Multi award winning comedian, Adele Cliff, brings a work in progress show to the Oxford Comedy Festival. Expect material on love, life choices and llamas. Catch these jokes whilst they're still super fresh.

***** "Master of comedy" - Theatre Matters
***** "Truly Funny" - TLA Adelaide
***** "Guaranteed Laughs" - The Student Newspaper
**** "A-list Jokes - The Comic's Comic
**** "Heartfelt storytelling and incredibly astute observations" - Hugging comedians
**** "takes her job to be silly very seriously and it certainly pays off" - Edfringe Review
**** "funny well written" One 4 Review

Tadiwa Mahlunge is one of comedy’s fastest-rising stars. The Times (★★★★) hailed him as one of the “Top 3 Stars of Tomorrow”. The Scotsman (★★★★) praised him as “already looking like the complete, fully rounded package". The Skinny ★★★★ called him “impressively accomplished and infectiously funny.” Tipped as “one of the must-see comics” (Rolling Stone), Tadiwa has appeared on ITV2’s Stand Up Sketch Show, Comedy Central, Dave, and BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz.

What if we kissed right now? Like, obviously I’m kidding. But genuinely? I’m just asking questions. About kissing. Like what do we think of that? I’m kissi- I mean kidding! But we could! Right here! Do you have someone to practice kissing with? Do you want it to be me? X

As seen / heard on Channel 4 / HBO Max / BBC Radio 4.

'Deeply affecting and incredibly funny' ★★★★★ (The Wee Review).
'A one-woman multiverse of gleeful possibility' ★★★★½ (The Reviews Hub).
'Fabulously funny, absurd and intelligent' ★★★★ (Everything Theatre).

Following a 5 star tour of her show that is now a full special on ITVX, and launching her subsequent show as a comedy vinyl, Amy Matthews is scratching about in the dirt for new jokes and new ideas. Come and help find them with her.

This will be BRAND new stuff. How exciting! Thrilling. Daunting! Exclusive, oooooo. Playful! Whimsical! Funny.

The show is shaping up to be about what it means to support - or not support - someone dealing with alcoholism; queer joy; a stand off with a pigeon; learning to be angry; why Amy’s mum keeps milk in the car; learning about how a processing lag is affecting her life; why modern Shakespeare is so often very shite.

Amy is the official host of the English Heritage podcast and has been seen on tour with Ed Byrne, Tom Allen, Sarah Keyworth, Tom Davis and Suzi Ruffell, as well as multiple appearances on Comedy Central.

"A must-see […] a searing wit, she makes the deeply personal feel like a universal truth" - Rolling Stone.

Sara's planned a series of high kicks, insults for your granny, and thoughts on Jeffrey Dahmer's Netflix special. Then - separate but adjacent - some thoughts on Gary Barlow.

A sense of ‘this hour is flying!’ from a woman who is unusually present and regularly wild.

Esther Manito:

After a sold-out, rave-reviewed tour last year, Esther Manito is back — this time embracing the sheer joy of having absolutely no dignity. She’s tried elegance. She’s aimed for sophistication. But somehow, chaos always wins. Because really — how do you keep your poise when you’re juggling kids, aging parents, and the crushing weight of unmet expectations? From failed attempts at being sexy, sudden hearing loss, and awkward encounters with dodgy drug dealers, to the brutal realities of a waxing session gone sideways — nothing’s off limits.

As seen and heard on Live at the Apollo (BBC One), The Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV), Hypothetical (Dave), The Prank Podcast Show (4OD), The News Quiz (Radio 4) and Mark Watson Talks a Bit About Life (Radio 4).

★★★★ “Manito skilfully weaves her own personal story with a wider look at gender issues in society” - Evening Standard

★★★★ “An absolute riot from start to finish” - Everything Theatre

★★★★ “Effervescent…Incisivley funny’ - The Skinny

Matt Richardson:

Being loud, brazen and a little bit lairy was all Matt Richardson needed to propel himself onto the comedy circuit aged 18 and be presenting national telly by 22. But faster than you can say ‘Celebrity Coach Trip’ he suddenly finds himself in his 30s, so what’s next for the lad? Matt has moved to the countryside, settled down, and is trying his hardest to not make rude jokes. It’s not going as well as he’d hoped…

Attempting to navigate a world of mate’s kids, mortgages and village life is proving a challenge for the guy who can’t resist causing a scene. How do you age with grace and dignity when it’s at odds with all the personality traits that got you this far?

