Matt Forde, Touring review - politics, poo and Viagra

Matt Forde gives a warning: “Don’t heckle the disabled – that’s a hate crime.” What an opener for his latest touring show, The End of an Era, which I saw at the Oxford Glee Club. 

To explain: in 2023 the back pain that Forde thought was sciatica turned out to be spinal cancer. Major surgery that included severing nerves in his nether regions followed, and post-surgery he now uses a stoma bag and self-catheterises. Thankfully Forde has recovered.

He mines a slew of jokes here – mostly at the expense of his dignity – and the natural born comic looks on the bright side, as the very good poo and knob gags attest. The image he summons of how Viagra has helped to perk up his post-op libido is inspired.

Forde – a fantastic political comic – gives another warning: that some in the audience may object to the targets for his gags. He’s an unapologetic Blairite – he was once an adviser to the former prime minister – but his targets range across the political spectrum. Some may purse their lips as makes fun of the Tories, Labour the SNP or Reform, but they all get it in the neck to some degree as he assesses the current political form book.

The personal is political, the political comic with a personal story to tell says, and Forde cleverly melds the two themes in the show, weaving in and out of both, bringing us up to date on political events since 2024 elections in the UK and the US and where they leave us today.

Speaking purely material-wise, it must be a great time to be a political comic, and Forde capitalises on the rapidly changing political climate in the UK and abroad. Pleasingly, he opens his set with some bang-up-to-the-minute material about the latest from President Trump’s Washington – the gift that keeps giving, however unwelcome. Some material, though, feels a little dated in a show that first saw the light of day at the Edinburgh Fringe last year.

Along the way, Forde rattles through his impressive list of impressions – including Trump, Tony Blair, Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and Nigel Farage – which show his close attention not just to voice but also mannerisms. (In one of his surreal inventions to frame the gags, he imagines Lee Anderson MP as a school bully.) He even has more than passable renditions of Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves.

Forde wheels back to his cancer story to end on a heartfelt but very funny note. Long may he thrive.

• Touring until 14 June
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