Manchester comedy of the week FT Paddy Young, Sara Barron and The Magic Lady

After a couple of sold-out weeks with shows from Alasdair Beckett-King and Josie Long, XS Malarkey will no doubt be heading for a hat trick as Chicago-born, London-based comic Sara Barron comes to town. The acerbic American is currently most commonly heard on her TV-based podcast They Like To Watch with husband Geoff Lloyd, and has a slew of TV appearances under her belt, earning kudos for her brilliantly honest stand-up about modern life and the various grievances it commonly throws up. Grab your tickets before this one sells out too!

Comedian and puppeteer Freddie Hayes presents a new night as her fabulously frightening alter-ego The Magic Lady in the cosy room at GRUB this Wednesday. Presenting as an old-school burlesque magician, The Magic Lady proceeds to delight and befuddle when her tricks go wrong and sometimes surprisingly right. She’ll be welcoming some of her comedy pals along for this midweek wizardry and at just £3 you’d be a mug(gle) to miss out.

Dashing funnyman Paddy Young returns to Manchester with his sophomore tour show If I Told You I’d Have To Kiss You, following up his award-winning debut Hungry, Horny and Scared. It’s fair to say Young has leaned into raunch, but he’s also not afraid of any other subject out there. Taking on edgy material with a charming, playful and, most importantly, stupid manner Paddy Young is one of the most exciting young comedians to grace these shores in a long while and more than worth the time to see him live.