Live Laugh Leeds – July

Our resident comedian and journalist, Larry Budd has a look at all the funny events you can go to this month.

We’re spoilt for choice this month, thanks to the return of the Leeds Comedy Festival.

Some of my personal recommendations include Robin Ince (of The Infinite Monkey Cage fame), Taskmaster’s Ivo Graham, Simon Brodkin (who you may know as Lee Nelson, but whose stand-up work is brilliant), Olga Koch, Sooz Kempner, Simon Evans, the amazing Spencer Jones (Mr Winner), and the incomparable Richard Herring (Lee & Herring, RHLSTP).

All of those shows, and many others, are at The Wardrobe over the course of July.

It’s boom time for comedy in Leeds at the moment, and you can hear an interview with the man behind Leeds Comedy Festival, Toby Jones (not that one), in the July edition of the Welcome To Leeds podcast.

Outside of the festival, the inimitable Troy Hawke (aka Milo McCabe) brings his hilarious show Sigmund Troy’d to Leeds City Varieties on the 6th of July. For reference, he’s the guy who does the Greeter’s Guild videos – welcoming punters to shops – and many of his sketches have gone viral. So shoulders back, go in there and smash it.

He’s sometimes controversial, but for many, he’s the current king of gags. Jimmy Carr plays at Leeds Grand Theatre on the 30th of July. His show – Terribly Funny 2.0 – is not for the overly politically correct.

Creator of HBO’s Starstruck, and as seen on Taskmaster, Would I Lie To You, and 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, there’s a rare chance to see the brilliant Rose Matafeo in an intimate setting as she brings her work in progress show to the Hyde Park Book Club on the 28th of July.

And as ever, look out for smaller shows, and your chance to see the comedy stars of the future at HiFi Club, BOX Leeds, Headrow House, and The Original Oak.