Invisible Dot have invited award winning comic turns Jonny Sweet and Adam Riches to usher in their national ‘New Wave’ tour.

With Sweet and Riches sharing headline duties across the board, the production co (whose credits to date include routine collaborations with Tim Key, Mark Watson and Simon Amstell) have also confirmed character comedian Nick Mohammed, sister-sister sketch duo Toby and fast-climbing Fringe fave Tom Basden.

This lot will accompany Riches and Sweet in varying combinations as the outing takes in fifteen nationwide dates, climaxing with an appearance by the entire touring line-up at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre on 14 May.

Tickets for all dates available here.

So, the shortlists of those eligible for gongs at this year’s Chortle Awards have been announced, and organisers are leaving it to the public to decide which of the shortlisted comedians will leave the ceremony – hosted by Alexei Sayle at West London’s Cafe De Paris on 20 Mar – laughing.

Chosen by a panel of discerning journo types, nominees include last year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Adam Riches (interviewed by ThreeWeeks here), who is top of the jokers’ pack with three nods, and the twice-acknowledged likes of Dylan Moran, Stewart Lee, Sam Simmons and Humphrey Ker.

Changes this year include a larger emphasis on the live comedy circuit, with 2011′s ‘Best Headliner’ category changed to ‘Best Club Comic’. Meanwhile, standout performers in TV and Radio, formerly lumped into a single award, now have their own respective gongs. Find the complete nominations list here.

Vote here for your comedians and shows of choice, and here for your favourite venue. Polls close on 2 Mar.

The over-all winner and best newcomer from this year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award proceedings – Adam Riches and occasional Penny Dreadful Humphrey Kerr - will both take to the Soho Theatre stage this weekend.

Riches is optimistic that his current stand-up show, as seen in da Burgh last August, will translate well for the London crowd. Speaking to Time Out, he says: “In Edinburgh, everyone in the room, I hope, felt included and possibly threatened. But yes, it will work at the Soho Theatre, it will just be a case of trial and error. But for the purposes of this interview, it’s going to be great, it’s going to be better!’.

You can catch up on Adam’s full Time Out interview here, or there’s always the chat he had with our sister site ThreeWeeks last August. The details and tickets for his Sunday Soho Theatre show, meanwhile, are stashed here. And finally, here Riches is portraying the one, the only, the VERY LOUD… Daniel Day Lewis.