Comedy & Cabaret Events in Brighton

But comedy here isn't just Komedia. There are scratch nights in pub back rooms. Open mics where you don't know if you'll see someone brilliant or someone dying on their feet. Both are entertaining. Improv groups that have been running for years. Character acts doing weird stuff in basements.

Summer is when it kicks up a gear. Brighton Fringe turns the city into a month-long comedy festival every May, with hundreds of shows across pop-up venues, pubs, and any room with a microphone and some chairs. Top comedians road-test their Edinburgh material here. You can see a future panel show regular for a fiver.

The circuit nights keep things ticking over the rest of the year. Thursday, Friday, Saturday — there's always a comedy night somewhere. Some are free, some cost less than a round of drinks. The quality stays high for a city this size.

Where you go depends on what you're after. North Laine means Komedia — the professional end, big names and polished circuit bills. Kemptown does the rougher magic: the Caroline of Brunswick runs scratch nights and alternative line-ups where acts test material that might be on television next year or might never be seen again. Hove's pubs hold down the local circuit — regular monthly nights in back rooms where the compère knows half the audience by name. And in Fringe season the whole map goes out the window, because everywhere with a spare room becomes a venue.