Manchester Comedy of the Week ft. Matt Rees, Shazia Mirza + Mark Watson

Quippodrome | Gullivers | Mon 14 Mar | 7.30pm | £4
Step inside the weird and wonderful world of the Quippodrome, the fearsome foursome of Jack Evans, Jayne Edwards, Edy Hurst and Jon Whiteley throw together strange and surreal sketches, stand up, characters and songs. Almost certainly the most alternative gig in the city it might not be for everyone, and if you’re really in to Michael McIntyre (not that there’s anything wrong with that) then it might not be for you. Fern Brady opens the show with some of her more abstract material to suit the oddballs that dwell within this night. The Quippodrome, two men enter, one man might not get it.
www.skiddle.com

Matt Rees | The Pub/Zoo | Tue 15 Mar | 7.30pm | £5/3
Another great line up at XS Malarkey this week as they continue to set the standard for weekly gigs in Manchester. This week sees headliner Matt Rees take the mic, a last minute replacement for the previously advertised Tim Fitzhigham, this is no sloppy substitution with Rees complimented by all who’ve ever watched this incisive and intelligent comedian described by The Guardian as having “a properly original comedy mind”. Katie Mulgrew and Khalid Winter make up the rest of the bill with the evergreen Toby Hadoke on MC duty.
www.wegottickets.com

Peter Brush & Jonny Pelham | The Eagle Inn | Wed 16 Mar | 7.30pm | £2
After both gaining more than favourable reviews for their debut Edinburgh shows last year and Peter Brush and Jonny Pelham look to do the same again in 2016 with the pair previewing their forthcoming shows. In just a few short years Peter Brush has marked himself as one of the most inventive joke writers in a business full of them where as Jonny Pelham has taken the ailments and adversity he suffered through in childhood turning it into a self deprecating charm that has rightfully cemented his position as ‘one to watch’.
www.wegottickets.com

Shazia Mirza (pictured) | The Lowry | Sat 19 Mar | 8pm | £10-12
Shazia Mirza has never been shy about digging into the murkier material that comes with being a woman of Asian heritage in Britain and her latest show is no exception. In ‘The Kardashians Made Me Do It’ she takes on ISIS and Jihadi brides with an eye firmly on what it means to offend and to be offended. Not for the faint of heart then, but Mirza’s incendiary pull no punches style is perhaps one that is more necessary when dealing with the madness and misinformation that constantly swirls around the so called ‘Islammic State’.
www.thelowry.com

Mark Watson | The Lowry | Sun 20 Mar | 8pm | £20
Consistently one of the UK’s best comedians Mark Watson follows up a set last month at XS Malarkey with a full gig at The Lowry and his new toruing show ‘I’m Not Here’. His rapid fire delivery belies a deep insightful musing on the nature of humanity, Watson takes his material from a minor problem at an airport. Often starting small and building into the bigger questions that plague the intelligentsia Watson might not have all the answers, but his working out in the margins is well worth checking out.
www.thelowry.com