As seen on Dancing on Ice, The Stand Up Sketch Show, Love Island: Aftersun (ITV2), Comedy Central’s Roast Battle and many more.

‘High wattage stand-up’ - The Guardian

'Hilarious and Charming' - The Mirror

★★★★★ ‘One of the top comedians in Edinburgh this year’ - Theatreweekly.com

★★★★★ ‘An explosive show that left people with bellies aching from laughter’ - Voice Magazine

'Sharp, funny and warm' - Heat Magazine

Duker’s back on her bullshit. And this time, she’s done with dudes. Promise. The people’s princess of provocation returns with a beefy hour about sex and privilege. Taskmaster Champion and Just For Laughs International New Face. As seen crushing Live at the Apollo, House of Games, Celebrity Mastermind and Celebrity Pointless. Sell-out Fringe runs since 2019.
‘Obscenely good… Charisma to burn’ (Rolling Stone).
'Extremely funny' **** (Scotsman).
'Truly one of the best comedians around' **** (DIVA).
'Laugh-out-loud funny' **** (Telegraph).
'Not scared to push the boundaries' **** (Fest).
**** (Skinny).
**** (Evening Standard).
**** (Times).

What would you like to see a show about? Email me 24hrs before the show…
This is such a crazy ambitious idea that I’m only doing one preview. It might not work.

Send all your best show suggestions to me at: KateSmurthwaitesBrandNewShow@proton.me

Introducing, a death defying genre mashup: comedy and rave. This brand new show blends a traditional stand-up show (you’re sat, Adam is stood, he does jokes, you laugh), cut with his cult hit show “Late Night Comedy Rave” (comics performing live over big beats). The latter was nominated for Best Comedy Show at Newcastle Fringe in 2025, and his debut standup hour was just released on BBC Sounds.

A new standup show hour, set in a nightclub, about an attempt to stay young and stupid.

This is a seated gig, you may dance in your mind.

Broadway World ★★★★

Ed Fringe Review ★★★★

Broadway World ★★★★

Stutter’s Pick of The Fringe ★★★★

As seen on ITV2’s The Stand Up Sketch Show.

BBC New Comedy Award Nominee

Following multiple sell out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre, Celya AB (Live At The Apollo, Off Menu, Just For Laughs, Writer on SNL UK) is working on her new show. Expect new jokes on the A-Side and unformed ideas on the B-Side.

''As we've come to expect from Celya, the quality of joke writing here is exceptional, not to mention impressively original’' - British Comedy Guide
""The UK's Parisian comedy star is making waves"" - The Guardian
'‘One of the most gifted joke writers of our age"" - ★★★★ Chortle
Tour support for Maria Bamford and St Vincent.

★★★★★ Pepper and Salt
★★★★ The List
★★★★ Entertainement Now
★★★★ Scotsman
★★★★ The Skinny
★★★★ Broadway World

Grace Jarvis has fallen in love and is unbearably happy (now), but, true to form, the process of falling in love was stressful enough to kill a small animal.

One of Rolling Stone's 12 Must-See Comedy Shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2025
"Outwardly winsome & internally complex, Jarvis is a delight" - The Scotsman (UK)
"One of the smartest and funniest comedians coming up in Australia right now" - Zachary Ruane (Aunty Donna)
"Her energy is infectious and her jokes tightly wound" - The Guardian (AU)

This show is a Work in Progress.
Catherine Bohart - as seen on Live at the Apollo, QI and LOL Ireland is back with a new show. Well, the beginnings of a new show. Well, she’s certainly thinking about beginning a new show. Certainly she’s certain she should be. Come watch this Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominee humble herself before you while she tries new jokes as you give her real time feedback.

