Forget nationwide tours and regular slots on panel shows – it used to be the case that the true judge of a comedy great or if a fresh-faced comic had “made it” was their stand-up DVD dropping onto shelves around now, just in time for Christmas.

These days, comedians have hit the big time if they can bag a so-called “special” on TV or a big-name streamer. It might not solve that last-minute present dilemma for tricky relatives in December, but the new world of stand-up specials has two benefits.

Firstly, it provides an arsenal of top stand-up at the touch of a button whenever we need a chuckle. And secondly, you will no longer go red-faced with rage on 27 December when you spot a stand-up DVD you bought for full price that’s been reduced in the sales.

The latest comic to claim a special is Would I Lie To You? and Taskmaster’s Lucy Beaumont. It was filmed back in March before it was announced she and Jon Richardson had amicably split after nine years of marriage, and in it the Hull native tackles everything from motherhood, the north/south divide and general life embarrassment.

Beaumont is a hugely gifted stand-up comedian, and you won’t want to miss her special Live From The Royal Court Theatre at 9pm on Tuesday 22 October on Sky Comedy HD (CH 112), also available in On Demand > Sky Comedy after broadcast.

If this has given you the taste for more comedy from the planet’s finest stand-ups, you’ll never be short of top-class stand-up on Virgin TV, with plenty of riotous specials available to stream now. Here are some of our favourites.

Stewart Lee: Basic Lee

Find it in Sky Comedy on demand

Lee has spent his career pulling apart the mechanics of stand-up comedy while always delivering plenty of laughs. In this brand new show, recorded at the Lowry in Salford, he outdoes himself by attempting to define by example just what stand-up comedy is, and concludes that what he does isn’t it.

Fern Brady: Autistic Bikini Queen

Find it in Apps > Netflix

Brady takes a meandering journey through her past, covering work, relationships, religion and neurodivergence, in a show that’s as revelatory as it is witty. Fans of her award-winning memoir Strong Female Character will find plenty to enjoy in this special filmed in Bristol.

Josh Widdicombe: Bit Much…

Find it in Sky Comedy on demand

Widdicombe seals his position as one of the most appealing and reliably funny comics working today. Whether it’s advent calendars, weddings, pesto or the closing time of his local park, the Devonian comic finds something to complain about – hilariously – in this post-Covid show that was filmed at the legendary London Palladium.

Trevor Noah: Where Was I

Find it in Apps > Netflix

The former Daily Show host has been off travelling the world and he’s back in the US to tell a Detroit audience all about it, from derailing a German sightseeing tour to getting roasted in Paris, in this Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated special.

Phil Wang: Wang In There, Baby!

Find it in Apps > Netflix

Phil Wang returns for his second Netflix special. While his material doesn’t verge on “edgy” exactly – here he riffs on reheated rice, octopus intelligence, the importance of fact-checking and his observations on British people saying “touch wood” – he remains hugely funny and a master of his craft.

Mae Martin: SAP

Find it in Apps > Netflix

Taskmaster champion, creator and star of the excellent TV series Feel Good, Martin takes to the stand-up stage and nails that too. These stories of growing up unconventional in suburban Canada alternate between sad, uplifting and raucously funny, and somehow there’s a mythical moose involved too.

Ali Wong: Single Lady

Find it in Apps > Netflix

Having seen Always Be My Maybe’s Ali Wong pregnant during one special and tackling the challenges of monogamy in another, her fourth Netflix special deals with the fallout from her divorce while dishing the highs, lows and surprises of her return to dating. Expect a hilarious kiss and tell.

Jon Richardson: The Knitwit

Find it in Apps > Channel 4

Where Josh Widdicombe is peevish, Richardson is downright neurotic, and his specials (Funny Magnet, Nidiot) and TV shows have explored his foibles in highly amusing detail. If anything, they’re multiplying as he gets older – but the comic himself is always the butt of the joke.

John Kearns: The Varnishing Days

Find it in Sky Comedy on demand

Another Taskmaster alumnus, John Kearns has a brand of surreal stand-up that may be a surprise to anyone who watched him on the Channel 4 show. He’s won countless awards for his craft and is the only comedian to have been awarded Best Newcomer and then Best Show in consecutive years at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, so youi know you’re in for a good time.

Mo Gilligan: There’s Mo To Life

Find it in Apps > Netflix

Gilligan is almost as familiar a TV face as Josh Widdicombe but his ubiquity hasn’t blunted his stand-up skills, as this special filmed at the Hackney Empire shows. With tales from both his younger days working in retail and his attempts to break into the comedy industry, the south Londoner has a sharp wit and an everyman touch.

