Hello! Brighton Fringe is underway already, and now I’ve got my own gigs out of the way [1] my plan is to give you weekly tips of people to see who DEFINITELY aren’t me.

This is an extremely subjective guide of course – but I’ve seen many shows over the years, and reviewed plenty, so this list comes with some degree of expertise.

Tom Mayhew (WIP)
9-11th May, 6pm, The Temple Bar

Working class, thoughtful, and very funny, Tom tries to make sense of whatever the world is now live on stage, for your erudition and entertainment. Expect jokes about having no money whatsoever and comments about revolution that are probably not jokes at all. I mean, have you seen this country recently?

Stefania Licari: Medico
10-12th May, Caroline of Brunswick, 7:00pm

Italian comic, actor, and intensive care doctor Stefania Licari brings her new and improved hour long show about stereotypes, Brexit, identity, and what being a migrant in today’s Britain is actually like to the Caroline of Brunswick. Expect laughs, tears, and song. [2]

Sarah Roberts: Do You Know Who I Am? (WIP)
11-12th May, Artista, 6:45pm

“The world’s youngest, most normal comedian”, Roberts has lots to eloquent and very funny things to say about late capitalist culture, society’s expectations of millennial woman, and what social media is doing to our brains.

Lulu Popplewell: Work In Progress
12-14th May, Caroline of Brunswick, 8:15pm

Forthright, charming, and effortlessly hilarious, expect Lulu to unveil material on drinking (specifically, no longer drinking), recovery (specifically, still recovering), and generally being an awesome person with a great dog.

Wife Material
9:15pm, 8-11th May, The Caxton Arms

Lovely lesbian couple – one a comedian, the other a poet – talk gay relationships and finding love in a world of section 28, late-night lesbian films, and that desperate desire to escape one’s dreary hometown. [3]

Extra Topping Comedy Showcase
9pm, 12-13th May, Sweet@The Poets

Mr Simon Topping’s night of everything *but* stand-up comedy: expect clowns, characters, improv, and the occasional moment where you have absolutely no idea what’s going on, but in a good way. Simon himself hosts, often as the fabulous Leslie Bloom. [4]

Culpeper’s Medicine Garden
11-14th May, various times, meet at The Coach House

Each week I’ll be giving you one NON-COMEDY tip, and this week’s recommendation is a lovely herbal walk, with song, folklore and radical plant history courtesy of herbalist Sara Jane Glendinning and musician Jo Burke [5].

[1] I performed on the first night of The Fringe as Mr Gears; and on Sunday singing folk songs at a windmill.
[2] For full disclosure, I know this person IRL
[3] Also this person, but not as well as I know [2]
[4] Also this person, a bit better than [3] but not as well as [2]
[5] Also this person, not as well as [4], a bit better than [3], but nowhere near as well as [2]