comedy
the Hyde Park Book Club has announced its 2026 Work In Progress Comedy Programme.
Manchester-born Creatures Comedy Festival returns with a stacked line-up for its third instalment, bringing a standout mix of international icons and local legends from 23rd July to 1st August 2026.
Presented by NOMAD and Creatures Comedy Club, the festival focuses on creating a space outside of London for acts to preview right before the world’s biggest arts festival, giving Manchester residents exclusive access to shows before they hit Edinburgh Fringe.
Below is the speech given by BBC Director of Comedy Jon Petrie at the BBC Comedy Festival in Liverpool on Wednesday.
Welcome
Hello Liverpool!
BBC Director of Comedy Jon Petrie has announced 10 new and returning shows at the BBC Comedy Festival in Liverpool.
Celebrating a breadth of talent from across the UK, both new and established, on camera and behind the scenes, Jon unveiled six fan favourites which are all returning for a third time.
At the festival, now in its fifth year, Jon also announced two brand new series, Hopley Hall (w/t), starring Jamie-Lee O’Donnell and Opening Up, which stars Amy Gledhill.
Eloise Heath has won the West End New Act of the Year 2026. The joint runners up were Ella Clark and Scott Oswald, while Shadi Ahmed scooped the Audience Vote prize.
BBC Scotland has commissioned four new short form comedy series, adding to its portfolio of established and successful digital-first scripted content, which includes award-winning dramas such as Float and Dog Days and its digital comedy strand Short Stuff.
These commissions form part of BBC Scotland’s digital strategy, designed to deliver distinctive Scottish content on platforms where audiences are increasingly choosing to watch.
S4C, Channel 4 and Little Wander’s Comedy Lab Cymru returns for a third year! The three organisations are continuing their partnership to deliver the scheme for emerging Welsh (and Wales-based) comedy writer-performers, providing career development opportunities and opening the door to future creative commissions.
A Comedy Thing by Channel 4 has been greenlit for a second year as it establishes a home for the next generation of young new comedians. The digital channel taps into the UK broadcaster’s heritage in breaking new comedy talent and offers a platform to bridge the gap between panel shows and podcasts with original formats landing weekly, every Sunday, and social clips posted daily.
The Live Comedy Association, producers of Live Comedy Day, have hailed the first day as a success and claim it helped raise the profile of live comedy across the UK. It has now been announced that the day will be repeated on 1st April 2027. Over 120 comedians took part in shows across the UK, with a total capacity of over 20,000 people, at venues ranging from The Yellow Book in Brighton (30 seats, hosted by the “incredible, insatiable, and incorrigible” Leslie Bloom) to the Royal Albert Hall where Vir Das played t
Today is the first ever Live Comedy Day, a celebration of one of the things that makes Britain Great. Gigs across the UK will be staged to mark the occasion and throughout the day BTJ will be offering recommendations. You can check out more about the day and what's happening in your area here, but below is our first pick. And it's a big one.
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