Bridget Christie
Her last show, Because You Demanded It, was one of the comedy events of 2016: a hastily assembled, laceratingly funny cri de coeur about the state of Britain post-referendum. Now comes the followup, What Now? – billed as “a night of hope and despair” – trialling across London throughout the festive season.
•In rep until 16 December, at Battersea Arts Centre, Museum of Comedy and the Bill Murray, London.
Daniel Kitson: A Show for Christmas
A real cracker when it premiered three years ago, Daniel Kitson’s seasonal solo show would melt the heart of the Scroogiest Christmas refusenik. A simple tale of a middle-aged woman struggling to reach her mum’s house, and of the fellow traveller she picks up on the way, it’s blissfully funny and keenly engaged with the meaning of Christmas.
•4 December, Norwich Playhouse; then touring.
Ongals
Anyone aged three or over is welcome at this festive family entertainment, which finds four Korean TV stars donning primary-coloured romper suits to perform an hour of so-called “babbling comedy”. Highlights in a show that majors on slapstick and fart gags, beatbox and mime, include a knife-juggling interlude and a routine involving a balloon pump thrust up a clown’s backside.
•4 December-6 January, Soho theatre, London.
Adam Riches
There’s a fine tradition of high-end comedy talent making bespoke Christmas shows at Battersea Arts Centre. This year – in the footsteps of Daniel Kitson, Sara Pascoe and John Kearns – comes audience-participation monster Adam Riches, and sidekick Ben Target, with The Beakington Town Hall Meetings. From the most scarifyingly interactive comedian out there, this is an interactive murder mystery (and who doesn’t love a murder mystery at Christmas?) in which inquisitor Riches puts his audience on trial to untangle the tombola-related massacre of 16 tortoises.
•4-9 December, Battersea Arts Centre, London.
The Noise Next Door
The market for peppy and energetic improv has been cornered in recent years by this all-male four-piece, Edinburgh fringe regulars now bringing their festive lock-in to Manchester and Brighton. On the latter date, musical comic, ex-doctor and award-winning memoirist Adam Kay co-stars.
•5 December, Comedy Store, Manchester; 10 December, Komedia, Brighton, then touring.
Kerry Godliman
Gentrification, moving to the sticks, the difference between boys and girls: Kerry Godliman’s standup ranges across many of the most familiar topics. But she brings to them real substance and a very neat measure of caustic wit. The Derek and Bad Move star’s Stick or Twist tour comes to an end this month with a handful of pre-Christmas gigs.
•7 December, South Hill Park, Bracknell; 8 December, Blackheath Halls, London; 9 December, South Street Arts Centre, Reading.
Triple Threat
You could say that Lucy McCormick’s show distils the festive spirit, but only if the spirit you have in mind is the flaming brandy on the Christmas pud. A trash-cabaret refit of the New Testament that both spoofs and celebrates pop culture and fame hunger, Triple Threat was one of the most talked-about, barely believed hits of 2016. Now it’s back at just the time of year we should be thinking about Jesus – if not exactly in these terms.
•11-16 December, Soho theatre, London.
Bill Bailey
In the new year, Bill Bailey will kick off his longest ever tour with a new show, Larks in Transit, offering tales from “the general shenanigans of 20 years as a travelling comedian”. For five nights over the festive season, he is performing a bespoke Christmas version in west London, deploying his increasing resemblance to Santa Claus to seasonal effect. Expect noodly and skilful musical comedy alongside idiosyncratic standup.
•23 and 27-30 December, Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, then touring.
