The London comedy circuit is slowly but surely gearing up for a big autumn with two major events at either end of this week. Tonight The Comedy Store hosts Laugh Til It Hurts, a benefit in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. The gig could be subtitled Paul The Other Ones, as it seems to have gathered together most of the Pauls on the comedy circuit apart from Comedy Store regular Paul Merton. Among those appearing tonight are Paul Thorne, Paul Tonkinson and spellbindingly brainy quiz supremo Paul Sinha. You don't have to be called Paul to be on the bill though – MC Gordon Southern will also be introducing Ava Vidal, Carey Marx and Sean Collins. Great crowdpleasing line-up, great cause. Can you think of a reason not to go?

What's in a name then? On Saturday the man who has been called "Britain's funniest Milton" films his new live DVD at The Bloomsbury Theatre and you are cordially invited to be in the audience (you will have to buy a ticket, of course). Milton Jones usually gets bunched in with Tim Vine, Gary Delaney and Jimmy Carr when one-liner merchants are talked about, but Delaney is darker, Carr is cruder and Vine is more partial to props and old school Tommy Cooper-isms. Jones comes out top – not that it's a competition – when it comes to a mixture of surreal juxtapositions and ingenious flights of fancy. His gigs are jam-packed with pithy quips, verbal somersaults and inspired callbacks. He certainly has a gag for every occasion. As the theme of this week's preview is names, here's a joke on the subject from Jones: "If your name is Andre, don't sign your name with a kiss".