NEIL KINNOCK RESCHEDULED FOR 7TH MARCH
ANGELA RAYNER FORTHCOMING GUEST ON 24TH JANUARY
“our foremost satirical stand-up…Whatever your politics, you’ll find excellence here”
★★★★ Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
“Possibly the best political comedy show on the Fringe”
★★★★★ Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
“Forde is as gratifyingly sane as comedians come… smart, funny ideas”
★★★★ Dominic Maxwell, The Times
13th January:- Matt Forde (Spitting Image, Have I Got News For You ,The Last Leg, The Royal Variety Performance) has added Conservative heavyweights Michael Heseltine and Edwina Currie to the upcoming guest line-up on his fortnightly West End Political Party residency at The Duchess Theatre, plus rescheduled an appearance from former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
On the 24th January, Matt is joined by the (previously announced) deputy leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner, who has proven herself a charismatic and formidable opponent for Boris Johnson when she stands in at PMQs. Angela is a rare character in modern politics, having left school at 16. She worked her way up through the union movement and has become one of Labour’s biggest stars. It promises to be an electric night of candid political analysis.
On the 7th February, Matt interviews one of the leading British Conservative political figures of the late 20th century, Lord Michael Heseltine. A leading figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, he famously challenged Mrs Thatcher for the leadership of the Conservative Party and almost became Prime Minister. In the Lords he had the Conservative whip removed ahead of the 2019 European Elections for telling people to vote Lib Dem. He has been a vocal critic of Boris Johnson and urged the public to vote against him at the last General Election because Johnson was pursuing an “utterly disastrous” policy that would make Britain poorer and less influential.
On the 21st February, Matt talks to another outspoken Conservative star, Edwina Currie. Currie is one of the most famous Tories of the Major and Thatcher era, and carved out a reputation for being opinionated and controversial. She let off a bombshell after leaving politics when her diaries revealed she’d had an affair with John Major. Since then Edwina has appeared on some of Britain’s biggest reality shows including Strictly Come Dancing and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!
On the 7th March, Matt is joined by former leader of the Labour Party, jokingly described by Joe Biden as ‘my greatest ever speechwriter’, Neil Kinnock. When Neil became Labour leader, the party had been almost wiped out after standing on a hard left manifesto at the 1983 election. Neil undertook the hard work of making Labour more electable at huge personal cost, including a bruising war with Militant which he won, in part thanks to his inspiration 1985 Party Conference speech. He’ll certainly have advice for the current leader of the party who is trying to undertake a similar task.
After 70 sold out Political Party shows at Westminster’s The Other Palace, Matt Forde moved to the West End’s Duchess Theatre for a fortnightly residency in September 2021. Since 2013, Forde has interviewed political figures including Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Sadiq Khan, Julia Gillard, Tony Blair, Nigel Farage, Tessa Jowell, Alan Johnson, Alastair Campbell, William Hague and George Osborne.
The UK’s leading political podcast has over 6.6 million downloads and is regularly included in iTunes’ Top 10 comedy podcasts. The British Podcast Award nominated show was recently listed by Mace Magazine as the Number 1 Political Podcast and by The i newspaper as one of the 50 Greatest Podcasts, adding to top podcast picks in the press from titles including The Observer, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Radio Times and ShortList.
Alongside The Political Party, Matt is set to is set to embark on his biggest tour to date with a brand-new stand-up show Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right from 8th February through to 15th May. Over forty-three dates Matt will satirise the right, left and centre at theatres nationwide including a five-night run at London’s Soho Theatre from 8th-12th February plus a performance at the Southbank Centre on the 19th February and Bloomsbury Theatre on the 23rd April.
Political Party and Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right tickets are available to buy now at mattforde.com
Matt has voiced and written for two series of the Spitting Image. Since returning in 2020 the show has delivered record subscribers for BritBox UK, the BBC and ITV created streaming platform, as well as picking up huge critical acclaim. Across official social media channels, series content has been hugely popular with over 200 million views globally, three No. 1 trending videos on YouTube and achieved praise across political the political divide.
Matt is currently co-hosting British Scandal with Alice Levine, a new audio series exploring the gripping stories, fascinating characters and critical questions arising on a journey through some of the biggest UK scandals and available on all major UK podcast platforms. The debut episode shot straight to the No 1 slot in the Apple podcast chart.
Matt’s first book Politically Homeless was listed by The Sunday Times as one the Best Political Books of 2020. The paperback was released in paperback by Quercus in May.
Matt has hosted four series of Unspun with Matt Forde on Dave, receiving several nominations at the Broadcast Digital Awards, and has numerous other broadcast credits including: Spitting Image (BritBox/ITV), Have I Got News For You (BBC One), The Royal Variety Performance (ITV), The Last Leg (Channel 4), Mock The Week (BBC Two), 8 out of 10 Cats (Channel 4), Hypothetical (Dave) Rory Bremner’s Coalition Report and Rory Bremner’s Election Report (BBC Two), Question Time (BBC One), This Week (BBC One), Newsnight (BBC Two) and Daily Politics (BBC Two). Matt currently presents Absolute Radio’s weekly Rock n Roll Football Show.
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Victoria Wedderburn at VWedderburn@avalonuk.com / 07557160139
What the Press Have Said About Matt Forde
“Is there a better political comic than Matt Forde currently working in the UK? I can’t think of another to touch him”
★★★★½ Jay Richardson, Chortle
“Matt Forde never fails with his state-of-the-nation address, a mix of bang-on-the-money political takedowns and spot-on impressions”
★★★★ Mark Wareham, Mail On Sunday
“Matt Forde is the consummate political comedian”
★★★★ Tim Cornwell, The Scotsman
