Matt Forde Announces Gordon Brown, Anas Sarwar and Joanna Cherry For His Edinburgh Festival Fringe POLITICAL PARTY Specials

Following an 8-year sold-out residency in London, Matt Forde (Spitting Image, Have I Got News For You, The Last Leg) returns to Edinburgh to interview Scottish political heavyweights, Gordon Brown, Anas Sarwar and Joanna Cherry, over three live podcasts.

On the 7th August, Matt interviews one of the most significant ever figures in British politics, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Underbelly Bristo Square, McEwan Hall at 3pm.

On the 15th August, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party Anas Sarwar returns to join Matt on-stage at the Gilded Balloon, Debating Hall at 2pm. One of the most talented politicians in Britain, he is the first Muslim to lead a major political party in the UK. Although he's tasked with trying to defeat the persistently popular SNP and Nicola Sturgeon, Anas still manages to enjoy the funnier side of politics and stole the show during his last appearance on the podcast with a star-making shimmy to 'Uptown Funk'.

On the 22nd August, Matt talks to Scottish National Party MP for Edinburgh South West Joanna Cherry at the Gilded Balloon, Debating Hall at 2pm. Famous for taking the UK government to court over Brexit, the outspoken QC has recently made headlines for criticising the party's complaints system and is at odds with leadership over a number of issues including her opposition to reform of gender recognition legislation.

After 70 sold out Political Party shows at Westminster's The Other Palace, Matt moved to the West End's Duchess Theatre for a fortnightly residency in September 2021. Upcoming guests include the new Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle on 11 July and former Home Secretary Alan Johnson on 25 July. Since 2013, Forde has interviewed political figures including Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Tony Blair, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Angela Rayner, Michael Heseltine, Anthony Scaramucci, Alastair Campbell and Gary Neville.

The UK's leading political podcast has over 7 million downloads and is regularly included in iTunes' Top 10 comedy podcasts. The British Podcast Award nominated show was recently listed by Mace Magazine as the Number 1 Political Podcast and by The i newspaper as one of the 50 Greatest Podcasts, adding to top podcast picks in the press from titles including The Observer, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Radio Times and ShortList.

Alongside the Political Party specials, Matt is performing his new stand-up show Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 3rd - 28th August at 8pm at Pleasance, Beyond.

Political Party and Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right tickets are available to buy now at mattforde.com

Matt has voiced and written for two series of the Spitting Image. Since returning in 2020 the show has 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. Written by Al Murray, Matt Forde and Sean Foley, Spitting Image Live: Featuring The Liar King will tread the boards of The Birmingham Rep from 1 Feb - 12 Mar 2023.

Matt is currently co-hosting British Scandal with Alice Levine, a new audio series exploring the gripping stories, fascinating characters and critical questions arising on a journey through some of the biggest UK scandals and available on all major UK podcast platforms. The debut episode shot straight to the No 1 slot in the Apple podcast chart.

Matt's first book Politically Homeless was listed by The Sunday Times as one the Best Political Books of 2020. The paperback was released in paperback by Quercus in May.

Matt has 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: Spitting Image (BritBox/ITV), Have I Got News For You (BBC One), The Royal Variety Performance (ITV), The Last Leg (Channel 4), 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). Matt currently presents Absolute Radio's weekly Rock n Roll Football Show.