After enduring what he thought was sciatica during the last Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Matt Forde was diagnosed with cancer. A few weeks later he was having the base of his spine removed.
Now the UK’s leading political comedian, Matt Forde (Spitting Image, HIGNFY, British Scandal), returns to the festival, ahead of the UK and US elections. His brand-new show The End of An Era Tour will run from 1st – 25th August at 8pm at Pleasance Beyond.
Currently learning to walk again, Matt has returned to work on his acclaimed Political Party and British Scandal podcasts, alongside hosting Absolute Radio’sRock ‘n’ Roll Football Show.
His final challenge is to get back to stand-up, and he will now embark on his first work-in-progress stand-up gigs at London’s Soho Theatre from 28th May – 1st June at 7.30pm.
Matt Forde said: “I cannot wait to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe again, despite returning to the place where my life turned upside down.
After my final show there, I was told I had cancer. Instead of going on tour, I was being carved open to have the base of my spine removed. Now I know how turkeys feel. And it was in the run-up to Christmas.
I’m learning to walk again and with the help of two fantastic helpers (sticks), I will be back at on stage.
When I was laid in that hospital bed in excruciating pain, the only thought on my mind was ‘at least I’ll get a show out of this’. Then I’d remember that I’m a political comedian and I’d think ‘oh well, at least people don’t have to hear me do a show about this”
Matt Forde’s Soho Theatre gigs are on general sale now at SohoTheatre.com and his Edinburgh Festival Fringe run goes on general sale on Thursday 9th May at edfringe.com
Described as “our foremost satirical stand-up” by The Sunday Times, Matt has toured critically acclaimed shows nationwide including most recently Clowns To The Left of Me, Jokers To The Right in 2022 and Inside No. 10 in 2023 (in part).
Matt’s hit live podcast 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.
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 Matt 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 CeremoniesSir 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).
