There's always room for weird gigs in comedy and there are some partiuclarly werid ones this week. Tonight Karl Schultz and Joz Norris present their Over The Top Xmas Love-In at the Bloomsbury Theatre. While some of the alternative acts billed are simply great – Bridget Christie, Josie Long, Sara Pascoe, Tim Key, Liam Williams – this is also a line-up that boasts some of the oddest acts around. I’ve not seen absurdist John Kearns do a short set for a while so he should be interesting. And then there is anti-comic Brian Gittins, who I think might possibly be the most divisive act on the circuit. Some absolutely love him, others find him mildly repulsive. I’ve seen walk-outs and heard about complaints in the past. Which immediately makes him worth seeing in my book. 

And if that’s not weird enough for you there is the annual Weirdos panto in the Heroes Comedy Grotto for three nights from Tuesday (not Wednesday). They’ve done a wayward version of Hook and the life of Colonel Sanders in the past, so this could be interesting to say the least. And it is for charity – Great Ormond Street Hospital. Among those taking part are John Kearns and Joz Norris (again), Harriet Kemsley, Luke McQueen and Pat Cahill.

By comparison the shows at Soho Theatre this week are pretty normal. Adam Riches opens tonight with his immersive Adam of the Riches, in which he plays Sean Bean and indulges in some live hairdressing.  And Nick Helm presents his Yuletide show also from tonight in which he threatens to “kick Christmas in the dick so hard that, who knows, in 2000 years time we may well be remembering this guy alongside that other guy we already remember at this time of year.” So all in all, a pretty average week for comedy…