“Matt Forde’s podcast is like Top of the Pops for Westminster…phenomenally popular fortnightly show…refreshingly positive”
The Sunday Times
“Forde’s Political Party podcasts have become essential listening for both comedy fans and Westminster wonks”
The Evening Standar
“Forde is a brilliant interrogator, being just friendly enough to coax out some surprising admissions and insights. It successfully makes politics funny, which is no mean feat in the current climate.”
ShortList’s No. 1 Political Podcast
“Forde is a master at the long- form interview and turns sometimes robotic politicians into human beings. This is without doubt the most entertaining and insightful political interview podcast of them all”
Iain Dale’s Top 50 Political Podcasts, Mace Magazine
It was announced today, 6th October, that leading political comedian and satirist Matt Forde (Spitting Image, HIGNFY, British Scandal) returns to his Political Party West End residency, with a heavyweight guest line-up including Bridget Phillipson, Nick Clegg, and David Miliband.
On 6th October, tonight, Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, will outline her bid to become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. It’s the first major test of the membership’s opinion since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister and follows the resignation of Angela Rayner.
On 8th December, Sir Nick Clegg, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and President of Global Affairs at Meta, returns to the Political Party for a special conversation on the evolving intersection of politics and technology. Having recently concluded his tenure at Meta, Clegg will discuss the challenges of navigating AI, privacy, and global scrutiny in the tech industry, and share insights from his new book, How to Save the Internet.
On 16th February, David Miliband, former Foreign Secretary and current President of the International Rescue Committee, sits down with Matt for a wide-ranging conversation on diplomacy, humanitarian challenges, and the future role of Britain on the world stage. Arguably the best leader Labour never had, what does he make of the Labour government?
Following a month-long sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where he debuted a critically acclaimed brand-new hour, Matt is set to embark on his biggest tour yet. From 28th January to 10th June 2026, Matt will tour theatres nationwide – including London’s Bloomsbury Theatre on 14th February and 18th April – with Defying Calamity, a show about finding positivity in life despite all the evidence to the contrary in politics and his own health.
Political Party and Defying Calamity tickets are available to buy now at mattforde.com
Since launching in 2013, Matt’s Political Party podcast has brought Parliament to life through stand-up and lively debate with some of politics’ most powerful figures, including Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Tony Blair, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Angela Rayner, Michael Heseltine, Anthony Scaramucci, Alastair Campbell, Gordon Brown and Gary Neville. Following an 18-month hiatus due to his bone cancer diagnosis, Matt has resumed his four-time extended West End residency. The podcast has amassed over 11 million downloads, earned multiple nominations from award bodies including the British Podcast Awards and Chortle Awards, and is regularly featured as a top podcast pick in the press.
The new YouTube series Spitting Image: The Rest Is Bulls!t* is led creatively by Matt and Al Murray, now available on the official Spitting Image channel.
The duo also wrote the critically acclaimed stage show Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical. The live show was praised by the Evening Standard for being “shockingly funny… I wasn’t expecting this to be so outrageously entertaining”, in a five-star review from the Daily Telegraph the show was applauded for being “a barrel-load of offence-giving fun and a salty dash of rebellion” with The Mail on Sunday celebrating the writer’s “healthy disrespect for the Establishment”.
The BAFTA and Emmy award-winning satirical Spitting Image television series originally ran for 18 series between 1984 and 1996 and was watched by over 15 million viewers. In 2020 it made a return to TV to (since disbanded UK streaming service) BritBox, with Matt writing and voicing characters, including portrayals of Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer, and Donald Trump, achieving critical praise across the political divide. On official social media channels, Spitting Image content was massively popular with over 200 million views globally and three number 1 trending videos on YouTube. Three new one-off specials for ITV (alongside BritBox) also saw huge success on terrestrial television: with a 4.4 million audience in 2020 achieving ITV’s highest Saturday night ratings at that time in four years.
After enduring what he thought was sciatica during the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Matt was diagnosed with cancer. A few weeks later he was having the base of his spine removed and has since relearned to walk. Despite these challenges, he returned to work – picking up where he left off with The Political Party, as well as his other acclaimed podcasts British Scandal with Alice Levine and Down The Dog with Jon Richardson, and continuing to host Rock ‘n’ Roll Football on Absolute Radio.
Elsewhere in the world of audio, Matt most recently completed his six-part political comedy series on BBC Radio 4, The Matt Forde Focus Group, featuring Forde in conversation with politicians, comedians and subject experts, discussing current issues and the ideas behind them
Matt 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: Have I Got News For You (BBC One), The Royal Variety Performance (ITV), 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).
What The Press Said About Matt’s Stand-Up:
“a sensational start to the Festival…the most topically incisive impersonator on the block…exemplary in its vocal accuracy and political acumen. It’s laugh-a-minute stuff, underpinned by the kind of wisdom and natural resilience our leaders could learn from. He was always impressive, but he deserves his inevitable standing-ovation as never before.”
Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph ★★★★★
“flying the flag for satire…succeeds in seamlessly weaving together the personal and the political in a meaty hour of impressions, gags and reflections. Forde is brilliant…so much to admire here. But you come away admiring the man as much as the performer”
Mark Wareham, Mail On Sunday ★★★★★
“An outstanding hour…nobody else serving up party-political humour at this level…the greatest set piece of the evening, perhaps the best routine in town. Stunning.”
Dominic Maxwell, The Times ★★★★
“our foremost satirical stand-up…Whatever your politics, you’ll find excellence here”
★★★★ Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
“tremendous performance, encapsulating the politics of modern day Britain”
★★★★★ Lewis McKenzie, The Herald
“the excellent Matt Forde…even more accurate than Starmer’s needling voice”
Lloyd Evans, The Spectator
“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