A special peek-behind-the-curtain as Bec creates the PERFECT SHOW* - because seeing how the sausage gets made is much more interesting than seeing a sausage**.

★★★★★ "Just put her on Taskmaster already." BroadwayBaby

*This is NOT the PERFECT SHOW, but the lead-up to one (a bit like that song, Tribute).
**There are (probably***) no sausages in the show.
***No refunds.
Bring a "show-and-tell" item (a trinket/something you made/your favourite childhood joke/etc) in case of emergency.

A piping hot work-in-progress stand-up show by Eddy Hare.

"A special talent" Rolling Stone
BBC New Comedy Award Nominee
★★★★ The Skinny
★★★★ Broadway Baby
★★★★ One4Review
★★★★ Broadway World

Leave your maturity at the door for an hour of (mostly) pure, innocent fun – offspring not compulsory!

Bec Hill (star of ITVX’s Makeaway Takeaway and winner of the Leicester Comedy Festival’s “Best Kids’ Show” Award) often finds performing for children is WAY more fun than performing for adults. So, she’s inviting kids of ALL ages to sample her family-friendly material in a show which is guaranteed to remind you of all that is good, wholesome, and – most importantly – silly in the world.

Award-winning comedian Dee Allum presents a preview of her sophomore solo show.

Dee’s debut solo hour, Deadname, received wide critical acclaim before transferring to the Soho Theatre and a UK tour.

As seen on The Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV), as heard on One Person Found This Helpful (BBC Radio 4).

“A story of gender identity told with panache, charm, self-deprecation and copious wit…an inventive, casually ironic storytelling skill…a true stand-up.” ★★★★ The Times.

Freya is using science to try and make her life more successful. Although she only got a 2:2 from the University of Brighton, so perhaps she shouldn’t back herself on that ability.

With over 50K followers online and millions of views, her science jokes are quickly becoming a cult favorite.

Critically acclaimed comedian and Irish bestseller Marise Gaughan debuts a story about addiction (but not the serious TED-Talk kind, swear.) Expect sex (with old dudes for money), rehab (with a lad addicted to Rolexes), and dating a surf instructor (tale as old as time). A sharp, darkly hilarious take on self-destruction, life lessons, and potatoes, based on her 'outstanding' (Business Post) debut memoir Trouble. Some good, clean fun, depending on your definition of words.

An only-child with two siblings, Andrew White enjoyed a precocious childhood befriending retirees and penning self-indulgent poetry, until a literal circus clown warned him of imminent death on his 18th birthday. All the Jester foretold came to pass, and now Andrew must reflect on life without three close loved ones and do his best to honour their memories. An imperfect guide to living right, dying happy and appealing parking tickets with a 76% success rate; don’t miss this hilarious and heartwarming new stand-up comedy show.

**** “A plethora of memorable gags” (Chortle)
"Very exciting & very funny" (Joe Lycett)
"Outrageously funny" (Broadway World)
"F**king funny" (Kiri Pritchard-McLean)
"Go see him, he's sublime!" (Maisie Adam)

Last year Kate attempted to save the world or as The Guardian put it... 'political comedy may yet have found its new messiah.' Now she thinks perhaps it is time to burn it all down. Everything is falling apart. What does it mean to be a woman (and a feminist) in the midst of an apocalypse? Expect stories about the farmer she could have married, an awards ceremony after party, appearing on BBC Radio 4 and Berlin STI tests interspersed with razor sharp political comedy on colonialism and the rise of fascism. ‘A skillful mix of raunchy, raconteurial energy and cutting social commentary, which seems to reflect the delicate modern balancing act of fighting the good fight whilst having a bloody good time before the whole thing goes up in flames’ (European Comedy Review)

The LoreBoys Live again! Expect some peculiar bits and bobs from the Oxfordshire area which will either tickle your ribs or tingle your spine. Either way you're going to need a gilet.

New jokes. New stories. That's all. (But it's a lot!)

