Have you heard the one about the biker haunt?

The increasing reputation of Oxford comedy venue The Cellar has been reinforced with the announcement that the underground bar will play host to two of Britain's most celebrated stand-up comedians this spring.

Richard Herring, who found fame with BBC2's Fist of Fun and This Morning with Richard not Judy, and Russell Howard, one of the scene's rising stars and host of his eponymous radio show on BBC 6 Music, have chosen the club in Frewin Court, off Cornmarket, to stage the Oxford leg of both their 2007 national tours.

Howard's show, Wandering, comes to town on February 19, having already attracted critical acclaim at last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for the prestigious if.comeddie award.

The transformation of The Cellar from notorious biker haunt to a top comedy club is largely down to the success of the Edinburgh Fringe comedy club The Free Beer Show, now well into the second year of its residency at the site.

The Free Beer Show has gone from strength to strength since it began entertaining comedy fans in 2005 and the team behind the Monday night comedy gigs have seen local performers follow suit.

Paddy Luscombe, The Free Beer Show's promoter, has welcomed the increasing quality of Oxford acts performing at The Cellar, and this improvement has changed the way the club operates.

He explains that "in the past, we had to get all our comics down from London, whereas now there is a huge pool of talent right here in Oxford".

Luscombe has been so impressed with the home-grown comedians he has given them their own show, The Oxford All-Stars, which The Cellar will host on Monday.

Audiences at the All-Star show will be treated to six of the best comedians the city has to offer, among them a self- confessed geek, a man who wants his jokes to impress in the bedroom, and a smooth talker so entertaining he can make politicians sound funny.

Tom Greeves is the inspired gagsmith responsible for some of the speeches made by several of the country's most famous politicians, including William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Sebastian Coe. But unlike his former employers, Greeves tends not to attract criticism from the public, as he explained: "Someone once told me after a show that as soon as I came on stage he was too terrified to heckle," adding: "There are a few advantages to looking like a serial killer."

Audiences might be familiar with former Oxford University student John Gethin, who came out on top on Channel 4's 2006 reality TV hit, Beauty and the Geek. After spending the duration of the show living in a house filled with beautiful women and several fellow geeks, Gethin was bombarded with big money television offers, but turned them down to concentrate on his stand-up routines.

James Laurence will be well known to regulars at The Free Beer Show, thanks to his previous gig as the club's compere, but he is now taking to the stage in his own right.

Laurence hopes that the All-Stars gig will help him achieve his ultimate ambition, where "someone, somewhere will be lying in bed with their girlfriend and passing off one of my jokes as their own, and she says, 'that's not your joke, that's James Laurence's joke' and he laughs, and she laughs, and they talk about how great I am!"

Also on the bill are razor-sharp veterans of the Oxford Imps improvisation group, Charlie Partridge and Jules Morrish. For Morrish, being the only female All-Star is not a daunting prospect. She is far more concerned about the general public finding out that she is a fan of Victoria Wood.

The show will be compered by the ever-popular Rob Alderson, whose lively and hilarious repartee with the audience has become a mainstay of the club.

Comedy in Oxford is booming and it's not just stand-up on offer. The Oxford Imps continue to play to a full house each week and comic playwrights like Bradford Johnson are becoming very popular.

While The Free Beer Show is leading the push of independent comedy nights, it is not alone, as comedy becomes increasingly appealing to Oxford venues starved of fresh and exciting live entertainment.

This marked increase in popularity has seen The Free Beer Show rush in an advance ticketing system to deal with the demand for reservations. Run in partnership with the Oxford Playhouse's, Tickets Oxford, it is now possible to buy tickets by telephone or online.

Other Free Beer Show season highlights coming up are Hattie Hayridge and Norman Lovett, who both played Holly the Computer in the iconic sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. In, April sees the Perrier Award-nominated and BBC2 star Simon Munnery, who received critical acclaim for his Attention Scum series. Regulars Nick Revell, Ray Peacock and Jim Jeffries also return.

With Oxford based comedy at an all time high, The Free Beer Show is rapidly making a name for itself with a heady mixture of local, national and international comedians. In short, Book now to see what everyone's talking about.

For bookings call Tickets Oxford on 01865 305305 or visit www.ticketsoxford.com or for more information on The Cellar visit the www.cellarmusic.co.uk website.