Live Laugh Leeds: Comedy Roundup – August 2026

Your guide to the best comedy shows in Leeds in August 2026

August is a funny month for comedy. Not funny ha-ha. Although yes: funny ha-ha. I just mean there’s not much of it, because 90% of comedians are currently in Edinburgh, paying £1,400 a week for a broom cupboard above a pub and telling TV execs that their surrealist take on the life of a pilot fish is definitely good BBC1 9pm sitcom material. 

Hey, I’ll be there too, but mainly to do some quality control on Oban 14 and watch as many northern acts as I can in the space of a few days. Wish me Godspeed. 

If you’re sampling the delights of The Fringe – allow me to recommend some local-ish acts in the shape of Silky, Phil Ellis, Em Humble, and Richard Pulsford.

For those staying behind, there are plenty of shows in Leeds to keep you busy. 

The HiFi Club is running its Saturday comedy nights every week without fail. Geordie favourite and Live at the Apollo regular Paul Tonkinson (29th) tops the bill on the final Saturday of the month, while Irish circuit stalwart and sharp political comic Andrew Maxwell (1st) kicks things off. Completing the HiFi’s August run are Brendan Dempsey (8th), Peter Brush (15th) and Ryan Kenny (22nd).

At The Glee Club, the weekend bills are packed with names. Mock the Week’s own musical oddity Robert White (14th, 15th) shares a bill with local legend Micky P Kerr, while northern hero Justin Moorhouse (28th, 29th) rounds out the month alongside Pete Selwood and Ingrid Dahle. Also on the Glee’s August bills are Andrew Bird, Darren Connell, Paul F Taylor, Ben Norris, and Peter Brush. 

Here’s a big one (don’t be filthy!) – crowd-work icon Paul Smith brings his show Happy to the first direct arena (12th).

And Hyde Park Book Club holds the fort with The Stand-Up Experience (27th), in which Antony Vila builds an entirely improvised comedy show from the audience up in real time.

So plenty to see, even if half the circuit is in Scotland, flyering strangers, crying on the Royal Mile, and eating chips at midnight (or is it midday? No one knows anymore).

And as ever, look out for regular comedy nights at Headrow House, The Original Oak, The Old Woollen, and the Parkside Tavern.