Manchester comedy picks of the week FT Sam Lake, Mikey Bligh-Smith and a Comedy Circus

There’s a frankly ridiculous lineup at this week’s XS Malarkey with Rose drinking darling of the Edinburgh comedy scene Sam Lake as headliner. Joining Sam will be rising stars Ben Silver and Qasim Akhtar, as well as Lord Fear from Knightmare himself Tom Bell (as well as The Mash Report and countless other TV appearances) and comedy troubadour Grace Petrie will be trying out some new material. It’s criminal that XS is still at such a low price so until they all get thrown in jail for being too kind, take advantage of these phenomenal bills for the cost of next to nothing.

One of Manchester’s favourite open mics is back and now with a new co-host. Sam Ayinde joins Jordan Ducharme to present Stage Time Comedy Circus every Wednesday at Stage & Radio and the bills often feature old hands trying out new stuff as well as the regular rotation of exciting up-and-comers on the Manchester circuit. And what’s more, it’s free!

Really spoiling you for discount comedy madness this week as we close out our picks with a work in progress from one of half of Leeds-based sketch duo The Lovely Boys Mikey Bligh-Smith who is promising to go Full Frontal Mikey Mode with this new WIP. Just £3 will get you an hour in Mikey’s presence as he presents prop chaos, tremendous jokes and more. Something a little different for your Friday night on the town.