Luke McQueen brings his Edinburgh hit show to town, Sam Nicoresti and Amy Annette share a double preview, and Tom Lawrinson & Sam O’Leary are showing some films in our picks of the best comedy shows coming to Manchester this week.
Luke McQueen made waves at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe with his live and hijacked version of Stu Goldsmith’s popular (with comedians and comedy nerds alike) Comedian’s Comedian Podcast. After waiting impatiently to be asked on the pod, McQueen took matters into his own hands, cloned Stu’s voice and sets up a hilarious and personal show about ego, AI, and really wanting to be on a podcast. It’s incredibly meta in its commentary, but such a wild ride from McQueen that it makes for an incredibly entertaining and very funny hour, even for those who haven’t heard of ComComPod.
Later that day in the larger cinema space of Cultplex, you can join comedians Tom Lawrinson and Sam O’Leary as they present their latest sketch work with a live show entitled Movie x4. If you’ve ever seen any of their incredible output on Instagram (much of it filmed in and around Cultplex), then get ready for even more of that and with a budget to match their ambitions.
- Words:
- John Stansfield
- Published on:
- Mon 13 Jul 2026
Winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award is as prestigious an honour as you can achieve in UK stand-up, but more than that, it means you don’t necessarily have to go up to the Fringe the year after, as you’ve kind of completed it. Sam Nicoresti laughs in the face of such complacency as she readies a new assault on the Fringe with that gong in her back pocket. She’ll be joined by the non-more-delightful Amy Annette for another cracking one-two punch of previews at XS Malarkey.