Comedy Picks of the Week ft Beach Hunks, Peter Brush + more

Beach Hunks | The Castle Hotel | Mon 20 & Tue 21 Jul | 7.30pm | £4/3
Not long left now for you to enjoy the glut of comedy on offer from Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, this week kicks off with new sketch group Beach Hunks at The Castle. Not too much is known about this group other than that they’re not wanting for modesty and that the had a bit of Edinburgh buzz last year whilst performing with the collective ‘Cosmonauts’. According to their show title they are also ‘Very Handsome’ so it might be worth checking out to see just how true that is.
www.facebook.com

Joe Lycett | The Pub/Zoo | Tue 21 Jul | 7pm | £5/3
One of the big hopes at this year’s Fringe is rising star Joe Lycett. After a raft of appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Live at the Apollo Joe Lycett is taking another phenomenally ludicrous moniker-based pun of a show to the Fringe. ‘That’s The Way A-Ha A-Ha, Joe Lycett’ is a shoo-in for best show title and having seen some of his work in progress earlier in the year, it’s looking like a great mix of Lycett’s flair for wordplay and his disdain for the modern world and the trappings of célébrité. Catch it now whilst it’s closer to home and only a fiver at XS Malarkey.
www.wegottickets.com

Michael J Dolan + Gein’s Family Giftshop | Tiger Lounge | Thu 23 Jul | 7pm | £5
The final of Group Therapy’s Edinburgh Previews and it seems they’ve saved the best for last, or at least the most local of their gallery of Fringe hopefuls. Michael J Dolan presents ‘Miserable Guts’, a journey through the Mancunian’s misanthropic struggles with every day life after he relocated to just outside Coventry. A fish out of water tale, provided the fish had just moved to a slightly smaller fish bowl and played a lot of computer games. Edinburgh best newcomer nominees Gein’s Family Giftshop also present their new works in ‘Volume 2’. The difficult second album that looks set to be more ‘Led Zeppelin II’ than Franz Ferdinand’s ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’.
www.seetickets.com

Real Life | Royal Exchange | Fri 24 & Sat 25 Jul | 7.30pm | £12
Ben Kewin (pictured) takes you on a journey through the perils of real life with several short plays in which he plays all the parts. Watch as he embodies ‘man with sunglasses’ and ‘man without sunglasses’ with the prowess of Olivier. A broad swipe at the over sincerity of dramatic writer/actors Kewin’s awkward energy and misplaced sense of pomposity echoes something you might see on Saturday Night Live. A marvelous creation, Real Life is a must see.
bookings.royalexchange.co.uk

Peter Brush | Fuel | Sun 26 Jul | 7.30pm | FREE
If you’re in South Manchester on Sunday and prefer your comedy to err on the free side of cheap then be sure to head to Fuel to watch the Edinburgh preview of former BBC New Comedy Award Finalist Peter Brush. His show is entitled ‘Older Than The Oldest Dog That Ever Lived’ and has already been marked out as one of the shows to watch by Time Out. Brush’s neuroticism echoes a young Woody Allen and there is a lot of excitement surrounding his first full length show. Support comes from Callum Scott.
www.facebook.com