Comedians set to light up Old Rep

A new season of comedy has been announced for the Old Rep theatre in Birmingham city centre over the coming months.

First up on Friday 27th January will be Lucy Porter in her hilarious new show, full of heartfelt personal revelations and incisive cultural observations.

Tickets £14

That’s followed by Matt Forde on Saturday 11th February.

Following the UK’s most important referendum until the next one and hot on the heels of the prime minister’s Brexit announcement, Matt Forde (host of original hit series Unspun with Matt Forde on Dave) celebrates why it’s great/awful that we’re in/out of the EU/UK/NATO/ whatever the hell happens next.

A regular writer for 8 Out of 10 Cats (Channel 4) and Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC), and seen on The Royal Variety Performance (ITV), Have I Got News For You (BBC One), Mock The Week (BBC Two) and Question Time (BBC One), Matt’s live shows consistently sell out in the West End and now he brings his sharp satire out on tour.

Tickets £15

Josie Long will be performing on Friday 17th February.

Following the international sell-out success of her previous show Cara Josephine across the UK, Europe, in Australia and New York, the star of BBC Radio 4’s Romance and Adventure, All of the Planet’s Wonders and presenter of Shortcuts, tours her eighth solo stand-up show nationwide.

This is a show about optimism and hopefulness and about looking for people and things to look up to. It’s about wanting more from life than it might be up for giving out. It’s about struggling with realising what you are, who you are and what you can’t change about yourself, and about really feeling like an outsider for the first time.

Tickets £14

Then comes Richard Herring, King of the Edinburgh Fringe, on Thursday 23rd February, picking his favourite routines from his twelve previous one-man shows and crams them into 90 minutes for your delectation.

From his deconstruction of the genealogy of Christ, to him questioning whether racists are less racist than liberals, via some of the best jokes in the business. Will your favourite make the cut?

Tickets £15

On Thursday 9th March Lee Nelson returns to The Old Rep following his sell-out shows in 2015 and 2016.

After getting into trouble for sneaking into places he shouldn’t be, Lee Nelson is back where he most definitely should be: live on stage with his brand-new, laugh-out-loud, best ever stand-up show.

Tickets £20

Sara Pascoe will be performing on Saturday 29th April.

Always honest and unflinching – the Mock The Week, Buzzcocks and 8 out of 10 Cats regular expounds on sexuality, empathy, art, God and pubic hair. If that all sounds a bit weighty, there will also be stuff about selfies, glow worms and RuPaul’s Drag Race. Slytherins, and this should be obvious, are absolutely unwelcome.

Sara will be signing copies of her book Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body after the show.

Tickets £12

Gary Delaney will then be taking the stage on Saturday 6th May | 7.30pm

There’s something about Solihull-born Gary Delaney, and that something is he likes to write and perform jokes – an awful lot of them. He thinks a good joke should be like a drunk Glaswegian, short and punchy. After his last tour was extended four times and took in over 240 dates, Delaney’s brand new show once again showcases exactly why he is seen as the premier gag-smith of his generation. A regular on Mock The Week (BBC), he has won two Sony Awards, as well as receiving a Chortle Award nomination.

All tickets £14

Andy Parsons is next up, on Saturday 13th May.

Worried about your job? Worried about your family? Worried about yourself? Worried about the health service? Education? Climate change? World War 3? Worried about worrying? Sod it! Come and have a laugh about it. It’s one of the things we do best.

Take a risk. Put on your lucky pants and your party shoes – and get yourself on a night out. Or maybe come out dressed in a binbag, top hat and clogs. We could all use a laugh.

As seen on Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, QI etc. – and repeated on Dave.

Tickets £15

Completing the season, Justin Moorhouse will be appearing on Saturday 8th July.

From Live at The Apollo, The News Quiz, Fighting Talk and Phoenix Nights. A little slimmer but still as “belly laugh funny” (Manchester Evening News), everyone’s favourite northern charmer is back on the road and better than ever. About people he knows, their feelings and how he feels about them. And they about him. It’ll be a very funny show. Promise.

Tickets £15

Tickets can be obtained from the Old Rep box office tel: 0121 359 9444 or online at oldreptheatre.co.uk