Sara Barron is one of the fastest-rising comedians of her generation. Since her 2018 debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, she’s starred on shows including Live at the Apollo (BBC), Would I Lie to You? (BBC) and Frankie Boyle’s New World Order (BBC).

A powerhouse live act, Sara has taken four critically-acclaimed stand-up hours, For Worse (2018), Enemies Closer (2019), Hard Feelings (2022) and Anything For You (2024) to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and had multiple runs in London’s Soho Theatre. Her shows have received rave reviews from publications including The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Evening Standard and The Scotsman, and she was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Jane Gregory has misophonia and can't stand the sound of loud breathing or eating. Steve Hall never learned table manners. Somehow despite this they've been married for 15 years. This show is both an introduction to misophonia, and a test of the strength of their union. With jokes. Jane is a clinical psychologist and the author of Sounds Like Misophonia. Steve is a stand-up who has supported Frank Skinner and Russell Howard on tour in 2024 ("Steve Hall is the most intelligent stand-up you've never heard of" - GQ).

The earliest beginnings of what will eventually become a brand new show that might even still be called KETTLE. We’ll probably just decide on the day if we like?

From Jessica Fostekew who you know from BBCs QI or Live at the Apollo, her two BBC R4 series of ‘Sturdy Girl Club’, The Guilty Feminist, the Hoovering Podcast, Travelman on C4, World’s Most Dangerous Roads on Dave, Celebrity University Challenge where she intellectually soiled herself on prime time viewing this Christmas or even just all the other Machynlleth Festivals she has done.

A feel-good show about apocalyptic dread. Caitriona spends most of her time worrying about the future and studying our medieval past. Can she learn to live in the moment? Following her double-award-nominated debut show, she returns with musings on the history of aviation, the shortcomings of modern gynaecology, and the 1518 Dancing Plague.

Tasmin Sarkany (Musical Comedy Awards finalist, "highly skilful... ingenious" - Chortle) is a musical character comedian who plays Amelia Crotchet, a semi-failed classical musician in a double act with her violin. She is about to play the most important concert of her career: a complete performance of Bach’s repertoire for solo violin, accompanied by a complete history of his life and works. Unfortunately though, Amelia is easily distracted. She’s got a couple of comedians to help her through it, but will they be up to the task? Expect silliness, some historically questionable facts about Bach and, if she gets round to it, some beautiful classical music.

William Stone has been described as an "excellent writer of quirky one-liners" (Chortle). But don't feel left out if you don't get them, he doesn't either.

Award-winning comedian Hasan Al-Habib presents an hour of new material.

Hasan will be bringing his debut solo hour ‘Hasan Al-Habib: Death to the West (Midlands)’ to the Edinburgh Fringe this year. In 2024, his and Aisha Amanduri’s Edinburgh Fringe show “2 Muslim 2 Furious” sold out its entire run at the Festival:

“Hasan Al-Habib will be famous in at least two languages very soon with an emphatic stage presence and mainstream appeal”. Rolling Stone

Hasan has also won the 2023 Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award, and was a finalist in the 2022 Chortle Students Comedy Awards.

Lucy Pearman is working out a new show and wobbling around as the moon.

There will definitely be a song, a cow and in an ideal world, an audience.

‘Spending an hour in Pearman’s world is a true delight’ ★★★★ List

Nominee | BAFTA

Best Newcomer Nominee | Edinburgh Comedy Awards

Best Show Nominee | Leicester Comedy Festival

After a sell-out debut, Lulu returns with a second hour of hilarious confessional stand-up! With an emotional support dog, and an emotional support piano, she asks: What actually is love? The warm feeling of safety or the darkest throes of mental illness? Lulu explores what love really means and whether it's actually worth all the bother, with pit-stops at naughty vicars, pure OCD, and the bisexual implications of Disney's Robin Hood.

"Playfully funny, thought-provoking and has kindness at its heart." Chortle

"Will soon be one of your favourite comedians." ★★★★ Funny Women

★★★★ Broadway Baby

★★★★ Mervyn Stutter's Pick of the Fringe

‘Highly recommended’ - Stephen Fry