Rising comedy star James Acaster returns to Worthing on 20 February for a Matt's Comedy Club gig set to sell out in the Connaught Studio.

The gangly stand-up comedian last gigged locally in 2013, and his star has very much been in the ascendant since then, with a plethora of TV appearances, his own acclaimed BBC Radio 4 show, great reviews from his Edinburgh shows and more.

The Worthing Wordies are getting well and truly into the Christmas spirit � and our local literary luvvies are convinced that Sunday November 30th really isn�t too early for their latest show at the Ardington Hotel.

Worthing's family-friendly Matt's Comedy Club returns to action again on 30 October with an Open Mic with a difference � an expert panel will pick a winner for a prized paid-for spot at Jo Brand's sell-out gig at the Connaught Theatre on 20 November.

With more than a dozen acts of all shapes and sizes, drawn from across the south coast and further afield, a packed night is in store.

Mrs Barbara Nice is the comedy creation of Janice Connolly. Barbara is your average Stockport housewife who given up the domestic bliss of Tupperware and Poundstretcher shops for the unpredictabilty of the comedy world.

No audience is too rowdy for her to handle � she's already raised five teenagers. With the affectionate attitude of a playgoup leader at a wild Iggy Pop concert, Barbara is guaranteed to warm the heart of any audience.

Barbara headlines at Matt's Comedy Club at the Connaught Studio, Worthing on Thursday 18 September (8pm) � and a cracking night is guaranteed.

A self-confessed professional northerner � and far worse, a celebrity Manchester United fan � Paul Tonkinson is a star of comedy in all its forms. Be it on stage, in character or as a TV host, this man does not fail to make you giggle.

And he's in Worthing at Matt's Comedy Club on Thursday 24 July, at the Connaught Studio.

Expect mind-bloggling tricks, witty banter and laughs aplenty at the 10 July show with Worthing's Matt's Comedy Club at the Connaught Studio, part of the 2014 Worthing Comedy Festival.

The town's family-friendly comedy club has another cracking line-up for the first of two July gigs.

Like Groundhogs predicting an extended winter, former Creation Records label mates Pete Fij (Adorable / Polak) & Terry Bickers (House of Love / Levitation) have crawled out of musical hibernation to come together to declare that 'quiet is the new loud' and 'down is the new up'.

Conjuring levels of intensity to match their more electrified combined musical pasts, their predominantly acoustic new album, Broken Heart Surgery, (out 7 July 2014) celebrates the downbeat and melancholic with a wry humour and lyrical wit. Imagine Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel an The Velvet Underground jamming together at four in the morning. Quietly so not to wake the neighbours.

Matt's Comedy Club have two very different styles of stand-up waiting to hit town on 26 June, when Tony Cowards and Danny Ward top the bill.

After last month's sold out Noise Next Door gig, ticket sales are expected to be brisk for the visit of these two experienced comedy circuit regulars.

Oklahoma singer-songwriter Samantha Crain comes to Brighton's Komedia on 28 January, promoted by Melting Vinyl.

Touring in support of her the third full-length album, Kid Face, the 26-year-old Oklahoma native has created a revelatory song cycle as expansive as the wide-open spaces her home state, and as intimate as a conspiratorial whisper.

Melting Vinyl are proud to announce the return of Midlake to Sussex! The Texan folk-rockers will be bringing their new album Antiphon, to St George�s Church on 27 February with a revitalised line-up, since the departure of frontman and songwriter Tim Smith.

Vocalist/ guitarist Eric Pulido and the rest of the band have more than stepped up to the plate to write the newest chapter of the band�s illustrious career. Named after a call-and-response style of singing, from Gregorian chants to sea shanties, the new record is as rich and symphonic as it is dynamic and kaleidoscopic.