MULTIPLE GIGS ALREADY SOLD-OUT INCLUDING LEICESTER SQUARE THEATRE, NORWICH PLAYHOUSE AND THE THEATRE CHIPPING NORTON
What The Press Said About The End of An Era Tour, so far:
“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 ★★★★
9 ★★★★★
3 ★★★★
16 September 2024 – Following a sold-out, month-long run of his critically-acclaimed new hour at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – heralded as the best-reviewed out of 1,638 comedy shows by the British Comedy Guide – leading political comedian and satirist Matt Forde (Spitting Image, HIGNFY, British Scandal) announces an extra London performance for his biggest tour to date at the Bloomsbury Theatre on Friday 6th December at 8pm. From 2nd October to 12th March 2025, Matt is set to tour theatres nationwide, with multiple dates already sold-out including Leicester Square Theatre, Norwich Playhouse and The Theatre Chipping Norton.
Tickets are on general sale now and available at mattforde.com
After enduring what he thought was sciatica during the last Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Matt was diagnosed with cancer. A few weeks later he was having the base of his spine removed. Learning to walk again earlier this year, Matt returned to work on his acclaimed Political Party, British Scandal and Down The Dog podcasts, alongside hosting Absolute Radio’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Football Show. His final challenge was to return to the festival with a new show, reckoning with the UK’s newly elected government after 14 years and in conjunction with the US election race.
During his recovery, Matt undertook an ambitious challenge: attempting to interview a candidate from all 650 constituencies before polling day on the 4th of July. These interviews are featured on his hit podcast, The Political Party, which started releasing episodes daily from 3rd June. Alongside performing his stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Matt interviewed Anas Sarwar, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Sarah Brown, over three live Fringe Political Party podcast specials.
The Political Party transferred to the West End’s Duchess Theatre in 2021, after over 70 sold out shows at Westminster’s The Other Palace, for a thrice extended fortnightly residency continuing in to 2024. He has brought Parliament to life with his stand-up and debate with some of politics’ most powerful figures including Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Tony Blair, Eddie Izzard, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Angela Rayner, Michael Heseltine, Anthony Scaramucci, Alastair Campbell, Gordon Brown and Gary Neville. The Political Party has over 9 million downloads, received numerous nominations from award bodies including the British Podcast Awards and Chortle Awards, and is regularly highlighted as a top podcast pick in the press.
Matt currently presents Absolute Radio’s weekly Rock ‘n’ Roll Football Show. He is also the co-host of Wondery’s flagship British Podcast Award winning British Scandal alongside Alice Levine and Down The Dog podcast with Jon Richardson.
Matt wrote and voiced characters for Spitting Image (BritBox/ITV) including Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer and Donald Trump. Spitting Image 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.
Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical, written by a tour de force comedy team made up of Forde, Al Murray and Sean Foley, transferred to the West End’s Phoenix Theatre last year. Described by The Daily Telegraph as a five star “Lavish extravaganza” and “dazzling …a stunning technical achievement” by The Times, the musical introduced by Master of Ceremonies Sir Ian McKellen, featured a stellar line-up of over 100 puppets of the great and the not so good.
In 2019 alone, Matt hosted the Alternative News Desk for Channel 4’s election night coverage, chaired the One Nation Conservative leadership hustings and debated Britain’s withdrawal from the EU with Tony Blair for the Institute of Global Change.
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).
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Victoria Wedderburn at [email protected] / 07557160139 and Chloe Waterhouse at [email protected]
What the Press Have Said About Matt Forde’s Previous Shows
“Demand to see Forde in action at the Pleasance outstrips supply – the place is rammed…While Forde has plenty to chew on, there’ll surely be much more that’s fresh – and more appetite in us, too – once we head into the election year, when by rights he should be playing to arenas”
Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph
“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
“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
“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
