Mondays (MCR)/Wednesdays (Preston), 8.15pm

FREE/£5/£3 advance booking

Beat the Frog proves that as well as smashing dreams it can make them come true as previous winner Adam Staunton will be performing ten minutes in Manchester on Thursday the 3rd of June.  See kids, good things happen to good people, by good people I mean funny people.

June the 21st sees the wonderful Jane Hill taking to the stage to perform eight minutes, a finalist of the English Comedian of the Year competition and a former winner of Beat the Frog, Manchester is being spoilt. Very spoilt when you consider that Jonathan Mayor is orchestrating the events of the evening, an accomplished compere and Frog regular, Mayor’s unique blend of glamorous and sharp humour will ensure our Beat The Froggers have the best possible start in their comedic lives. Then you, the audience will shatter all that.

Regular visitors to Preston will notice we’ve had a little bit of a makeover if you haven’t seen our botoxed room maybe come along  on the 26th when former winner Joe Bromehead will start the night with a opening gag that has to be seen to be believed, in a good way.

Thursdays, 8.15pm, £6/£4

On the 24th of June Carey Marx will be gracing the Frog stage described by Chortle as “a top-drawer writer", combining intelligent comment with teasingly edgy wit”. If you like what you see, which I’m sure you will Carey will also be bringing his one man show, Scoundrel in July to the Frog and Bucket.

Joining Mr Marx, not that one, on the 24th will be Chortle’s Newcomer of the year Joe Lycett. Lycett’s relaxed charm and delightful anecdotes will make for the most civilised and amusing evening you’ve had since you thought you saw Stephen Fry in Kebabylon, turns out it wasn’t him it was actually just a man.

Friday/Saturday, 8.15pm, £14/£7, £15

June in Manchester will commence with Dave Johns headlining the Frog on the 4th. Exciting stuff as “He shifts from the sublime, to genius, to uproar in the blink of an eye” and that’s the Guardian speaking! Chris Brooker will be filling the middle section with his likeable and extremely funny blend of sharp improvisation and, as the BBC describes, “on the spot humour”.

I know a lot of you are going to be watching the football on the 18th of June but just in case you prefer laughing to crying maybe you should come to our Manchester venue and see delightfully dark Swedish comic Magnus Betner, described by Chortle as “A compelling orator” he will share the stage with Matt Welcome. Welcome will be bringing his “Sharp sarcasm and acute observations ... and all manner of comedic verbal misdirection ”, and if BBC Bristol say that then I’m there. Chris Ramsey will be MC for the evening, you may recognise his haircut from Russell Howard’s Good news Extra where both he and his hair were very amusing guests.

Preston - Friday, Saturday, 8pm, £11/£7, £13

Now then Preston June 11th is, as we all know, Shia LaBeouf’s birthday but since I hear that invites to his transformers themed party are few and far between why don’t we just go to Preston instead? Karen Bayley is MC for the night peppering the evening with sparkling wit and enviable timing, and if Alan Carr says “she has me in stiches” then that’s a good sign. Joining Bayley in shunning a child stars birthday will be Greg Cook who will be cherry picking from comedic genres to bring a hard and fast topical set that will be better than any party bag you’ve ever received, ever.

Friday the 25th of June and we’re getting exotic in Preston as a real life Welsh person comes and does some comedy. Noel James isn’t just Welsh though, he’s funny too. As Chortle warns James “can unleash a flurry of devastatingly funny one-liners at an unrivalled rate that is guaranteed render the most stubborn of audiences helpless with laughter”, lovely stuff.  Gordon Southern who, according to Chortle, “delights in leading audiences along a certain, familiar path and then taking a sharp U-turn to reveal an even more satisfying vista”.

John Scott

Saturday , 8pm, £12,, The Orwell, Wigan Pier

Wigan we are spoiling you once again. The 5th of June sees one of  the “top five new comedians emerging from Scotland today”, high praise indeed from The Observer and John Scott deserves every morsel as he continues to  delight audiences from Land's End to John O'Groats.

Danny Mcloughlin will be presiding over the evening’s events with razor sharp material and a warm and likeable stage manner. Wigan you are lucky.

What do you mean you want more? Normally I’d say you were being a bit ungrateful but it’s a good chance for me to mention the fact that Wigan’s gone weekly… Wigan’s gone weekly by the way. On the 12th of June we have former winner of City life Comedian of the Year Andy Watson bringing his physical comedy and playful punchlines with him. Dave Longley will be Headlining the evening, and with Ed Byrne saying "There's a lot of stuff Dave does that I wish I'd written”, you're in for a great night Wigannites.

The multi award winning  Sarah Millican is triumphantly returning to the Frog and Bucket with her sold out show “Sarah Millican and Friends”. The lucky people who got tickets are in for a treat with Millican’s soft reassuring lilt masking some deftly cutting comedy and an astounding gag rate The Guardian states “can make a room rock with laughter”.
Sarah’s friends come in the form of Joe Lycett, mentioned earlier and local lady and beat the frog winner Hayley Ellis.

Manchester’s only all female stand up night Laughing Cows returns in June with another fantastic line up.

Annette Fagon, star of recent BBC’s Laughtershock will be headlining the evening with high energy and an ability to make you laugh at things that you had forgotten that you remembered.

Opening the show we have the very talented Susan Calman, and with time outs promise that Susan will “make you chuckle your pants off” we’re all in for a good time!

Mick Ferry returns to The Manchester Frog with his eagerly anticipated solo show The Missing Chippendale.

While we can’t promise nudity we can promise laughter as Mick invites the audience into reliving a besmirched year of wailing women and half nude men.

Thursday 17th June, 8pm, 50p, Preston

Good news, Phil Ellis and his stepladder of authority are back again on 17th of June in our Preston venue to challenge and alarm you and maybe stare at you to the point where everyone in the room feels uncomfortable.

So come down and enter the quiz for just 50p and let the informative mayhem begin. Ellis will, once again, be joined by Susan Vale and George Cottier so don’t miss out on spending the most entertaining 50p of your life.