Solihull Arts Complex

Funny to The Core is the monthly comedy club in the Studio at The Core, bringing the best and funniest UK comedy talent to Solihull.

Headlined by Rachel Fairburn! Now based in London, and star of Live at the Apollo and Comedy Central Live, Rachel has been described by Rolling Stone as ‘very much the Rock ‘n’ Roll star of British comedy’. She has been a finalist of several prestigious competitions including Funny Women, City Life Comedian of the Year, the NATYS and English Comedian of the Year.

Rachel has been a staple of the Edinburgh Fringe since 2014, with six critically acclaimed solo shows under her belt and featured in the ‘40 jokes of the fringe’ by the Daily Telegraph in 2018 and ‘Best Jokes from Edinburgh Fringe 2022’ in The Times. She also featured on Chortle’s ‘One to Watch’ list in 2020 and picked up the 2019 online content award from Joe.co.uk.

She has appeared on BBC Presents: Stand Up For Live Comedy and BBC’s Funny Festival Live. Her TV credits include Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, Richard Osman’s House of Games and Russell Howard Hour Life Lessons.

Rachel is also a popular podcaster, co-hosting and co-writing the worldwide smash hit podcast All Killa No Filla. With a huge international following of over a quarter of a million listeners and growing, she has taken the podcast on several sell-out UK tours and a tour of the USA. 

Opening the show is Tadiwa Mahlunge! Billed as 'one of the country's top new comedy acts' by The York Press, Tadiwa has performed at, among others, the Latitude, Greenman, and Greenwich Comedy Festivals, and regularly performs at the UK’s top comedy clubs.

Tadiwa has provided tour support for Dylan Moran, Ed Byrne, Mark Watson, Kyle Kinane, Craig Conant, Christina P, Steven Ho, Tom Houghton, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Jessica Fostekew, and TV warm up for Desiree Burch’s Amazon Prime special. As seen on BBC 1, BBC 2, Dave, Comedy Central, UTV, Comic Relief and heard on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Northampton and BBC Sounds - Tadiwa Mahlunge has established himself as one of comedy’s hottest prospects. As such, he featured on the 2022 Pleasance Comedy Reserve at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

With award-winning stand-up comedian and writer, Dee Allum! Dee started her comedy career performing sketches with the Cambridge Footlights and wrote the prestigious Footlights Pantomime in 2018.

Dee has been nominated for Best Newcomer at the Chortle Awards, placed as runner up in the Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year Award 2021, won the 2Northdown New Act Competition 2021 and was a finalist in the 2022 BBC New Comedy Award competition.

Dee took her debut solo stand up show, Deadname, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024 to wide critical acclaim, receiving reviews such as: “A story of gender identity told with panache, charm, self-deprecation and copious wit…an inventive, casually ironic storytelling skill…a true stand-up.” The Times. After Edinburgh, Dee took Deadname to London’s Soho Theatre followed by a tour of the UK in 2025. She has also starred in ITV’s The Stand Up Sketch Show.

Hosted by Jamie Allerton!

Please note, that while we do our best to ensure that we deliver the published bill, line-ups can be subject to change at short notice.