It's all too easy to say that the modern stand-up comedian is 'hard working' and 'laugh-a-minute funny'. In fact the strap lines for pretty much every stand-up show ever staged will eagerly confirm that the billed performer is about to deliver the kind of bellyaching laughs that would shame Billy Connolly or Richard Pryor.

One way to improve your chances of being heartily entertained is to keep an eye on the fall-out of the annual grown-ups' rag week that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. A month of shows to unforgiving audiences, often loaded with critics, other performers, agents and, very occasionally, members of the public, is usually enough to weed-out the stinkers and find a few gems. Consequently, a nomination or win for an Edinburgh Comedy Award is as close as a stand-up performer gets to a guarantee of quality.

And so to Josie Long. Born in Kent and not yet 30, Long is already becoming something of an Edinburgh thoroughbred. In 2006, she won Best Newcomer at Edinburgh to go alongside similar gongs from Chortle and the BBC. She won another Chortle award in 2007 (Best Breakthrough) and picked up another Edinburgh nom in 2010. In 2011, her fifth solo show 'The Future is Another Place' earned her another nomination for the top award.

Fresh from yet another triumph in the Scottish capital, Josie Long is bringing the new show back to London in October, ahead of a range of gigs throughout Christmas and into 2012. 'The Future is Another Place' is a typical slice of Long's observational satire, despairing at the world around her.

Josie Long's short residency at the Soho Theatre begins on Tuesday 18th October for five consecutive nights. We have tickets available now priced just £10 for the opening night (18th Oct), £12.50 for all other nights.

On the last night in Soho, 22nd October, Josie is also appearing at the Hampstead Comedy Club alongside Otiz Cannelloni and Tony Law. We have tickets priced between £8 and £10.

A month or so later, Josie Long appears in the fundraiser 'Laugh or the Polar Bear Gets it 2011' with Dan Antopolski, Simon Day, Badly Drawn Boy and others, at the Hammersmith Apollo on 22nd November. We have tickets from £19.50.

After that there's a series of appearances in 'Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People' at the Bloomsbury Theatre with Robin Ince, Richard Herring and others. The show runs for six consecutive nights from 18th December, with tickets priced £25.

After flirting with polar bears and Godless people, Josie Long has a few gigs inked-in for the New Year, appearing in Oxford, York, Leeds and Leicester in January and February, with more expected to be added. We have tickets available now, priced just £12.