Tickets available
- £14.30Includes booking feeView ticketsSupplied by WeGotTickets
About the show
Every year we present a selection of the top shows warming up before heading North to the Edinburgh Festival. Your ticket entitles you to see both full shows for less than the price of one in Edinburgh.
NOTE EARLIER START TIMES and any CHANGES to advertised running order.
1st show starts 8pm, 2nd show starts 9.15pm.
Check www.downstairsatthekingshead.com for details of who's on tonight.
Mark Steel
Critically-acclaimed and BAFTA-nominated writer and comedian Mark Steel returns to test new material with his signature wit and acute observations.
STEPHEN CARLIN Kapitan Bomba
2026 is going to be a great by the way, spectacular. I’ve just decided based on no evidence whatsoever. As the global clusterf*ck collides impressively with personal crisis, the chief executive of self awareness - Stephen Carlin (Stewart Lee’s 10 best comedians of all time) is on hand to explain how none of this fiasco is any of his fault. Now sit back, kick back and enjoy the Cool Aid.
“He’s a quality Comedian” Kevin Bridges.
Herald ***
Important Notes:
Bills may alter at late notice - check on www.downstairsatthekingshead.com for any last-minute changes.
There is no reserved seating Downstairs. We can seat 70 and have 10 standing spaces. Your ticket guarantees entry, but if you want a good seat, please be with us by the advertised door opening time.
Please bring evidence of booking (i.e; your confirmation email). On phone is fine - save trees!
You can book tickets up to 6pm on the day of the show. After then, any remaining tickets will be sold on a first-come first-served basis on the door at the advertised “doors open” time.
Also please note that, as an intimate venue, we discourage large group bookings, so tickets are limited on this show to a MAXIMUM of 4 per person.
We want everyone to enjoy the show. Please don’t talk during the performance and ensure your mobile phone is turned off. You will be required to leave without refund if your behaviour is disruptive. No recording in any medium is allowed without prior permission.
Intoxicated persons will not be admitted.
The use of E cigarettes is prohibited
Note we do not allow food downstairs. If you are planning on eating upstairs before the show, please allow plenty of time to finish before coming downstairs.
Featuring
Mark Steel
Mark Steel is a stand-up heavyweight and is also a broadcaster, newspaper columnist and author.
Mark has written and presented many series of Mark Steel's In Town on BBC Radio 4 (new series out soon) and toured it live around the UK. Mark has presented the BAFTA nominated Mark Steel Lectures for BBC2, is a regular on BBC One's Have I Got News For You and Radio 4's The News Quiz. He's also appeared on BBC2's QI and Room 101. Mark has written several acclaimed books, including: Reasons To Be Cheerful and What's Going On and he writes a weekly column for The Independent for which he won Columnist of the Year at the Press Awards in 2015.
'He's a man with a passionate desire to communicate his ideas, who is also very funny' (The Guardian).
Mark Steel was placed in Ents24's top 5 hardest-working comedians 2016.
See Mark Steel tour dates
Stephen Carlin
Stephen Carlin began his stand-up career in 2002 and soon became a permanent fixture on the comedy circuit, supporting Stewart Lee and Stephen Merchant on tour, also appearing in Stewart Lee's 10 Best Stand-ups In the World Ever. As seen on ‘The Alternative Comedy Experience’, ‘Comedy at the Fringe’, ‘Edinburgh and Beyond’ and ‘Comedy Cuts’ ITV as well as featuring on Radio 4’s ‘Loose Ends’ and ‘Friday Night Live’,
'Sharp, slightly offbeat, mainly very funny' (Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard)
'The whimsy and relaxed on-stage demeanour were a winner instantly... (Carlin) excelled in pedantry, married to exceptional use of language' (Leamington Observer)
'... if this man isn't a household name in five years' time, the world is even more lacking in justice than we could have feared' (The Scotsman)
'... a delightfully off beat act who expertly applies twisted, convoluted logic to common-or-garden observations to produce genuinely original material... a definite tip for the top' (Chortle).
See Stephen Carlin tour dates
Find places to stay near Kings Head Crouch End
on Monday 29 June 2026