Comedian Matt Forde, currently performing his new hour to packed houses at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, has announced his biggest tour to date.
From 28th January to 10th June 2026, Matt is set to tour theatres nationwide - including London’s Bloomsbury Theatre on 14th February - with Defying Gravity, a show about finding positivity in life despite all the evidence to the contrary in politics and his own health.
The news follows the first of Matt’s four Edinburgh Fringe Political Party podcast specials, which featured the Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray. The episode made headlines for comments taking aim at Edinburgh Council’s “snobby” and “classist” remarks about Oasis fans.
The upcoming Political Party specials are:
On 13th August, Joanna Cherry KC returns to the podcast for a candid conversation about her relationship with her own party, the SNP’s position on women’s rights following the Supreme Court ruling and what her future ambitions are.
On 17th August, Sadiq Khan speaks to Matt following his historic re-election last year for a third term as Mayor of London. For most of his time as Mayor, he had to deal with a Conservative government. Now that Labour are in charge, how has that impacted what he can do? What can Labour nationally learn from his success in London? What’s his assessment of how Labour are doing?
On 21st August, broadcasting icon Kirsty Wark - recently honoured with the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship for her outstanding 40-year career in television - joins Matt for a wide-ranging conversation. Together, they will reflect on her decades presenting Newsnight, the changing political journalism landscape, the challenges posed by misinformation and social media, debates about press freedom, and the key stories and politicians that have defined her career.
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.
Matt will return to Spitting Image this autumn with a brand-new YouTube series, Spitting Image: The Rest Is Bulls!t.* A one-off teaser episode was released this summer and is available now on the official Spitting Image YouTube channel.
The series is creatively led by Matt and Al Murray, two of the writers behind 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”.
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. Since learning to walk again, 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 returning to the stage with The End of An Era Tour, which was the best-reviewed show at last year’s Fringe out of 1,638 performances per the British Comedy Guide, before embarking on a successful nationwide tour.
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 Matt 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).
Tickets go on exclusive fan pre-sale for those signed up to Matt’s mailing list from 10am on Thursday 14th August, while general sale is at 10am on Friday 15th August. For dates and tickets, visit: mattforde.com
