21 Sep
16:48
Short Com 2026 Brings 53 Comedy Shorts to London
By River Leanox Fifty-three selected comedy shorts are being squeezed into four London screenings this week. By the weekend, the audience will be watching them…
Reporter
River Leanox
River Leanox edits Open Comedy's newsroom. Coverage runs across stand-up's full ecosystem: comics on the rise, club owners booking the rooms, festivals, specials, and the working-comic economics behind the laughs. Tips, corrections, and counter-arguments welcome at river@opencomedy.com.
The running order
21 Sep
16:48
How to Turn Your Edinburgh Fringe Show Into a Targeted Tour Pitch
Is your Fringe show ready to tour? A Fringe show is ready to tour when you can show that an audience may want it and…
21 Sep
16:47
BBC Radio 4 commissions 19 stand-ups and five pilots
Nineteen stand-ups have got a piece of Radio 4’s new comedy slate. The most useful name in the pile may be John Tothill. His confession-and-absolution…
16 Sep
07:07
Al Murray Co-Writes 63-Page D-Day Story for Commando 6000
Al Murray’s first comic-book story runs to 63 pages. It sits inside Commando 6000 and sends a Dunkirk veteran back to France in a glider.…
16 Sep
04:00
Chris Cantrill Announces London Residency and 2027 Rewilding Tour
Eleven Soho Theatre performances and 13 dated tour stops have landed on Chris Cantrill’s calendar after his Edinburgh win. The Chris Cantrill Rewilding tour announcement…
13 Sep
12:22
Great Outdoors Comedy Festival leaves refunds waiting
“We’re exploring new dates and will be back with an update as soon as we have one.” That is the firmest timetable Great Outdoors Comedy…
13 Sep
08:52
How to survive bombing on stage and be OK by 11am
Every working comic has a version of the drive home. The one Luke McGibbon wrote up for Chortle in March 2025 has the detail that…
13 Sep
03:04
A Runcorn podcast is replacing Live at the Apollo
Adam Rowe was on the Breakfast sofa by the Sunday On Sunday 2 August, Adam Rowe sat on the BBC Breakfast sofa opposite Emma Vardy…
13 Sep
02:49
Josephine Lacey is self-funding her own special at Top Secret
Josephine Lacey plays Autism Mama for the last time on 20 September at the Top Secret Comedy Club in London. She is paying for the…
13 Sep
02:40
Sky makes SNL UK in a BBC studio, and Demetriou hosts next
Larry Dean played King Charles at a pretend Balmoral. He got the line that set the tone for the whole of Saturday night: “Don’t tell…
