The Brighton Comedy Festival 2013 starts this Friday, running for 3 weeks with a line-up featuring stellar acts from the national comedy scene at many major venues throughout the city. Main image courtesy of their website.

Visit the Brighton Comedy Festival website here: www.brightoncomedyfestival.com

This and a weekly round up of many more Things To Do this coming week in Brighton and Hove...

Friday 4th October

• Heart’s Desire & Seagulls - Valery Blair has discovered that she has an unusual gift - she is able to move objects using the power of thought. Valery is thrust into the limelight and Harvard University is interested to find out more. Will the US authorities hijack her ‘psychic’ powers? Will the pressure of fame overwhelm her? 4th - 6th, 8th - 12th Oct 7:45pm (Apart from Monday), Matinee: Sun 6th at 2.30pm, £7- £10 – New Venture Theatre
• Lawson - Lawson’s fifth headline tour will see them play to their biggest audiences yet, 6:30pm, £19 – Brighton Centre
• Lunchtime Concerts - Nick Andrews and Friends, featuring soprano Rosie Evans, 12:30pm-1:15pm, £3.50 – Brighton Unitarian Church
• White Mink: Electro Swing - Expect high production values, cutting edge but accessible music, world-class performers, a fantastic atmosphere and surprises galore! 8pm, £14 – The Old Market
• Grosvenor Unplugged – Open mic night - The only open mic held on the first Friday of every month. Free entry & acts receive a free drink following performance, 8:30pm – Grosvenor G Casino
• Circus - Commercial Mash-Ups, 10pm- 4am, £3 guest list, £5 on door – Funfair
• Ultimate Power - Ultimate Power is coming back to the Komedia! The greatest night of your life returns for a night featuring the greatest power ballads ever written, all night long, 11pm, £5 – Komedia
• Krater Comedy Club - Eat, drink, watch and laugh as 3 top stand-ups and one of the best MCs on the comedy circuit entertain you. Please see www.komedia.co.uk/krater for opening times, £6 - £31 – Komedia
• Brighton Comedy Festival 2013 – Another stellar line up will be performing on the stages of the Brighton Dome, Corn Exchange, Studio Theatre, Komedia & The Old Market. This 3 week festival sees the creme de la creme of stand up comedy entertain the crowds of the cosmopolitan seaside town. The line up so far includes some of the biggest names in comedy such as: Stewart Lee, Jimmy Carr, Alexei Sayle, Russell Kane, Tony Law & Lee Nelson along with emerging talent hot off the success of their Fringe runs and The Squawker Awards return with applications now open for Brighton’s very own New Act competition. Until 19th Oct www.brightoncomedyfestival.com – Various Venues

Saturday 5th October

• Brighton Breeze - London to Brighton VW run – Madeira Drive
• Makers Boutique - Providing a wonderful opportunity for shoppers to view latest collections & creative ideas, meet the Maker and become inspired, 11am, free entry – Brighton Unitarian Church
• Friends’ Annual Lecture Given by Stephen Calloway - Stephen Calloway, author, broadcaster, renowned raconteur will give the Friends’ annual lecture in St Michael’s church, 3pm, £10 includes tea and cake – St Michael’s & All Angels Meeting House
• Lee Lard’s Peter Kay Experience - Due to his uncanny resemblance to Peter Kay, it was suggested that Lee branch out on his own as a tribute to Peter Kay, and so after many hours of rehearsals, he launched his show ‘Lee Lard’s Peter Kay Experience’, 7pm – Grosvenor G Casino
• Magic - Anthems and dancefloor fillers, 9pm-4am, £5 Guest List £7 on door – Funfair

