About
After enduring what he thought was sciatica during the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Matt Forde (Spitting Image, HIGNFY, British Scandal) was diagnosed with cancer. A few weeks later he was having the base of his spine removed.
But just 12 months on, the leading political comedian and satirist announces his biggest tour to date with his new stand-up show The End of An Era Tour, ahead of a month-long run at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 31st July – 25th August at 8pm at Pleasance Beyond. From 2nd October 2024 to 12th March 2025, Forde is set to tour theatres nationwide including London’s Leicester Square Theatre on 10th October, following the UK’s recently elected new government after 14 years and in tandem with the US election. Tickets are on general sale now.
The tour news coincides with Matt recently undertaking a hugely ambitious challenge: attempting to interview a candidate from all 650 constituencies before UK 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.
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.
Alongside Matt performing his new stand-up show at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he is also set to host two Political Party specials at the Gilded Balloon at The Museum on the 13th and 19th August, with guests to be announced.
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 Forde, Al Murray and Sean Foley, transferred to the West End’s Phoenix Theatre in 2023. 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).