Need a laugh? These comedians will give you all the giggles on stages in Philadelphia, Atlantic City and beyond

Between the heat and humidity the Philadelphia area typically sees in the summer, the next few months might be heating up — but at least it’s never a bad season for stand-up comedy.

With that in mind, this year’s slate of summer stand-up shows is unsurprisingly stellar, thanks to such national touring acts as Russell Peters, Sarah Silverman, and Jim Gaffigan making their way through the region. We’ve even got a couple Philly boys — namely, Todd Glass and Dom Irrera — coming back to the motherland for quick summer visits.

Bill Maher (June 8, the Met Philly). Between Politically Incorrect and Real Time with Bill Maher, New York City native Bill Maher has been ruffling feathers as a political talk show host for more than two decades. But Maher has been an active stand-up comedian for about twice as long as that, and still performs a few dozen live dates around the country throughout the year — including one in Philly. (1-800-745-3000, themetphilly.com)

The Second City: She the People (June 13-22, Kimmel Center). Legendary Chicago-based improv enterprise Second City is bringing its latest sketch show to Philly, and it’s an all-female affair. Written, designed, and performed by about a dozen of Second City’s blazingly funny female members, this 100-minute show, subtitled the “Girlfriends’ Guide to Sisters Doing it for Themselves,” aims to smash the patriarchy as hilariously as possible. (215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org)

Todd Glass (June 13-15, Helium Comedy Club). After graduating from Conestoga High School, Valley Forge native Todd Glass made a beeline for Los Angeles — a move that ultimately led to a comedy career that includes several specials, award-winning podcast The Todd Glass Show, and one album of voicemails to fellow comic and Conestoga grad Blake Wexler. Now, Glass once again returns to his homeland for a run of shows at Helium. (215-496-9001, philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com)

Gary Gulman (June 19, Helium Comedy Club). The saying goes that the funniest people are often the saddest, and that’s true for longtime comic Gary Gulman, who is currently in the middle of his latest stand-up tour, “The Great Depresh.” Ordinarily known for his absurdist observational comedy, Gulman began tacitly discussing his lifelong battle with depression onstage with an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and now handles the topic openly. (215-496-9001, philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com)

Mike Birbiglia (June 24-25, Helium Comedy Club). Stand-up veteran Mike Birbiglia earlier this year finished up a months-long Broadway run of his latest set, The New One, which means one thing: It’s time to come up with more jokes. Birbiglia, affectionately known by fans as “Birbigs,” is planning to work out new material on waiting Philly crowds across a couple of joke development-focused shows. (215-496-9001, philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com)

Brad Williams (June 27-29, Helium Comedy Club). Brad Williams was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. Since making his way into the spotlight through stand-up in the early 2000s, he’s been sporadically confused with actor Peter Dinklage and Jason “Wee Man” Acuña of Jackass Fame. Williams, however, maintains a good sense of humor about the cases of mistaken identity, even going so far as to proclaim himself “king of the dwarfs” thanks to the conclusion of Game of Thrones last month. (215-496-9001, philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com)

Eliot Chang (July 5, Valley Forge Casino Resort). Eliot Chang has been a featured Comedy Central comedian since 2004, but these days, most folks probably know him for his viral YouTube videos — particularly the ones dealing with hecklers at his stand-up shows, some of which have garnered millions of views. So remember that if you feel like interrupting him when he hits Valley Forge Casino Resort this summer. (610-354-8118, vfcasino.com)

Jim Norton (July 5, the Borgata). New Jersey native Jim Norton has made a name for himself in stand-up since the 1990s as a brash, blue, and unapologetic comic — a reputation he most recently continued to uphold with his 2017 Netflix special, A Mouthful of Shame. This year, Norton is scheduled to return to Netflix, but not as himself; instead, he is slated to play fellow comic Don Rickles in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, about Frank Sheeran, a union boss and alleged mob hitman who claimed to have murdered Jimmy Hoffa. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)

Russell Peters (July 6, the Borgata). Canadian comic Russell Peters is a man of firsts — as in, the first comic with an original Netflix special with 2013’s Notorious, the first comic to play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center in 2012, and the first comic to play Philly’s newest comedy club, the Punch Line, in 2016. Now, Peters brings his “Deported World Tour” to Atlantic City following dates in South Africa, India and Kuwait, but don’t worry, it’s not his first time in Jersey. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)

Emma Willmann (July 7, SteelStacks). At it since 2016, Maine native Emma Willmann is a relative newcomer to the national stand-up scene, but since then, she’s been a featured comic on Seeso’s Night Train with Wyatt Cenac, Netflix’s Comedy Lineup, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and appeared on the CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and HBO’s Crashing. That’s a lot of features in not a lot of time, and her summer show in Bethlehem offers locals a chance to see Willmann, who is so in-demand these days. (610-297-7100, steelstacks.org)

Aasif Mandvi (July 18-20, Punch Line Philly). When Aasif Mandvi joined the cast of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show in 2006, he was more of an actor than a stand-up comic — a passion he has pursued in earnest since leaving the show in 2015 with roles in such shows as HBO’s The Brink, his own web series Halal in the Family, and CBS’ Blue Bloods. But in his near-decade-long run on the Comedy Central staple, Mandvi also began honing his stand-up skills, which he brings to Philly this summer as part of one of his rare local visits since filming The Last Airbender here with M. Night Shyamalan in 2010. (215-606-6555, punchlinephilly.com)

John Leguizamo (July 19-20, Merriam Theater). John Leguizamo got started as a stand-up comedian in 1984, and since then, he’s starred in movies and launched several one-man shows. His latest, Latin History for Morons, a 2018 Tony Award-winner, has the Colombia-born funnyman running down the Latin world’s greatest figureheads, from “Montezuma to Menudo.” (215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org)

