Comedian Griff Rhys Jones must love Reading: he’s performing here twice this year.
Not content with giving the Slapstick Comedy festival a helping hand with a charity show in July, he is preparing to come back in November with an all-new stand-up show, The Cat’s Pyjamas.
In this show, which will be performed at Reading’s Concert Hall, Griff Rhys Jones shares more funny observations and comic stories.
But no two shows will ever be the same: it always varies as Griff rambles on the developing national permacrisis. Age. Family. Fraud. Nostalgia. The Tik Tok generation. Crocodile smuggling and noodling in Australia. Travel, dogs, hotels, drink and midnight trains.
And Griff Rhys Jones will also take questions from the audience .. brave man.
The Cat’s Pyjmas follows Griff’s last hugely successful international tour, All Over The Place, which saw him play to capacity crowds across the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Who is Griff Rhys Jones?
The comedian burst on to television screens in the late 1970s as part of the Not The Nine O’Clock News gang. The show made stars of Rhys Jones and Mel Smith, as well as Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson.
Alas Smith and Jones was the title for the long-running sketch show that Griff Rhys Jones performed with Mel Smith, which ran until the late 1990s.
He also has enjoyed success on stage with a diverse range of roles including Toad in The Wind In The Willows, and Fagin in Oliver!.
On screen, he has become a familiar face for a range of documentaries including Restoration, Bookworm, Mountain and Rivers. More recently, Channel 4 aired his documentary Griff’s Canadian Adventure.
He was also the voice to the children’s animation Funnybones, and took on the mantle of host from Dennis Norden in the ITV treasure trove of televisual cock-ups, It’ll Be Alright on The Night.
A busy time for Griff Rhys Jones
It’s a busy time for the comic – he will be playing Sir Jim Hacker in a revival of Yes Prime Minister which is coming to London’s Apollo theatre for a 12-week run in January.
Called I’m Sorry Prime Minister, the comedy has been written by Jonathan Lynn, the creator of the original BBC sitcom, and it is described at the long-awaited final chapter of the political satire .. and just as cunning, cutting and funny as ever.
In this show, Sir Jim is older, not wiser, and baffled by the world. But instead of a quiet retirement in Hacker College, Oxford, he faces a crisis… being cancelled by the college committee.
Can the delightfully devious Sir Humphrey Appleby (played by the acclaimed Clive Francis) out manoeuvre the meddling students, the Fellowship, and reality itself?
Of this show, Griff Rhys Jones said he was honoured to take part, promising the show would be a hoot.
“I am delighted and honoured to be stepping into the shoes of Jim Hacker in this the final, funny and poignant episode of his long career,” he says.
“The great TV series are part of my architecture of British comedy.
“They have always been the first and last word on the shenanigans that we call politics. (What Americans have taken to calling the swamp.)
“Sorry, Prime Minister is as acute and apposite as ever. It will be a hoot.”
Tickets are now available for the show, which will run from January 30, 2026 to April 25, 2026 at the Apollo Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. They cost from £15.
Curtain up is from 7.30pm Tuesdays to Saturdays, with a 2.30pm matinee on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
I can’t wait until November … when can I see Griff Rhys Jones in Reading this summer?
An unforgettable night of laughter is promised thanks to The Big Comedy Bash 2025, coming to The Hexagon this summer.
Tickets have just gone on sale for the show which will feature a star-studded line-up.
Topping the bill is the host, the legendary Griff Rhys Jones.
Known for his work on Not the Nine O’Clock News, Alas Smith & Jones, and a lifetime career onstage and on television, Griff will be taking the reins for this special fundraising event, appearing amid his own hit national ‘in conversation’ tour.
Joining Griff for The Big Comedy Bash 2025 is a stellar hand-picked line-up of top comedy talent including Lucy Porter and Stephen K Amos.
This one-night-only comedy extravaganza supports Slapstick Festival, Bristol’s beloved not-for-profit dedicated to celebrating the timeless joy of classic and vintage comedy.
The Slapstick comedy festival is a showcase of some of the very best of the silent comedy era, including Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and Harold Lloyd.
The Big Comedy Bash 2025 will be at The Hexagon, from 7.30pm on Thursday, July 3.
Runtime is approximately two and a half hours, including an interval.
The Big Comedy Bash 2025 is suitable for audiences aged 16 upwards.
Tickets cost £27, but for those who book before Sunday, June 1, there is a £5 discount available.
For more details, or to book, call the Reading Arts box office on 0118 960 6060, or log on to: https://whatsonreading.com/slapsticksbigcomedybash25
I want tickets to see Griff Rhys Jones in The Cat’s Pyjamas this November … how do I get them?
Griff Rhys Jones’s The Cat’s Pyjamas will be at The Concert Hall on Saturday, November 8, from 7.30pm. Tickets cost £30.50, and can be bought from the Reading Arts box office by calling: 0118 960 6060, or logging on to https://whatsonreading.com/venues/town-hall/whats-on/griff-rhys-jones-cats-pyjamas
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