Manchester Comedy of the Week ft. John Kearns + Sham Bodie ft. Goose

Gein’s Family Giftshop | Kosmonaut | Mon 7 Mar | 8pm | FREE
They might still be in the midst of a nationwide tour but that won’t stop Gein’s Family Giftshop putting on this wonderful free gig at Kosmonaut. As well as sketches from Manchester’s finest scat group there will be turns from friends and foes alike. One man cartoons from Goose make anappearance alongside recent Best Debut show nominee at Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival Pete Otway and Canadian firecracker Allyson June Smith testing out some new material. Worth a trip down at twice the price.
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John Kearns (pic) | The Pub/Zoo | Tue 8 Mar | 7.30pm | £5/3
Double Edinburgh award winner John Kearns headlines the bill at XS Malarkey this week with a bill that is bordering on the gluttonous with the amount of stellar acts lined up. Opening the show for Kearns you will see Tez Ilyas, who drew rave reviews for his Edinburgh show last year ‘Tez Talks’, one of half of sketch group ‘Twins’ Jack Barry, whole half of sketch group Goose, Nig Lovell and Ben Pope. Bursting at the seams with high quality acts.
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/339780

Red Redmond’s Guinea Pigs | Sandbar | Wed 9 Mar | 8pm | FREE
The second outing for Red Remond’s Guinea Pigs this is another free night that favours new material and new acts. For the former grab your third chance to see the madcap energy of Goose and the recent recipient of the Beat the Frog World Series crown Rob Mulholland. Red is your host, introducing the finest raw talent from around Manchester, which at present is in fine form. A great chance to see brand new stuff for the lowest of costs.
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Sham Bodie ft. Goose | Soup Kitchen | Thu 10 Mar | 7.30pm | £5
So far you’ve had three chances to catch the wild imaginations and brilliantly insane creations of sketch group Goose, but if you’ve missed them all (and really want a hot dog) then you can head down to Soup Kitchen for this month’s Sham Bodie where they will be performing once more. Headlining is Fern Brady who is often termed as ‘next big thing’ but with her appearances on various panel shows, writing for the Guardian and producing her own pilot for BBC3 she probably falls more into the category of just ‘big thing’, though that sounds terribly offensive. Edy Hurst provides more chuckles and O>L>A are Sham’s musical guests.
www.wegottickets.com

Katherine Ryan | The Lowry | Fri 11 Mar | 8pm | £22.50
Another act firmly in the ‘big thing’ subsection of comedy is Katherine Ryan who has been ubiquitous in the last year or so. The Canadian import has appeared on QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Have I Got News For You, as well as presenting the BBC2 show Hair. Her latest show ‘Kathbum’ was one of the hits of the Fringe last year and here she offers an extended version of satire and sass. See you her now before she gets stratospheric.
www.thelowry.com

Image: John Kearns by Darren Russell