MATT FORDE TO RETURN TO LOWRY, SALFORD AFTER SELL-OUT THE END OF AN ERA TOUR
Due to phenomenal demand, political comedian and satirist Matt Forde (Spitting Image, HIGNFY, British Scandal) has added 9 extra dates to his biggest (and most acclaimed) tour to date, now running through 14th June 2025. Following sell-out performances in Salford, Chipping Norton, Leeds, Nottingham (two dates), Cambridge, York, Chelmsford, and Faversham, The End of an Era Tour will return to these cities, including Lowry, Salford on Sunday 13th April. For tickets and more information visit thelowry.com
The End Of An Era Tour kicked off on 2nd October last autumn after a month long stint at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where the show was heralded as the best-reviewed out of 1,638 comedy shows by the British Comedy Guide. In addition to his UK tour, Matt has recently returned to the West End stage with his acclaimed Political Party residency and is set to interview heavyweight political guests, Alastair Campbell on 10th March, Anthony Scaramucci on 31st March, Wes Streeting on 12th May, Kemi Badenoch on 9th June and Michael Gove on 14th July.
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 to return to the stage with a new show, lampooning new government’s in the UK and US.
2024 ended with Matt entertaining King Charles with his Donald Trump impression at the Royal Variety Performance, followed by him winning Celebrity Mastermind thanks to him choosing Nottingham Forest as his specialist subject.
During his recovery, Matt undertook an ambitious challenge: attempting to interview a party candidate from all 650 constituencies before polling day on the 4th of July 2024. 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.
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 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 ★★★★