Taking place at Cherry Reds and The Victoria, in John Bright Street (just a few yards from Grand Central and New Street Station), Birmingham Comedy Festival’s Free Half-Dayer: Part One (Sunday 7th October) features a revival of classic 1960s radio series Round The Horne; sketch duo Good Kids; Northfield’s acclaimed Lindsey Santoro; Lusia Omilean tour support Aaron Twitchen; and Cherrybomb Comedy host Tom Ham; plus Danny Clives, Alex Hylton, Jay Handley, and Star Trek fan Rik Carranza.

Part Two on Sunday 14th October sees appearances from multi-award-winning The Elvis Dead creator Rob Kemp, with his new Wheel Of Shows; Edinburgh Fringe veteran Mickey Sharma; Coronation Street’s Gareth Berliner; classic Chicago style long-form improvised comedy troupe Fat Penguin Improv; and Josh Pugh and Phil Pagett’s Knowledge Club. They’re joined by James Cook, Hannah Silvester, and the return of the game show with a difference, Board Game Smackdown.

Mixing stand-up comedy with music, sketches, games, and more, all hour long shows are free (donations encouraged), with performances starting at 1.1 pm and concluding at 6 pm.

No advance booking is required, simply turn up, drop in, and see as many shows as you like. Visitors are also free to go back and forth between both venues.

The award-winning Birmingham Comedy Festival runs from Friday 4th to Sunday 14th October with over 70 performances across the city, including appearances from Ab Fab’s Joanna Lumley, James Acaster, US comic Rich Hall, Infinite Monkey Cage’s Robin Ince, and Hospital People creator Tom Binns, as well as theatre, art, podcasters, burlesque, and more.