Josh Widdicombe: Incidentally, On tour
Former Guardian sports subeditor (yep, you'll never hear the end of that) Josh Widdicombe has staked out a comedy career for himself that's impossible to ignore. He's a regular on panel shows, where his Fred Perry-clad profile is almost as familiar as that of David Mitchell. He's also found a unique niche alongside Adam Hills on Channel 4's comedy show The Last Leg, which started out as a topical series running alongside the 2012 London Paralympics but now seems set to become a fixture in our comedy landscape. He's also poised for sitcom stardom, with his own show piloting for the BBC. Fortunately, his ubiquity is no punishment for the rest of us, because Widdicombe is absurdly good at what he does. He specialises in a kind of irate observational comedy, where the simple things of everyday life prompt pedantic analysis and almost immediate petulant irritation.
Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton, Sun; Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe, Mon; The Glee Club, Birmingham, Wed; Theatr Hafren, Newtown, Thu; touring to 24 Jul
Fern Brady, Glasgow
While many comics are anxious about saying the wrong thing to the media, Scottish stand-up Fern Brady is not afraid to speak openly about her opinions. She's come out loudly in favour of independence for Scotland (while many name comics north of the border are staying shtum to avoid upsetting audiences) and has talked frankly about her teenage conviction for assault. Onstage, she's got an impressive level of icy hauteur, as if nothing can impress her or change her essential belief in the meaningless stupidity of the modern world. There's nothing upbeat about the Brady message: it's a set packed with brutal home truths, designed for a human existence mired in struggle and defeat. This may not sound like the proverbial bundle of laughs, but amid such dour pessimism comes a great comic sensibility, with moments of sparkling verve emerging out of the gloom.
The Stand, Sat & Sun
David Elms: Nurture Boy, London
There are two standard forms of modern musical comedy. There's the traditional approach, where a performer with a guitar belts out unsubtle lyrics relying on double entendres and rhyme-based punchlines. Then there's the up-to-date post-Conchords approach, weaving hip-hop into the mix. David Elms avoids all of these cliches: for the first time in God knows how long, here is a musical comic who offers something that feels entirely new. He's got a disarmingly nerdy, un-showbiz stage persona, and he uses it to perform offbeat songs on the oddest of subjects, such as a mock-confessional about imagined childhood traumas, or a love song employing every letter of the phonetic alphabet. This debut show is likely to get an enthusiastic response when it travels to Edinburgh, and should see him staking out his own new comedy territory.
Pleasance Theatre, N7, Tue
