XS Malarkey turns 25 years old this week, Sean Morley bids farewell to the UK with The Glang Show and Punk In Drublic combines comedy and poetry.

XS Malarkey's 25th Birthday | Tue 27 Sep | 7pm | £3/6

It seems difficult to remember a time in Manchester when XS Malarkey wasn’t a part of the comedy scene. When XS first rocked up in a small Fallowfield bar in 1997, Things Could Only Get Better with a Labour government and the most popular member of the Royal family had just died. A different time. As you can see from the picture above, XS has hosted some of the best and brightest of the UK’s comedy scene over this quarter of a century and it’ll be a joy to see some of them trot back out to celebrate with host Toby Hadoke.

The Bread Shed, 126 Grosvenor Street, Manchester M1 7HL
Punk In Drublic at Lock 91 | Thu 29 Sep | 7pm | £8

Smashing up poetry and comedy for charity is always a good time at Punk In Drublic and you can also feel good about it as they donate profits to Mustard Tree. For this instalment of PID the comedy is provided by the incomparable Harriet Dyer and Canadian funnyman Evan Desmarais, whilst poetry is provided by Pete The Temp and Emily Rose Galvin.

Lock 91, 9 Century Street, Manchester, M3 4QL
The Glang Show at Chapeltown Picture House | Sat 1 Oct | 7pm | £5/8

Over the last half decade, The Glang Show has built up a cult following as ‘the UK’s most prestigious comedy anti-competition’. With stints at Mach Fest and the Edinburgh Fringe it has only grown its legend and with grand master of ceremonies Sean Morley about to leave the UK for an indefinite period of time, he thought it’d be good to go out with a Glang. Little is known about what it entails but those that have been can only answer in superlatives with The Guardian describing it as ‘joyful, wonderful fun’. So if you like ‘fun’ then maybe give it a go.

Chapeltown Picture House, GRUB, 50 Red Bank, Manchester, M4 4HF
Tue 27 Sep - Sat 1 Oct
Words:
John Stansfield
Published on:
Sun 25 Sep 2022