Rachel Fairburn, Go Faster Stripe review - smart and subtle gags

Feminism and unlikely heroes

Rachel Fairburn says she didn't know what to wear for the gig. She's dressed in an all-black ensemble; hotpants, animal-print boots and a feather bolero jacket. “I've come as a mistress at a funeral.” 

It's a doozy of an opener to Her Majesty and the kind of sharp gag that listeners to her All Killa No Filla podcast (performed with Kiri Pritchard-McLean) would recognise.

Michelle Wolf: Joke Show, Netflix review - edgy and original material

US comic takes no prisoners

Michelle Wolf, best known to UK audiences as the comic who upset Donald Trump with some smart barbs aimed at his staff at the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner, has done some occasional dates this side of the pond (plus a run at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe), so her fans will be grateful for Joke Show, a Netflix speci

Mister Winner, BBC2 review - gentle comedy about one of life's losers

MISTER WINNER, BBC TWO Spencer Jones plays a modern-day Frank Spencer

Spencer Jones plays a modern-day Frank Spencer

Spencer Jones, a clownish stand-up, has been responsible for some the cheeriest, daftest and most heart-warming shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, where he has twice been nominated in Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (ECA). Others may know him from his scene-stealing turn in Upstart Crow, where he channels Ricky Gervais in the character of Will Kempe.

Shappi Khorsandi, Soho Theatre On Demand - enjoyable run-through of her career

★★★ SHAPPI KHORSANDI, ON DEMAND Enjoyable run-through of her career

Two decades as a stand-up

Shappi Khorsandi's latest show, Skittish Warrior – Confessions of Club Comic, is an enjoyable look back at the stand-up's 20 years in the comedy business. She starts by taking us back to when she was child refugee; her father, a poet and satirist, offended the clerics in Iran, and was even the target of an assassination gang in London.

Feel Good, Channel 4 and Netflix review - a fresh, bingeable comedy that digs deep but feels mild

★★★ FEEL GOOD A fresh, bingeable comedy that digs deep but feels mild

Mae Martin’s dramedy about addiction is honest and enjoyable — but is it that funny?

“I am not intense.” That declaration arrives early in Feel Good, the new Channel 4 and Netflix romantic comedy fronted by comedian Mae Martin, who plays a fictionalised version of herself. Over Mae’s shoulder, we see a literal trash fire. She’s lit up the evidence of a past drug addiction. It smoulders in the background while she smoulders in the front.

Steve Martin and Martin Short, SSE Hydro Glasgow review - old friends bring a touch of vaudeville

★★★★ STEVE MARTIN AND MARTIN SHORT, SSE HYDRO GLASGOW Old friends bring a touch of vaudeville

Hoary gags, music, and even a soft-shoe shuffle

Steve Martin and Martin Short first met in 1986 on the set of The Three Amigos (in which they co-starred with Chevy Chase), became fast friends and have since worked on a few projects together. In what was quite a coup for the Glasgow Comedy Festival, the first night of their UK tour was a starry curtain-raiser to the festival proper, which starts on Thursday.

Lucy Porter, Quarterhouse, Folkestone review - confessions of an ex-Brownie

★★★ LUCY PORTER, FOLKESTONE Confessions of an ex-Brownie

Relentlessly upbeat show

Scouting and Girlguiding may seem awfully old-fashioned to some, yet many youngsters are still keen to join the Scout movement. Be Prepared (the Scout motto) was inspired by Lucy Porter's two children joining the Beavers, its youngest iteration.

Ahir Shah, West End Centre, Aldershot review - a millennial's existential angst

★★★ ALI SHAH, ALDERSHOT A millennial's existential angst

Religion, politics - and vaping

Ahir Shah has delivered some very good comedy by performing as a man who knows he is right about everything – that's what a political degree from Cambridge can do for you. But now the comic, rightly lauded for his previous polemicist shows with two Edinburgh Comedy Awards nominations, is casting around for something other than old ideological certainties to believe in.

Simon Brodkin, The Stables, Milton Keynes review - comics casts off his Lee Nelson character

★★★ SIMON BRODKIN, THE STABLES, MILTON KEYNES Comic casts off his Lee Nelson characters

His debut first person show

Simon Brodkin is best known for his cheeky Cockney wideboy character Lee Nelson, and for pranking the famous – notably handing Theresa May her P45 at the Conservative Party conference in 2017, throwing Nazi-themed balls at Donald Trump when he visited his Scottish golf course in 2016, and, in 2015, storming Kanye West's Glastonbury set and showering then Fifa president Sepp Blatter with banknotes. But now in 100% Simon Brodkin, he is touring as himself for the first time.