COMEDY: GIG OF THE WEEK

Ian Edwards Fri

Saturday Night Live has a scorching track record. It has been the training ground for some of America's finest comedians - viz, Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. The latest graduate from the celebrated TV comedy show is Ian Edwards. Also a star of the US programmes Def Comedy Jam and Apollo Comedy Hour and a regular on the New York comedy circuit, Edwards delivers his surreal material with rare panache. British-born, Jamaican-raised and American- based, he appeared in "Stand Up Black America" at the Edinburgh Festival. He tops a bill which is hosted by John Simmit and also features Kwaku and Helen da Silva, who, alongside Bob Mortimer, may be the only former solicitor plying a trade in comedy.

Tabernacle, London W11 (0171-565 7800) Fri

THE BEST OF THE REST

Chambers & Nettleton

They are not yet being dubbed "the new French and Saunders", as most female double acts are at some stage or another, but there is nevertheless a buzz surrounding Lynn Chambers and Sally Nettleton. Finalists at this year's Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Awards, they promise "a show that wraps you in a warm rug and then pulls it out from under you".

Canal Cafe Theatre, London W2 (0171-289 6054) every Wed to 9 June

The Monday Club

Aussie comics from Barry Humphries to Bob Downe have been surfing over here with some success in recent years. Two of a newer generation are playing an "Aussie Rules" double-bill. The winning storyteller Matthew Hardy teams up with Bruno Lucia (above), a rock guitarist-cum-comedian. How many other stand-ups can say they have guested with George Benson and the Deltones?

The Monday Club, Madame JoJo's, London W1 (0171-371 6863) Mon