DAVE Johns opens Saturday’s 8pm line-up at the Hyena Lounge Comedy Club in York before popping over to Leeds to headline at The Hi-Fi Club.

Johns began performing in his native Newcastle in the late 1980s, later setting up the Comedy Café, and he is now a regular headline act on the British circuit and guest improviser for the Comedy Store Players alongside Paul Merton.

He starred in the BBC3 late-night sitcom Dogtown, appears on the panel shows Never Mind The Buzzcocks and 8 Out Of Ten Cats and has played comedy festivals in Kilkenny, Ireland, Montreal, Canada, and Adelaide, Australia.

Saturday’s headline act at The Duchess will be Steve Hall, one-time member of We Are Klang, the anarchic comedy sketch group with Greg Davies that had their own series on BBC3.

As a solo stand-up, he has supported Russell Howard on his past three arena tours and he is a principal writer on The Now Show and Russell Howard’s Good News. You may like to know that his father worked on The Muppet Show in the 1970s.

Sam Gore takes this weekend’s middle slot, having won five New Act of the Year titles since his 2007 debut. “He has gone on to impress as an act everywhere from major weekend comedy clubs and music festivals to biker rallies, theatres and the Edinburgh Fringe,” says Hyena Lounge promoter Toby Clouston-Jones.

Andy Fury makes his Hyena Lounge debut in the role of compere. “He’s a bright young stand-up comedy talent, and having won the Hilarity Bites New Act of the Year competition in 2010, he’s travelled the length and breadth of the country performing alongside the likes of Sarah Millican, John Bishop and Jason Manford,” says Toby.

Tickets cost £14 on 01904 641413 or at hyenalounge.com or on the door from 7pm.