J.B. Smoove (July 20, Parx Casino). Fans of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm know longtime stand-up J.B. Smoove as Leon Black, Larry David’s unlikely live-in friend and streetwise sounding board (he even released a book as the character in 2017). Marvel fans, however, will soon know him as Mr. Dell, teacher to Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home. To us, though, he’ll always be a can’t-miss comic. (888-588-7279, parxcasino.com)

Sarah Silverman (July 20, the Borgata). With nearly three decades in comedy, Sarah Silverman has changed her comedy plenty over the years, from the controversial, shock-laden humor of her 2005 special Jesus Is Magic to her more nuanced takes in the excellent (and now sadly canceled) Hulu series I Love You, America. As Silverman told fellow comic Mike Birbiglia during an interview at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, comedy is “absolutely not evergreen,” so her upcoming set in Jersey ought to be her most evolved yet. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)

Amanda Seales (July 21, Merriam Theater). Amanda Seales, an ex-touring member of English R&B outfit Floetry, is officially on the stand-up comedy circuit. Her latest endeavor, “Smart, Funny & Black,” focuses on African American history and culture in an unexpected game show format that pits contestants against one another to determine who should be inducted into Seales’ “Illustrious League of Master Blacksperts.” (215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org)

Cheech & Chong (July 26, Parx Casino). With the release of Up in Smoke in 1978, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong created the stoner comedy genre. After decades apart, the pair officially reunited in the late 2000s, and they’ve been full steam (smoke?) ahead since then — including with a new stoner comedy in partnership with Broken Lizard’s Jay Chandrasekhar, which was announced in 2014. (888-588-7279, parxcasino.com)

TJ Miller (July 27, Valley Forge Casino Resort). Deadpool star TJ Miller is reportedly still hashing out a plea deal in connection with a fake bomb threat he allegedly called in while traveling on an Amtrak train in March of last year. But with the case’s next hearing scheduled for Aug. 1, according to the Blast, local appearances from Miller could be a little rarer in the future, considering his charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. (610-354-8118, vfcasino.com)

Natasha Leggero (Aug. 1-3, Helium Comedy Club). On one recent trek through Philly, Natasha Leggero came to town with husband and fellow comic Moshe Kasher as part of their “Endless Honeymoon” tour (it’s now a Netflix special), but this time around, we’re getting Leggero solo. Since that particular tour, Leggero and Kasher became parents to a daughter, born last year, so expect some new takes on motherhood in addition to the veteran comic’s usual shockingly satirical takes on class, elitism, and celebrity culture. (215-496-9001, philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com)

Jay Pharoah (Aug. 3, the Borgata). Jay Pharoah spent more than half a decade slaying audiences with his expert-level celebrity impressions on Saturday Night Live, and since leaving the show in 2016, he’s taken his act to cities all over the country. Today, that list of impressions includes everyone from Barack Obama to Kanye West, plus such Philly-connected celebs as Will Smith and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)

Joey Diaz (Aug. 10, the Borgata). Whether you know him as Uncle Joey, Joey Karate, or, simply, Coco, the North Jersey-raised Joey Diaz is a comic’s comic, thanks to his dozen comedy releases, regular appearances on popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, and generally taking no prisoners onstage since getting started in the late 1980s. Last month on an episode of his own podcast, The Church of What’s Happening Now, he let slip that he’ll be appearing in The Sopranos prequel Soon, The Many Saints of Newark. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)

Dom Irrera (Aug. 10, Tropicana Casino & Resort). South Philly native Dom Irrera got his comedy chops growing up in an Italian American home that had “three floors and four generations of family,” according to his official biography. At it since the early 1980s, Irrera today is an award-winning comedian known for his classic appearances on Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz, Processional Therapist, Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold!, and, more recently, Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here, which dealt with Los Angeles’ 1970s stand-up scene before its cancellation late last year. (609-340-4000, tropicana.net)

Nick Di Paolo (Aug. 16-17, Helium Comedy Club). Last month, Nick Di Paolo caused an uproar online with the free release of his latest special, A Breath of Fresh Air, which featured an image of the right-wing comic flipping off a group of protesters that included Black Lives Matter activist Muhiyidin Moye, who later was slain. The comic later apologized and replaced the image, but also thanked his “great fans and the whining leftist maggots” for getting him trending on Twitter, so don’t expect too sensitive a show from Di Paolo. (215-496-9001, philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com)

Jim Gaffigan (Aug. 24, the Borgata). Jim Gaffigan has been one of the most popular stand-up comedians for more than a decade thanks to such hit specials as 2006’s Beyond the Pale, 2009’s King Baby, and last year’s Noble Ape. But this year, Gaffigan is focusing intensely on acting, and is scheduled to appear in seven films this year — plus a new special, Quality Time, which will serve as Amazon Prime’s first original comedy special, so it may be time to consider the “Hot Pockets” era of his career officially over. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)

Gabriel Iglesias (Aug. 30, the Borgata). A nervous breakdown forced Gabriel Iglesias off the road in 2017, when the comedian, nicknamed Fluffy, took some time to deal with a drinking problem, depression, and other health issues. Following what he has called “the meltdown of 2017” in press, Iglesias is back at it and a lot less fluffy, but not any less funny. He’s even got a new Netflix sitcom, Mr. Iglesias, in which he plays a history teacher, premiering in June that deals with what his life would be like had he not become the Fluffy we know and love. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)

Trevor Noah (Sept. 1, the Borgata). South African-born comic Trevor Noah got off to an understandably rocky start as host of The Daily Show after taking over the gig from Jon Stewart, but since then he’s come into his own. Many fans of the show, however, don’t realize that Noah has also been a prolific stand-up since for about a decade, so don’t miss out when he hits Jersey this summer. (609-317-1000, theborgata.com)