Comedy of the week FT Elf Lyons, Chris Cantrill and Luke McQueen

Comedic force of nature Elf Lyons brings her unique clowning style to XS Malarkey for a packed night of talent. Elf is somewhat of a comedy polymath, managing to squeeze all the funny out of stand-up, dance, clowning, an economics podcast and even mime! Holding the fort will be the indefatigable Toby Hadoke with a supporting cast that includes Jack Harris, Jacob Hatton and Eryn Tett.

A double bill of Chris Cantrill and Jain Edwards kick off a series of comedy preview shows at Runaway Brewery on Wednesdays through April from A Lovely Time. Cantrill sheds his Delightful Sausage casing with another solo show entitled ‘SuPeRgEnIu$’ about the trials of being a hard-bodied dad in an increasingly AI filled world. Edwards’ show is her most personal yet as she steps out of character and addresses her autism diagnosis at the age of 30 and as she puts it ‘snot-nosed observational surrealist answers the age old question, “how should a person be?”‘

Polishing off this little midweek cluster of excellent gigs is a rare Manchester headline slot for award-winning stand-up Luke McQueen at Comedy For Hot People. You might have seen on ‘The Moth Club’ (Dave) ‘Comedians Giving Lectures’ (Dave) and ‘The Stand-up Sketch show’ (ITV), but if you truly want to get the measure of the man seek out his short lived BBC series ‘The Luke McQueen Pilots’. Three episodes of anti-comedy genius from a modern master.