Comedy: Gig of the week

Harry Hill Tue to Fri

For his new show, Harry Hill, the self-styled "supervarmint and affable Affenpinscher", promises to take to the stage "with full badger parade and information about Sild, the nation's most popular oily fish". If all this is Greek, you obviously haven't signed up to the Cult of Hill. It may at first seem bafflingly "in"; but once you give in to it, Hill's act wins you over with sheer outright daftness. Fans of C4's Harry Hill and Harry Hill's Fruit Corner on Radio 4 will testify that after a while, there is something mesmerising about the repeated meaningless references to Savlon, Zeinab Badawi and pork chops. Hill starts his Sild P.I. Tour '99 this week.

Corn Exchange, Cambridge (01223 357 851) Tue; Coliseum, Watford (01923 445 000) Wed; Colston Hall, Bristol (0117-922 3686) Thur; Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry (01203 524 524) Fri

THE BEST OF THE REST

Jo Brand

Jo Brand obviously has clout. She has assembled a dreamy bill for a benefit tomorrow in aid of the Children's Hospital in Brasov, Romania. Jo Brand (... and the rest) features comedy luminaries Steve Coogan (fresh from his successful The Man Who Thinks He's It show), Alan Davies, Bill Bailey, Mark Lamarr, Phill Jupitus, Kevin Day, Arnold Brown, Hattie Hayridge and Arthur Smith.

Wimbledon Theatre, London SW19 (0181-540 0362) tomorrow

Simon Day

Simon Day, one of the stars of The Fast Show and the performer responsible for such inspired figures as Competitive Dad, Billy Bleach, Gideon Soames and Tommy Cockles, has been in character comedy since the year dot. "I never got up there and said `it's terrible what Thatcher has done to this country'. I've always used funny voices." He appears on a bill with Boothby Graffoe, Lee Mack and The Mighty Boosh.

The Talk of London, London WC2 (0171-771 2000) Tue