SubFun brings you the best festival work-in-progress shows from your favourite comics, using our ethos of diversity and inclusion!

SubFun presents these wonderful artists doing a work-in-progress show that will eventually bring them awards and riches beyond their wildest dreams! 

JULY 02nd 8 pm kick off

Kate Cheka, brings her wonderful work in progress of 'The Last Funny Woman'.Last year Kate attempted to save the world; now she thinks perhaps it is time to burn it all down. Everything is falling apart. What does it mean to be a woman (and a feminist) in the midst of an apocalypse? Expect stories about "Kate's current living situation, the farmer she could have married, an awards ceremony after party, appearing on BBC Radio 4, telling abortion jokes in Texas, and Berlin STI tests. These are interspersed with razor-sharp jokes about colonialism, fascist protests in the UK, and a brilliant take on who the real threat to Brexit-voting little Englanders may be…" (European Comedy Review - never had a review for a WIP before, but I performed it at Barcelona Fringe, and this is what was written!)

Marco Chui and EJ Aljaedy will be sharing the first hour with their splitbill Rice Guys Finish Last

Expect charming storytelling, sharp one-liners, and self-deprecating humour as they unpack growing up in the 90s, navigating culture, religion, sexuality, and their parents.

JULY 09th 8 pm kick off 

Wes Defoe, TOOMANYVOICES

High-energy stand-up with bold act-outs, rapid voice shifts, and physical storytelling. One comic, too many perspectives. Performance-led comedy from an ITV writer and performer.

Selam Amare, Selam Alekkum, I Come in Peace

Selam Aleykum, I Come in Peace is a debut hour of stand-up comedy exploring identity, faith, grief, and belonging through the lens of an Ethiopian diaspora woman raised between cultures. Born during war and named “peace,” Selam navigates the contradictions of church, dating, anxiety, and cultural expectation with sharp observation and warmth. 

JULY 16th, 8 pm kick off 

Daniel Tizon, The Small Stuff

Writer-comedian Daniel Tizon, the last of his family line (probably for the best), forensically dissects the minutiae of daily life, from the dread of SMALL talk with a chatty new neighbour in his building, to explaining why he hasn't danced since he was eight years old. To Daniel, dancing requires a level of extroverted performance - the expressions, the gestures, the flair, all of which need to be synced with the actual dance moves - that his understated persona simply cannot accommodate. He explores too the fraught etiquette of the adult education college urinal, specifically the moment a classmate you’ve never actually spoken to in class decides to initiate the breakthrough conversation while positioned next to you at the low-hanging trough. Of all the places to finally bond, the gents’ feels like a questionable choice. It's all a social minefield.

Adam Dorr, Man of Autism
They say autism is a superpower, but watch West End New Act of the Year 2025 winner Adam Dorr break down why (at least in his case) this is wrong.

JULY 23rd, 8 pm kick off 

CK Nath, A Bit of Foreign Stuff

High energy and full of bite! Join CK as she takes you through the juiciest bits of her life growing up in India, finding herself in the UK, and the inevitable culture clash in this work-in-progress show. Blending sharp stand-up, vivid storytelling, and cheeky character work as she channels the conservative Indian mother as easily as a middle-class British nanny.

CK is a finalist of West End New Old Act 2023; So You Think You're Funny? 2022 and Komedia New Comedy Award 2024 semi-finalist.

Cerys Bradley, On Road Signs

Cerys Bradley (Actually Autistic Excellence Award 2022, as seen on Comedy Central, UKTV, BBC One Wales) has hyperfixated on road signs. Road signs are very pretty and they make Cerys’ brain go brrrrrrrrp.

If you like road signs, follow the directions below for a silly and short history of road sign design as well as some heartfelt musings on the monotony of everyday life and the joys of autistic obsessions. GO.

 

James O’Donoghue, James O’Donoghue Is Normal

James O'Donoghue has always tried and always failed to fit in.

So they've given up.

It's time for some rants, ravings and impressions you never knew you needed in your life from the best depressed, Marxist, Jewish, non-binary comedian currently operating anywhere in the greater Stoke-Newington area.

Rick Kiesewetter, I am Tokihiko Kiesewetter

Adopted at 3 years old in Japan by an all-American white family, who were really trailblazers at the time. This is a work in progress about family, dysfunction and how nurturing can shape nature. Autobiographical but aimed at all of us.