Manchester Comedy of the Week ft. Katie Mulgrew, Dave Johns & more

Sidekick | Via | Mon 25 Apr | 7.30pm | £2/FREE
Though next Monday might be the bank holiday, tonight is where the real action is as Kate McCabe and her Sidekick take over Via for Canal Street’s finest (and cheapest) comedy night. Consistently a welcoming and inclusive comedy night, Kate looks to toss that all out of the window with the surreal flights of fancy of Foster’s Comedy Award winner Phil Ellis. If you’ve ever seen Phil before, you still won’t know what to expect such is his penchant for unpredictability.
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Katie Mulgrew and Pete Otway | Eagle Inn | Tue 26 Apr | 7.30pm | £3
Two more top acts trying out their work in progress shows in Salford’s Eagle Inn, a venue that’s fast becoming a go to for experimental comedy shows. Katie Mulgrew takes on confidence and self-sabotage in ‘Saboteur’ and Pete Otway looks back at the story of his love life and the six year gap between his break up and reunion with his girlfriend. A one man Richard Curtis film. Just £3 for this pair of Edinburgh shows that you don’t have to go to Scotland to see. Not bad.
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/356089

Alun Cochrane | The Pub/Zoo | Tue 26 Apr | 7.30pm | £5/3
Having just been cast in a small role on Coronation Street Alun Cochrane might be riding pretty high at the moment, but that won’t stop him still looking at the world through his hilarious downbeat manner. A great storyteller and observational comic Cochrane has had a string of TV appearances before he enters the rogues gallery of the Rover’s Return, he is joined by a host of up and comers that XS Malarkey lovingly picks from across the country including the intriguingly named ‘Bucket’.
www.wegottickets.com

DAFT | The Dancehouse | Sat 30 Apr | 8pm | £10/8
Very little is known about this night other than that it is the brainchild of trio of character comedians Lee Fenwick, Peter Slater and Keith Carter and Dead Cat Comedy impresario Red Redmond and that it will be really ‘daft’. Fenwick and Slater ran SOS TV at 3MT up until not so long ago and it’s very important for the Manchester comedy scene that their anarchic mix of character, sketch and video be given another arena to run riot in.
www.ticketline.co.uk

Dave Johns | The Heatons Sports Club | Sun 1 May | 7.45pm | £7.50
The night before a bank holiday Monday is always a nice bonus weekend evening and The Heatons Comedy evening haven’t skimped on quality for this Sunday night stand up show. Hosted as usual by Mancunian legend Justin Moorehouse and with a great line up including Dave Johns, who’s soon to appear in the new Ken Loach film (much the same as Moorehouse did in ‘Looking for Eric’) and Clayton Jones. But perhaps the biggest draw of the night is the one man sketch madness of the incendiary US satirist Will Franken.
www.billetto.co.uk