Jabez Clegg | Tue 20 Aug | £5/£3 | 7pm
Holding the dubious honour of being the first ever comedian on Luxembourg TV, Barry Dodds headlines this week’s XS Malarkey. A finalist in both Jimmy Carr’s Comedy Idols and Jongleurs Last Laugh Comedy Search he deserves a much bigger audience share than Luxembourg.
www.wegottickets.com

Laughing Cows | Frog & Bucket | Sun 25 Aug | £7 adv/£9 otd | 7pm
Monthly all-female comedy night Laughing Cows has a special treat in store with headliner Ava Vidal (pictured). Beginning her working life as a prison office, Vidal took a chance on stand-up and has since performed across the UK, America and Australia, as well as appearing on Mock The Week and Michael MacIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow. MCed by the always hilarious Kerry Leigh, this is a great night showcasing some of the acts that will feature in the upcoming Women In Comedy Festival in October.
www.dashboard.ticketscript.com

Stand Up Sunday | The Comedy Store | Sun 25 Aug | £10/£5 | 7.30pm
With it being a Bank Holiday Sunday, The Comedy Store is able to keep hold of its headliner and MC from its flagship ‘Best In Stand Up’ show for a third, cheaper show at the end of the weekend. Pete Johansson is a Canadian comedian who shone in his debut at Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival and hasn’t looked back since with rave reviews from all publications worth noting. MC Andre Vincent is one of the top stand ups in the UK, and with support from John Warbuton and Andrew Ryan, this is great cut price comedy at the end of a big weekend.
www.etickets.thecomedystore.co.uk

Quippopotamus | Fuel | Sun 25 Aug | Free | 8pm

If you like your stand up free, and preferably not sh*t, then pop down to Fuel for monthly night Quippopotamous. Upcoming abstract comics, lead by chief daftist Jack Evans, aim to make you laugh and thusly shake a donation out of you, as although you make like your comedy free, their kids have to eat. And by kids we of course mean drug habits. This month’s gathering includes Danny Sutcliffe, who’ll be putting the ‘quip’ in ‘Quippopotamus’, definitely not a child star from the 50s Jon Whiteley will provide the ‘pop’, and Tony Basnett brings the ‘otamus’. To find out what that means, you’ll just have to show up won’t you.

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Thanks to @johnwinsagain

Mon 19 Aug - Sun 25 Aug
Words:
John Stansfield
Published on:
Wed 19 Jun 2013