Comedy Picks of the Week ft. John Kearns, Harriet Dyer, Bethany Black + Mae Martin

John Kearns | The Pub/Zoo | Tue 20 Oct | 7pm | £5/£3
After winning Best Newcomer in 2013 and the main award in 2014, John Kearns decided to take a year off from winning accolades at the Fringe this time around. So it’s a special treat that the wonderful XS Malarkey has managed to bag him along with another couple of London oddballs in the shape of Olaf Falafel and Pat Cahill.
www.wegottickets.com

Harriet Dyer | The Whiskey Jar | Wed 21 Oct | 7.30pm | £3 adv/£5 otd
Part of the Women in Comedy Festival that is currently taking over the pubs and comedy clubs of the city, Harriet Dyer presents a earlier-than-early Edinburgh preview for 2016’s festival. The beauty of Dyer’s work is that she constantly deconstructs and reconstructs her act as she is performing it – so a work in progress is just as hilarious as the finished article.
www.womenincomedy.co.uk

Daphne | Tiger Lounge | Thu 22 Oct | 7.30pm | £5
A nominee for best newcomer from this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, a Fringe panel prize winner, a BBC New Comedy Award winner and Ashton under Lyme’s handsomest man all for just a fiver. Those good eggs over at Group Therapy are spoiling you with their new Thursday night show. Sketch group Daphne headline, with fine work from young guns Steve Bugeja and Liam Pickford with Phil Ellis serving as compere. You won’t get a better deal for your money. Read our preview.
www.seetickets.com

Kiri Pritchard-McLean | The Castle Hotel | Fri 23 Oct | 6.30pm | £3 adv/£5 otd
The second pick of the week courtesy of the Women in Comedy Festival is Kiri Pritchard-McLean’s ambitious and hilarious look at the preconceptions of race and gender in comedy and wider society. A smart comedian, she wades through extremely tricky material to find new uncomfortable truths about the way we view others as their cover and not their content.
www.womenincomedy.co.uk

Bethany Black + Mae Martin (pictured) | The Dancehouse | Fri 23 Oct | 8pm | £10
Another Women in Comedy pick – this time at The Dancehouse as Invisible Dot favourite Mae Martin and star of Channel 4’s Banana, Cucumber and Tofu, Bethany Black, are joined by some of their comedy chums, including the macabre schtick of Rachel Fairburn (who also has a solo show at The Whiskey Jar on Wednesday as part of WIC). Another great line-up, proving once more that ‘female’ is not a sub-genre of comedy and shouldn’t be viewed as such. There’s a ton more going on this week across the city – check out the full line-up at www.womenincomedy.co.uk.
www.thedancehouse.co.uk

Thanks to @johnwinsagain