Many, many moons ago, my dad was driving me back down to uni as he did at the start of each new term and I was talking his ear off about how I needed to start a blog to work on my writing.
Knowing how much I loved it, he suggested I write a blog about stand-up comedy.
Sadly, I did not take this advice.
And more fool me!
Had I got my butt in gear and started writing about comedy way back then, maybe I could be a serious critic or comedy journalist by now; getting invited to gigs and meeting some of my favourite stand-ups.
But alas, I was busy being a student and back then my affections were largely directed towards disco pants, crop tops, dancing the night away with my housemates and my first big city love, Brighton.
But I thought, perhaps for just one blog post, I’d take my dad's advice and write a little something about the stand-up comedy world I love so much.
It's going to be pretty straightforward, but if it can spread a little joy, then I've done my job.
So, this one’s for your Papa Sweets.
Here are 28 of my favourite comedians and their subsequent stand-ups, along with some of the best TV shows and podcasts out there that are sure to make you smile.
Some of my favourite stand-up comedy shows
Let me start by clarifying, as this will quickly become apparent, Sean Lock is by far one of my favourite comics and his sad passing makes his work even more special to me.
So as you can see, I have a lot of love and appreciation for this man and I implore you to watch all of his shows if you get the chance.
The same applies to Dylan Moran.
Some of my favourite shows include:
Sean Lock:
Purple Van Man
Keep it Light
Lockipedia
Greg Davies:
You Magnificent Beast
The Back of My Mum’s Head
Paul Chowdhry:
Live Innit
James Acaster:
Repertoire
Romesh Ranganathan:
The Cynic
Dylan Moran:
What It Is
Monster
Yeah, Yeah
Donald Glover:
Weirdo
Taylor Tomlinson:
Quarter-Life Crisis
Sets from the top comedy venues
There is an incredible series on Amazon Prime called Soho Theatre Live and some of the sets on there are just wonderful to watch. If you've got the time, I suggest you go through and watch them all but if you would like to know where to start, I recommend:
Dane Baptiste: D.A.N.E
Suzi Ruffell: Dance Like Everyone's Watching
Felicity Ward: Busting a Nut
Olga Koch: Homecoming
Jen Brister: Meaningless
Nish Kumar: Ruminations on the Nature of Subjectivity
Sindhu Vee: Sandhog
Catherine Bohart: Immaculate
Sarah Keyworth: Dark Horse
Jessica Fostekew: Hench
Huge, huge, huge shout out to the last one on this list, Jessica Fostekew. I cannot recommend her show, Hench enough.
Her brutal honesty about childbirth, parenting, eating disorders and having thick thighs is so raw and refreshing.
I laughed so hard I cried and had to turn the TV off while I ate my lunch because I couldn’t eat whilst laughing that much.
Watch Live at The Apollo
Perhaps one of the best-known stand-up shows on TV is Live at the Apollo. There have been hundreds of shows so far, but based on their sets, I highly recommend:
Henning Wehn
Doc Brown
Nina Conti
Ivo Graham
Guz Khan
Chris McCausland
Kerry Godliman
Rosie Jones
Fern Brady
Alex Edelman
And if you can’t find their stand-up sets from Live at the Apollo, there is plenty of their other content online, so keep these names in mind.
Best comedy podcasts
If you prefer podcasts or you like to have something to listen to in the car or on a walk, there are also loads of great stand-up comedies on Spotify (or whatever music platform you choose).
For one thing, you can listen to lots of stand-up sets on there, you just can't watch the comedian on stage, which is perhaps only best if you've already seen them.
But there are also some amazing podcasts out there and a few of my favourites are:
Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
Where There’s a Will There’s a Wake with Kathy Burke
The Wolf and Owl with Romesh Ranganathan and Tom Davis
The Paul Chowdhry Pudcast with, you guessed it, Paul Chowdhry
The top TV shows
If you want something easy-watching that you can relax to in the evening or that you can have on in the background, some of the best TV shows out there include:
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
Taskmaster
Outsiders
Hypothetical
Would I lie to You
Backstage with Katherine Ryan
The year of comedy
I am SO excited for next year as I have a couple of stand-up gigs booked already. To go and see obviously... I’m not going to be performing.
I’m hoping to get a couple more booked in as we have some pretty good acts playing down here in Cornwall, and if not, my sister lives near The Anvil in Basingstoke, another great venue with some huge names.
This year is going to be a big stand-up comedy year for me and I cannot wait.
Here's an old photo of us a few years back at a Dylan Moran show to finish with. And if you do take my advice and watch any of the shows or sets listed above, please do let me know what you think!