Angela Barnes | Wed 10 Jan | Kitchen Garden Cafe | £8 
An evening of up and coming comics headlined by the well established Angela Barnes, a regular on TV panel shows such as Mock The Week and host of BBC Radio 4’s satirical show Newsjack. Barnes’ personable style is thoroughly engaging live but packs a heftier emotional punch when touching on issues that have affected her greatly. Famously writing an article ‘I am ugly, and proud of it’ for The Guardian in 2013 and drawing the inevitable ire of an army of malodorous trolls, she may read some out. www.wegottickets.com

Jim Jefferies | Thu 18 Jan | Symphony Hall | £42 *Sold out
The acerbic Australian is the greatest stand-up performing anywhere in the world today; his fearless headlong, consequences be damned, dive bombing into any subject makes for some hilarious and occasionally wince inducing laughs. His pitch perfect annihilation of US gun laws, part of the Netflix special Bare, went viral in 2015 and is a fine example of Jefferies razor sharp insight. That it’s delivered in such a disarmingly blokey way only adds to the material’s power. Also, anyone that tells Piers Morgan to fuck off on live TV, as Jim did on Bill Maher’s chat show last year, can’t be all bad. www.thsh.co.uk

Andy Zaltzman | Fri 19 Jan | Glee | £12
Zaltor the Merciless stops off at the Glee for an evening of laser guided punnery, or pun runs as Zaltzman prefers to call them, and some personalised interactive satire. Pre-gig, audience members are invited to email a satirico-query to satirisethis@satiristforhire.com including the date of the event being attended noting which specific issues, people, concepts or things you would like Zaltzman to satirise. Neat don’t you think? www.glee.co.uk

Adam Rowe | Wed 24 Jan | mac | £8.50
The Liverpool comedian of the year is a no-nonsense presence who careers through a routine that pokes into the idiosyncrasies of everyday life with a hard nosed but very cheerily abandon, just don’t get him started on Greggs. Rowe brings his sell out Edinburgh Fringe show Unbearable to the mac for the first time, expect big laughs and no mercy. macbirmingham.co.uk

Chris Rock | Thu 25 Jan | Arena | £46.10
Rock’s first major tour in a decade has been garnering great critical acclaim and it’s reassuring to know that an iconic legend such as he still manages to keep the comedic bar high and edgy. Honest and self-analytical regarding his own failings, particularly his marriage, Rock’s most potent material surfaces when he takes aim at the racist currents that are drowning a fractured society and the white privilege that holds them in place. Don’t take your mobile phone unless you get a kick out of seeing it placed in an oversized zipped plastic wallet for the duration of the show. www.theticketfactory.com

Fern Brady | Mon 29 Jan | Glee | £12
Fern Brady brings the sardonic delight of her Suffer Fools show to the Glee, a dark voyage through an eventful life that has included tragedy, pain and an attempt on her life. That Brady can glean laughs from this material, albeit uncomfortable ones at times, speaks volumes for a unique and emerging talent. www.glee.co.uk

Ed Byrne | Sat 27 Jan | Town Hall | £27
The genially self-deprecating comic is always good company, Byrne’s neat observational humour intelligently and intuitively touches a shared nerve with his audiences. In new show, Spoiler Alert, Ed gets stuck into the generation of spoiled adults and children that 21st Century society has created. Rather scarily, in the promo material for the show the Dublin born comedian is wielding a chainsaw, which apparently is his own. You have been warned. www.thsh.co.uk