Fringe previews in Liverpool and Manchester: our picks

Preview season heats up in July – a cheap opportunity to take in the best of the Fringe before it's even begun. Here are our picks

Feature by John Stansfield | 01 Jul 2015

The comedy circuit's calendar has become a little like the snake eating its own tail (or ouroboros if you know how to work Wikipedia), with the Edinburgh Festival forming the head. You do the Edinburgh Festival, tour that show (hopefully), then start working new material into your regular act; then you do previews, panic and rewrite whole show; then you go up to Edinburgh for the Fringe again. Ad infinitum. The month before August (it's called "July" in case you were wondering, fact fans!) is when the preview season starts to really heat up. It's a blind panic of a month when acts are still doing all they can to make sure their show is the best it can be.

On the other side, for the punter this is a chance to see some top acts perform at a much cheaper rate, and in an arena a little more intimate than you might usually see said performer in. Though previews are just that – a glimpse at the embryonic form of a standup or sketch group’s new show before they present the fully formed baby to an unforgiving Fringe crowd. There is something more, though; it is a time to see comics at their most vulnerable, asking for important feedback in the way of laughter. And it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than heading to Edinburgh for a month.

The Greater Manchester Fringe Festival set up shop four years ago and has gone from strength to strength, relying heavily on those comics looking to preview what they have across the pubs and bars of Manchester and Salford. This year you can see established acts such as Phill Jupitus as Porky the Poet (6 July), and Robin Ince (1st & 2nd) at The King’s Arms in Salford, as well as Northwest hopefuls Norris & Parker (15th-17th), and Alastair Clark (14th) as they attempt to fine-tune their fresh attempts at conquering Edinburgh.

Now entering their second month of previews, Manchester’s finest purveyors of live comedy, Group Therapy and XS Malarkey, heap more of them down your neck than you might be able to handle. Usually found in Gorilla, Group Therapy have kept the animal theme of their venues going with a series of shows at Tiger Lounge. July sees John Luke Roberts, Stu Goldsmith, Sofie Hagen, Chris Martin, Lou Sanders, Tom Parry, Michael J Dolan and Gein’s Family Giftshop on consecutive Thursday night double bills in the city’s favourite dive bar, which has shown itself to be a great venue for live comedy. XS sticks to its Tuesday night formula but throws in an unfeasibly large name doing a preview, with the likes of great white hopes Joe Lycett (21st) and Ivo Graham (14th) stopping by.

Dead Cat Comedy are also getting in on the preview act with some of their own from Damien Slash, Jack Campbell (both 11th), Chris Turner (18th), John Hastings (19th) and Sam Gore (26th). Former Spotlighter and hot tip for Edinburgh success Peter Brush will be previewing his debut show Older Than the Oldest Dog That Ever Lived at Quippopotamus at Fuel on Sunday 26 July.

In Liverpool, Hot Water Comedy turn up the heat further still with eight Edinburgh previews taking place on consecutive Sunday night double bills, kicking off with Dick Coughlan, and Jim Smallman’s My Girls, in which he discusses the two women in his life – his 11-year-old daughter and his wife, a former adult-film star, dominatrix and model. It was nominated best new show at the Leicester Comedy Festival earlier in the year, which is an excellent indication of the show's calibre. Two more to look out for at Hot Water’s Edinburgh previews are rising stars Johnny Pelham (19th) and Brennan Reece (26th), a pair we’re sure you’ll hear a lot more from in the future. Best to get in there early.

A relatively new comedy night but one that has been making incredibly progressive bookings and leftfield choices for lineups in Liverpool is Matchbox Comedy Club. Taking place one Wednesday a month at the Lantern Theatre it’s a steal at just £3. For their Edinburgh preview they have asked along IT rock'n'rollers Foxdog Studios on the 8th. Receiving five-star reviews for their last outing at the Fringe, Foxdog have garnered quite the cult following with fully immersive multimedia showcases, in which the audience helps create the spectacle with the help of Foxdog’s technical wizardry. Such is the scope of these computer-savvy shows they don’t often get to perform live, so if you’re not headed to Edinburgh then make sure you get to this.