Manchester comedy of the week FT Mike Rice, Ciaran Bartlett and Jessica Fostekew

Northern Irish funnyman Ciaran Bartlett brings his latest show Giant to The Frog fresh off the back of two sold-out shows at the SSE Arena — which means about 5% of the population of Belfast went to see him over two nights. That’s pretty giant. A naturally very funny man spinning outrageous stories, singing filthy songs and setting up knock-out punchlines, Bartlett is one of the best.

Another hilarious Irishman (this time from South of the border) is coming to town this week as Mike Rice brings his own outlandish tales to Fairfield Social Club and his debut tour Nasty Character. Rice has found fame with his podcast appearances with Vittorio Angelone and guesting duties on Have A Word with a series of viral clips of his unbelievably true stories of life growing up on a farm as a good Catholic boy. Expect more of the same here.

There’s only a handful of tickets left for Jessica Fostekew at The Lowry this weekend and if you can attend you simply must. Jess is one of the best around and couples fierce, principled stand-up with devastatingly funny routines with an over-arching sense of silliness. This new show ‘Mettle’ takes on her son joining a cult and cat learning to speak, and how she’s absolutely fine with all that. We implore you to go and see her.