Comedy Picks of the Week ft. Standy For Tape Back-Up, Gein’s, Twisted + Quip

Gein’s Family Giftshop | The Pub/Zoo | Tue 10 Mar | 8pm | £5/£3
After all those times we’ve told you to go and see Gein’s Family Giftshop it’s about time you paid for the privilege. And at only a fiver (£3 for members/NUS) it’s still an absolute bargain. Currently working on their ‘difficult second album’, Gein’s headline XS Malarkey for the first time – and the glimpses we’ve seen of the new sketches up for Volume 2 have been brilliantly dark and hilariously funny. A sketch act that doesn’t play like a normal sketch act, Gein’s subvert the tried-and-tested formulae for their own amusement, siring something close to genius in the process. Just go and watch them okay.
www.wegottickets.com

Twisted | Frog & Bucket | Wed 11 Mar | 8pm | £8/£5 (£10 otd)
It is with a heavy heart that we must say goodbye to Manchester’s most inventive comedy night, but not before they give us their best show yet as Tony Law takes to the Frog stage to be the latest to test his strength at Twisted. A natural fit for an unnatural wit, Twisted and Tony Law go together like Hale and Pace. A challenge for your cerebellum, improvisers such as Law flourish with strange tangents and non-sensical rules shaking up the regular comedy club format. With support from some of Manchester’s finest, Twisted is going down swinging. Read our full preview here.
frogandbucket.ticketsolve.com

Quippodrome | Foxdog Studios | Thu 12 Mar | 8pm | FREE
While it staggers nomadically across Manchester’s comedy plains, the mighty Quippopotamus has decided to put on a show at a temporary home: the very much full-time home of fellow comedic innovators Foxdog Studios. Quip will be presenting some of its favourite sketches and skits from the last few months, as well as welcoming some of their acts from Manchester, such as mad space clown Cheekykita and – since it’s their house -it would be rude to not allow Peter and Lloyd of Foxdog to perform. As comedy nights are getting harder to keep afloat in the city bars and pubs, house gigs may well be the future; just make sure you apply promptly, take your shoes off at the door and get ready for a night of weird and wonderful comedy.
Register for free: docs.google.com

Standby For Tape Back-Up (pictured) | The Lowry | Sat 14 Mar | 8pm | £12
Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, and there’s perhaps nothing more nostalgic for millenials than the humble VHS. Especially a home-made recording – a chance to glimpse the past with fresh eyes, to try and fail to wrangle the tracking, and to check out how they used to be able to advertise cigars and how happy they’d make you. Two years ago, Ross Sutherland found an old tape in his loft that forms the basis of this amazing trip down memory lane, as he cobbles together the life story of his granddad from this tape, which consists of one and a half films, a quiz show and two sitcoms. Hailed as ‘extraordinary’ by the Observer and ‘dizzyingly clever’ by the Independent, this is a true story of one man’s journey into synchronicity and madness.
www.thelowry.com

New Comedians | The Comedy Store | Sun 15 Mar | 7.30pm | £4
Mancunia’s favourite club comic Alex Boardman introduces the freshest batch of new talent on the scene. Handpicked by Boardman and tipped for big things, these are the faces you’ll have to watch out for in the future as they graduate from Sunday nights to the shows earlier in the weekend at the Store. Since it’s Mother’s Day there will no doubt be a maternal feel to proceedings – be it from the coddled egos of the performers or the amount of punters that take out their comedy-savvy mum for a night of cheap laughs.
etickets.thecomedystore.co.uk

Thanks to @johnwinsagain