Susie McCabe: Femme Fatality

Find it in Apps > BBC iPlayer

McCabe tells a packed King’s Theatre in Glasgow about growing up gay in the days long before Pride parades, working on building sites, modern gender roles and what she cheerfully refers to as “the failure of me”.

Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval

Find it in Apps > Netflix

From being one of the most popular women in America to one of its most vilified, Ellen DeGeneres delivers both a comeback show and a potential swansong. In her second and “final” Netflix special, she gets candid about fame, parallel parking and life since getting “kicked out of showbusiness”.

Tom Allen: Completely

Find it in Apps > ITVX

He’s finally moved out of his parents’ house and it’s a whole new world for the spiffily dressed comic. From vegetable patches and department stores to the niceties of entertaining friends with children, the acerbic Allen is learning fast.

Rachel Bloom: Death, Let Me Do My Special

Find it in Apps > Netflix

Every so often, a stand-up show comes along that seems to almost transcend the genre. Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette was one of those as she paired punchlines with reflections on gender, sexuality and trauma. Rachel Boom, best known for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, does the same here with the subject of death. Unmissable.

Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!

Find it in Sky Comedy on demand

Gen Z comic Reich asks such searching questions as “Am I hot?”, “Is this helping?” and “No offence guys but literally what is going on?” in this special filmed in east London. Expect songs, anecdotes and bewildering non sequiturs as Reich takes pains to raise social awareness about… something.

Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional

Find it in Apps > Prime Video

Stand-up shows about becoming a parent are common these days – but Slate takes the birth of her daughter as a jumping-off point for a wildly eclectic special that covers working as an actor, therapy, sex and awkward toilet encounters, enhanced by Slate’s idiosyncratic delivery.

Katherine Ryan: Missus

Find it in Sky Comedy on demand

Having previously denounced partnership – she once categorised men as “like dolphins – best enjoyed on holiday” – Katherine Ryan has since married her first love… accidentally. In this 2022 special, she gives her revised perspectives on life, love and what it means to be a “missus”.

Looking for more stand-up specials? Why not try these...

Best stand-up specials to stream on Sky Comedy

In Sky Comedy on Demand

• Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel
• Nish Kumar: Your Power, Your Control
• Alan Carr: Regional Trinket
• Rob Beckett: Wallop
• Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die
• Chris Ramsey: Live From London
• Mickey Flanagan: An’ Another Fing
• My Dad Wrote A Porno

Best stand-up specials to stream on Netflix

In Apps > Netflix

• Kevin Bridges: The Overdue Catch-up
• Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All
• Romesh Ranganathan: The Cynic
• James Acaster: Repertoire
• Katherine Ryan: In Trouble
• Bo Burnham: Inside
• Phil Wang: Philly Philly Wang Wang
• Simon Amstell: Set Free
• Hannah Gadsby: Something Special

Best stand-up specials to stream on BBC iPlayer

In Apps > BBC iPlayer

• Jason Manford: Recent Nostalgia
• Dawn French: Dawn French Is A Huge Tw*t
• Paul Black: Nostalgia
• Stand Up For Live Comedy
• Live At The Apollo
• Scotland Stands Up
• Stand-Up From The Sunflower

Best stand-up specials to stream on ITVX

In Apps > ITVX

• Milton Jones: Milton Impossible
• Paul Sinha: Shout Out To My Ex
• Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Hysterical Woman
• Jason Byrne: The Ironic Bionic Man
• Lloyd Griffith: One Tonne Of Fun
• Zoe Lyons: Entry Level Human
• Angela Barnes: Hot Mess
• Tommy Tiernan: Under The Influence
• Lost Voice Guy: I’m Only In It For Parking
• Mark Steel’s In Town
• Tommy Tiernan: Under The Influence

Best stand-up specials to stream on Prime Video

In Apps > Prime Video

• Chris Ramsey: Approval Needed
• Helen Hong: Well Hong
• Maria Bamford: Local Act
• Jimmy O Yang: Guess How Much?
• Rhys Darby: Mystic Time Bird
• Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle
• Marlon Wayans: Good Grief
• Rob Delaney: Jackie
• Iain Stirling: Falling Upwards

Not sure how to find any of these streaming services? Follow our handy guides…

How to watch ITVX on Virgin TV

How to watch the Channel 4 app on Virgin TV

How to watch Netflix on Virgin TV

How to watch Prime Video on Virgin TV