Comedy Picks of the Week ft. Phil Ellis, Damian Clark & Re:play

Phil Ellis (pictured) | The Pub/Zoo | Tue 20 Jan | 7.30pm | £5/£3
After a successful run of his Edinburgh Panel Prize-winning kidz show Funz and Gamez at the Soho Theatre, Phil Ellis can get back to confusing adults instead of confusing children. Finally getting the recognition Manchester’s most reliable comic deserves, Ellis heads to XS Malarkey more cocksure than ever. Which can only be a good thing. Joining him on the bill is Michael J Dolan, who has some new material that continues to point out the pointlessness of it all.
www.wegottickets.com

Katie Mulgrew | The Eagle Inn, Salford | Wed 21 Jan | 7pm | £3
One of our favourite new venues (read all about it) plays host to one of our favourite comics as Katie Mulgrew brings her Edinburgh Fringe Festival show Happily Ever After to The Eagle Inn. It’s a what-happens-next tale from the delightful Mulgrew who tells of a kind of marital bliss than follows on from the dream wedding. A wonderful storyteller and expert jokesmith, Katie gained rave reviews for this show at the Fringe – and hopefully this will be the first of many comedy shows at one of Salford’s finest live venue.
www.wegottickets.com

Damian Clark | Frog & Bucket | Thu 22 Jan | 7pm | £10/£7
Phil Ellis makes his second appearance on the list, taking up MC duties for the Frog & Bucket’s Thursday Night Live, which offers you five top stand-ups for only a tenner. Joining Mr Ellis will be Jenny Collier, Phil Nichol, Evelyn Mok and headliner Damian Clark. Clark is a rambunctious antipodean comic who has called the UK his home since 2012, and made great waves on the comedy scene. Of the supporting acts, Evelyn Mok is one of a number of young Scandinavian comics thriving on the London scene, and is certainly one to keep an eye out for in the future.
frogandbucket.ticketsolve.com

Re:play Comedian of the Year | Number One First Street | Fri 23 Jan | 9pm | £10/£8
In what is hopefully the beginning of more comedy to come from Cornerhouse’s new home, the imaginatively named HOME, Re:play and Justin Moorhouse invite seven of the best young comedians currently operating in the North West to battle it out for the elaborately titled ‘Breakthrough Comedian of the Year’. Tom Little and Tom Short will be taking part, as well as now duelling members of Gein’s Family Giftshop James Meehan and Kiri Pritchard-Mclean, Beat the Frog World Series winner Penella Mellor, the fastest postman in Wigan, Chris Washington, and England’s answer to Woody Allen (without all the sordidness), Peter Brush. Seems like the audience will be the real winner (awwwwwww).
homemcr.org

Laughing Cows | Frog & Bucket | Sun 24 Jan | 7pm | £7
Manchester’s finest and most feminine comedy night returns for the first time in 2015 with a stellar line-up featuring one of the brightest of bright young comics, Suzi Ruffell. She’s a talented writer who currently has a sitcom in development, and has written additional material for TV shows such as The Last Leg, Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats. Ruffell is currently on tour with Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Romesh Ranganathan and stops in at the Frog to headline a show that also includes Nicola Holt, Denee Cassidy, Sam Whyte and Rachel Morris.
www.dulcetsounds.co.uk

Thanks to @johnwinsagain