Sunday 6th October

• Landover Run - London to Brighton Landrover run – Madeira Drive
• RISE 8K Undercliff Run For Women & 8K Undercliff Walk for Families - This is an opportunity for everyone to join in and enjoy our magnificent coast while raising money for Rise, www.riseuk.org.uk – Starting and finishing in Saltdean
• Tea Dance - Great Gatsby Speakeasy: relive the prohibition era of wild flappers, the Charleston, the Baltimore, and more. Look out for whisky in the teapots... 2pm, £8 with Tea and Cake/£5 – Emporium Theatre
• Sam Gray plus Emma Stevens, Owen McGarry & FranClassic - Blue-eyed soul and general good-time intelligent pop from the signer songwriter who is more and more in demand, 7:30pm, £8 – Komedia
• Bent Double - An irreverent night of fun and frolics hosted by if.comedy Best Newcomer 2007 award nominee, and as seen on BBC2's Mock The Week and Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, Zoe Lyons, 7:30pm, £10.50/£8.50 £14 (Nachos deal) – Komedia

Monday 7th October

• September in the Rain - September in the Rain charts the life of Yorkshire couple Jack and Liz through their annual summer holiday jaunt across the Pennines to Blackpool, which has been a ritual for over 40 years. John Godber's hilarious comedy conjures up this lost world so vividly you will almost feel the sand in your socks and hear the rain bouncing off your pac-a-mac. Evenings 7:45pm, Thur & Sat matinees 2:30pm, £10-£25 – Theatre Royal Brighton
• Mama present Frank Hamilton - Singer songwriter lauded by Radio One and Two after collaborating with Ed Sheeran, Newton Faulkner and The Crimea on his musical project OneSongaWeek, 7pm, £7 – Komedia
• The Noise Next Door’s Comedy Lock-In - Brighton’s own comedy super-show of cutting edge improv from the guys in ties! 8pm, £19 meal Deal/£10 – Komedia
• Fun House - Crazy games and anything goes! 10pm-5am, free – Funfair

Tuesday 8th October

• What Would Beyonce Do - After storming May Brighton Fringe, Luisa Omielan returns to Komedia with her brilliant show recounting hilarious and touching tales from her life with refreshing honesty, 7pm, £12/£10 – Komedia
• Branded – Club night, 10pm-4am, £3 – Funfair

Wednesday 9th October

• Mess - Josephine is putting on a play - Boris and Sistahl help. It's about anorexia. But don’t let that put you off. Unflinchingly they confront big issues (and extremely tiny ones). Mess is presented as part of The Basement’s programme for World Mental Health Day, 7:30pm, £12/£10 – The Old Market
• Howard Marks: Scholar, Smuggler, Prisoner, Scribe - The intrepid bon viveur’s brand new show is packed with trademark honesty and penetrating humour, looking back at four extraordinary phases of his life, 8pm, £15 – Komedia
• Romesh Ranganathan: Rom Com - Romesh presents an acerbic hour of razor sharp comedy blending social commentary with personal tribulations, 8:30pm, £10/£8 – Komedia
• It’s My Party - Pop up cabaret performers! 10pm-3am, Guest List £3 before midnight – Funfair
• Mike Wozniak – Take the Hit - His wife’s parents have moved in. Permanently. Not so much a show as a person getting out of the house. But fear not, Wozniak has more show business in his moustache than he does in his little finger, 7pm, £10/£8 – Komedia

Thursday 10th October

• Damien Clark: G’Damo - Aussie boy Damian Clark explodes into Brighton with his high octane mayhem, 7pm, £10/£8 – Komedia
• The Orb - The Orb is celebrating its unique position as one of the few names to emerge from the 1988 acid house revolution still creating vital new music with a series of special 25th anniversary UK shows, 7pm, £13 – Concorde 2
• A Catalyst Club - Monthly event which blends the old traditions of a French Salon with debating societies, 8pm, £5 – Latest Music Bar
• Hannah Gadsby: Happiness is a Bedside Table - Australian Hannah Gadsby has written a new show about the lowest point in her life (thus far) and how she eventually found happiness in a piece of furniture, 8:30pm, £10/£8 – Komedia
• Bug ‘a’ Boo - Slow Jams and R’n’B, 11pm-4am, £2 Guest List £4 on door – Funfair