Hhunchbacks, gay spiders, Salvation Army camouflage, turkey camps, Rohypnol and dumping your girlfriend will be among the subjects when four of the UK's most up-and-coming comedians preview their forthcoming Edinburgh Festival shows in Worcester.

Andrew Maxwell, Will Smith, Phil Nichol and Hal Cruttenden will all be performing their new acts at the Marr's Bar ahead of the annual August event in the Scottish capital.

The first of the two special evenings of comedy takes place on Thursday, July 7, and features two one-hour shows from Cruttenden and Nichol.

Not just an award-winning comedian, Nichol has also recently been performing in the West End, alongside Hollywood star, Christian Slater in the stage version of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

Nichol played one of the inmates and also understudied for the lead role played by Slater and made famous by Jack Nicholson in the 1970's Oscar winning film.

He also starred in the stage version of Twelve Angry Men during the 2003 Edinburgh Festival with fellow comics

Jeff Green, Bill Bailey and Stephen Frost.

An unusual career path for a comedian maybe, but Phil's time spent at stage school in Canada under the wing of actor Donald Sutherland, has lent his act more than an air of drama.

"Among other things, Phil will be looking at hunchbacks, gay spiders, Salvation Army camouflage, turkey camps, Rohypnol and dumping your girlfriend," said a spokesman for the show.

"All get treated with the same disdain or celebration in a twisted roller-coaster of filthy ideas.

"Discover why Phil is nearly gay or how he came to neck passionately with his girlfriend's dad upon meeting him."

Cruttenden, who is appearing alongside Nichol, has a host of television credits to his name, including Channel Four's The 11'O'Clock Show, Live at Jongleurs, The Warehouse and The Comedy Store.

And he also has a passion for treading the boards, having appeared in television programmes Eastenders, Kavanagh QC, Out of the Blue, Touching Evil and Bramwell and films Mrs Dalloway and The Madness of King George.

"He takes the personal, the surreal, the ridiculous and the political, and whizzes them into a delicious comedy smoothie that is sweet with a hint of sharpness. And it's really good for you," said one reviewer.

The next Comedy Zone summer special takes place at The Marr's Bar on Thursday, July 28

It will feature Channel 4's King of Comedy Andrew Maxwell and Will Smith, writer of the BBC hit animated show Monkey Dust.