WORRIED about your ability to write and read Latin? Ashamed to go out in public without being able to quote Cicero and Tacitus? Onetime Cambridge classicist Alex Horne has swapped Seneca for stand-up, and the result, When in Rome, is at the Canal Café, W2 (020-7289 6054) tonight and every Monday until July 25, and on the bill at Jongleurs, Bristol, between July 7 and 9 (0870 7870707).
Richard Herring’s latest gigs are billed as Edinburgh previews, but whether you’ll get the finished product is anyone’s guess. This is the first year that he has not structured his routine around a specific theme — so all you can be guaranteed is that Someone Likes Yoghurt! will probably contain some mention of the milky substance. Catch him at Theatre 503, SW11 (020-7978 7040) tomorrow, the Etcetera Theatre, NW1 on Wednesday (020-7482 4857) and in the Hat Factory, Luton, on Thursday (01582 878100).
Who’d bet on the increasingly erratic Daniel Kitson coming up with the goods this year? For the devoted fans (and they are still legion) his new story-based show is given an airing at the Glee Club, Birmingham, on Wednesday (0870 241 5093).
Last year Russell Brand’s confessional insights into his onetime addiction to heroine won him plaudits in Edinburgh. The reward is two spots at the Soho Theatre, W1, this Saturday and July 2 (0870 429 6883).
Fancy a bit more variety in one evening? Saturday night at the Glee Club in Cardiff (0870 241 5093) features Mark Maier (Jewish), Curtis Walker (black) and Mark Bigpig (Northern Irish). The jokes should write themselves.