Coming soon...
Tickets go on sale Friday 1 May 9am
About the show
What?! Mark Thomas has been ‘standing up’ for 40 years? Impossible!! But how old does that make you...? Alas, it is true; one of our oldest surviving alternative comics celebrates 40 years at the mic.
So, here’s what he has done so far in numbers:
Performed comedy for 40 years, won 8 awards for performing, 4 for human rights work and 1 he invented for himself, made 6 series of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product (Channel 4), written 6 books and 5 play scripts, made 5 series of the Manifesto for Radio 4, made 3 Dispatches for Channel 4, sued the police (and won) 3 times, curated and authored 2 art exhibitions with artist Tracey Moberly and had 1 Guinness World Record for holding 20 protests in 24 hours.
If that’s not enough, he’s also walked 724km around the length of the Israel Wall in the West Bank, been credited with changing the law on tax avoidance, started a comedy club in Palestine with Dr Sam Beale and campaigned successfully for things like trade union recognition for cinema workers and getting multinationals to change their practices.
You’re right, there’s more, but your attention is running out, and we’re running out of space. So let’s just say he’s generally mucked about trying to have fun and upset the right people…which he is really, really good at.
So basically, expect a taster menu of government and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a personal state of the nation broadcast as he tries to turn ‘what the f**k is going on’ into a cogent hour of stand-up.
Featuring
Mark Thomas
TV's comedy guerilla with his own shrewd take on governmental and corporate exploitation. Mark Thomas is well versed in the art of creative mayhem and over the years his troublemaking has changed laws, cost companies millions and annoyed those who most deserved to be.
“One of Britain's greatest storytellers…beautifully-paced and structured…a passionate humanity that surpasses most other work at the Fringe" (The Scotsman).
'A brand of comedy that carries a far weightier purpose than to simply generate laughs.. Cuckooed leaves a lasting impression' (Sunday Herald)
'A clever, funny and angry show... an excoriating, heartfelt monologue...Thomas the polemicist deploys the comedian's eye for a situation's dark absurdities' (The Guardian)
'Thomas's show ruefully tots up the cost of personal betrayal' (Sunday Times)
'Bracing, brilliant and necessary... Mark Thomas is the most intelligent of the modern leftist stand-ups... an unmissable hour' (Theatre Cat).
Mark Thomas was named in Ents24's top 20 hardest-working comedians 2017 and 2016.
See Mark Thomas tour dates
Find places to stay near Astor Community Theatre
on Friday 6 November 2026