Comedy Picks ft. Gein’s Family Giftshop, Sham Bodie, Sophie Willan and Chortle

Gein’s Family Giftshop | Kosmonaut | Mon 6 Mar | 8pm | FREE
Another month, another excellent free night of comedy from Manchester’s favourite sketch group Gein’s Family Giftshop. It’s not enough that they are offering a free taste of their own deep fried gold new stuff, but they also lay out a smorgasbord of new material from some of the brightest minds in comedy with Canadian comic Chris Betts and the everglowing Brennan Reece joining them in the Kosmonaut basement. The newly nominated best MC in the country (by Chortle) Kiri Pritchard-McLean will be there to guide you gracefully through the evening.
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Chortle Student Comedy Award | Koh Tao | Wed 8 Mar | 7.30pm | £5/3
A chance to see the cream of the city’s future talent as those paying through the nose for a degree seek a life in a profession they could never hope to pay their student loans through. The student comedy award has turned up winners such as Adam Hess and Joe Lycett in the past, the latter spawning from the Manchester circuit, and with Katie Mulgrew as your genial host its always worth a trip to see what’s coming next.
www.wegottickets.com

Sham Bodie | Soup Kitchen | Thu 9 Mar | 7.30pm | £5
If you get hungry in the middle of your laughs then Sham Bodie might just be the show for you dishing out highly non-nutritional hot dogs during the break of their comedy and music mash up. This month host Ben Tonge welcomes the mad cap musings of Harriet Dyer as she workshops her new crime based show ‘Dyer-gnosis Murder’ and hotly tipped new acts Simon Lomas and Ad ‘Dougie’ Douglas. Plus music, and there’ll be hot dogs. All for a fiver.
www.wegottickets.com

Sophie Willan | The Lowry | Sun 12 Mar | 8pm | £14.50/16.50
Comedians have never shied away from personal topics, but after Sophie Willan was given her personal files from the state she not only crafted a show from her upbringing in and out of care homes but went on to create ‘Stories of Care’ in which fellow care leavers would share their tales too. A smart and compassionate performer Willan now has a sort of home coming for her story that has taken her around the UK. An insight into the life of those in care and those that help look after those that are in need, Willan’s story is one everyone should hear.
www.thelowry.com