YOU can see in the New Year with some big laughs, with stand-up comedy scheduled in both Stratford and Worcester in the coming weeks.

The new season of the Comedy Zone is starting at Cox's Yard in Stratford next Thursday.

The club has previously hosted stars like Jimmy Carr, Ross Noble, Phil Jupitus and Mackenzie Crook and is this year hoping to showcase some more stars of the future.

The first show features Anthony J Brown, winner of the Jongleurs Stand and Deliver award for 2003. He has featured on BBC's Stand Up Show and on Channel 4's Phoenix Nights and has been described as having 'humour blacker than a raven's wing'.

He will be joined by Rex Boyd, billed as 'a rare example of a performer who is extremely popular both indoors in comedy clubs and outdoors on the street festival circuit'.

He has toured clubs and festivals all over Britain and Europe and worked as a performer for more than 15 years. He brings his most popular show, the New, Improved Adventures of Robin Hood to Stratford where the audience will be playing a part in bringing the modern day story to life.

They will be joined for the evening by regular compere Adam Montgomery, who set up the Comedy Zone in 1996 and finally took to the stage himself in 2000, gathering a following of his own.

The Comedy Zone's Winter/Spring season continues on February 17, March 31 and April 21. Future acts lined up include Perrier Award nominated Howard Read and Canadian comic Jason Rouse.

Tickets are £7 in advance from www.coxsyard.co.uk or from the venue or £8 on the door. Doors open at 7.30pm and the shows start at 8.30pm. Call 01789 404600 for more information.

In Worcester, also next Thursday, Huntingdon Hall becomes the Comedy Store.

Rudi Lickwood and Kevin McCarthy are taking the Worcester stage for the night, compered by another top performer, Brian Higgins, whose own act has seen him headlining at international venues.

Rudi Lickwood has appeared on television and radio shows, including The Stand-up Show, 100 Greatest TV Treats and The Last Word. Huntingdon Arts spokesman Curtis Fulcher described him as 'a super-confident personality, oozing charisma'.

For tickets, call the box office on 01905 611427 (www.huntingdonarts.com).