Chances are that 2019 will maintain recent form and bring us a relentless barrage of bad news stories. Thankfully, there are clowns among us to help us laugh in the face of adversity. The next 12 months looks like being a vintage period for live stand-up and here's a magnificent seven to keep an eye on.

Eddie Izzard: Wunderbar
Regularly named in polls as one of the top stand-ups living and working today, the multi-lingual surrealist genius considers the last 100,000 years of humans, as well as pondering on talking dogs and animal superheroes.
Sun 15 Sep–Wed 13 Nov, tickets here.

Tim Minchin: Back
Having conquered the world of musical theatre, the satirical Australian piano man returns to his first love of sit-down stand-up with a show of 'old songs, new songs, fuck you songs'.
Mon 15 Oct–Fri 30 Nov, tickets here.

Flo & Joan: Alive on Stage
More musical comedic goings-on, this time in the form of sibling pair of Nicola and Rosie Dempsey, as they take their ribald tunes and cutting lyrics across the nation while trying not to stare each other out.
Fri 11 Jan–Tue 21 May, tickets here.

Nish Kumar: It's in Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves
Dubbed recently as the UK's version of Jon Stewart, The Mash Report guy and Question Time alumnus tears into hypocrisy, bigotry and the planet's general lunacy armed to the teeth with brilliant wit and hilarious wisdom.
Fri 25 Jan–Sun 31 Mar, tickets here.

Suzi Ruffell: Nocturnal
One of the UK's true rising stars takes her successful Edinburgh Fringe show out on the road as the Portsmouth-born stand-up frets about the things life throws at us. And why does she wake at 3am each night with those worries at their height?
Thu 21 Feb–Sat 25 May, tickets here.

Jerry Seinfeld
He's so big that he doesn't even need to bother with all that show-naming stuff. The sitcom and car-coffee legend drops into London for four shows as he muses about the world in all its pernickety madness.
Fri 12 & Sat 13 Jul, tickets here.

Romesh Ranganathan: The Cynic's Mixtape
With his own sitcom, The Reluctant Landlord, now under his belt, there seems little that the former maths teacher cannot do in the world of entertainment (the foxtrot maybe?). On this tour, he'll be having a good old whinge at the universe as he sees it.
Fri 13 Sep–Sat 18 Apr 2020, tickets here.

….also worth seeing are Stewart Francis with his puntabulous final-ever tour, Into the Punset; the long-awaited comeback of Rhod Gilbert with The Book of John; Ivo Graham's tales of having responsibility thrust upon him in Motion Sickness; James Acaster with the splendidly titled Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999; Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Larry Dean with Bampot; former Inbetweeners star and I'm a Celebrity runner-up Emily Atack with her debut live tour Talk Thirty to Me, former darling of alternative comedy turned bestselling author Ben Elton with his first tour in 15 years; distinctive US voices Bert Kreischer and Bill Burr; the farewell shows of Scottish telly hit Still Game; Britain's Got Talent victor Lost Voice Guy; and Father Ted legend Ardal O'Hanlon heads outdoors with The Showing Off Must Go On.