It was not a bad weekend for Matt Forde. On Saturday he played a packed Bloomsbury Theatre, on Sunday ITV1 screened him making King Charles chuckle at the Royal Variety Performance. And, maybe, best of all, his beloved Nottingham Forest got into Champions League contention by beating Aston Villa.
The skilful satirist certainly deserves some good news. As Forde explained at the start of his End Of An Era show at the Bloomsbury he was diagnosed with spinal cancer in summer 2023. After extensive, excruciating treatment he now has a stick, a colostomy bag and erectile dysfunction. But the main thing is he is cancer-free.
This intro was not, however, an appeal for a sympathetic review. Forde is too good to need anyone to make allowances. Fortunately he was not the most physical performer even when he was fully mobile. His greatest strength is his facility for vocal impressions and that is definitely not diminished.
He is in a curious position politically though. I wonder if there is a part of this unashamed centre-lefty that is relieved that Trump is returning. His impression of the past and future President is easily his, well, Trump card. As he mangles his grammar and mumbles nonsense you can believe that the MAGA-hatted Republican is in WC1.
By contrast, Forde hasn't quite mastered Keir Starmer. While the jokes about his dodgy speechmaking land, the voice feels strangled, a little too high pitched and fast. Perhaps Starmer is too lacking in personality to be pinned down, but give Forde time and he will nail it.
He is on surer footing with Westminster panto villains Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson. He imagines Farage going woke and suggests that if Anderson got his way he would deport the Abba Voyage holograms.
This show first opened in Edinburgh in August and some material is reaching its tell-by date. Do we still want to be reminded of Rishi Sunak's rain-sodden election announcement? Well, when it is as funny as Forde's sublime portrayal of the ex-PM as a wobbly Kermit-like puppet it gets my vote.
The set works well as a handy round-up-of-the-year with a bumbling Boris Johnson lobbed in for nostalgia's sake. And Forde is not shy about being personal as well as political, adding that Viagra has had a positive effect on his post-op libido. On a good day he now resembles those inflatable figures outside second hand car showrooms.
An ovation at the end was not pity applause. This tour has been so popular he is returning here next April. A few topical riffs could be due an update by then, but for now it is good to see Forde firing on all cylinders again. Like Forest, he is very much back in the game.
