Matt Forde

Matt Forde
Forde in 2018
Born (1980-11-06) 6 November 1980
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
Occupations
  • Writer
  • comedian
  • presenter
  • podcast host
  • impressionist
Websitewww.mattforde.com

Matt Forde (born 6 November 1980) is an English comedian, impressionist, writer, and presenter.

Early life

Forde's mother is a former nun.[1] He attended Becket School in West Bridgford, Nottingham, where he gained English, History, and Economics A-levels in 1999.[2]

Career

Politics

Obsessed with politics from the age of nine, Forde originally joined the Socialist Workers Party.[3] He subsequently worked for the Labour Party as an organiser and adviser from 2004 until 2009.[4] Having become a Blairite, he left politics around the time of the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2015, because he wanted to concentrate on his comedy career full-time and he did not like the direction the party was taking.[5]

Comedy and broadcasting

Forde regularly broadcast with Russell Howard and Jon Richardson on their shows on BBC Radio 6 (2007–2010).[6] Forde has made six seasons of Unspun with Matt Forde, a topical political show on Dave. In August 2018, Forde became host of Absolute Radio's Rock 'N' Roll Football with fellow Nottingham Forest fan Matt Dyson.[7] On Spitting Image, Forde voiced Donald Trump, Boris Johnson,[8] and Keir Starmer.[9]

Forde wrote the memoir Politically Homeless, published by Quercus Books in 2020.[10][11]

Forde co-hosts the podcast British Scandal with Alice Levine,[12][13] Down the Dog with Jon Richardson,[14] and also hosts The Political Party.[15][11]

In 2022, Forde held a live comedy tour titled "Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right".[16][17]

Forde performed his "The End of an Era Tour," and did the Royal Variety Performance for the second time in December 2024.

Forde's political comedy chat show, The Matt Forde Focus Group, has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 2025.[18]

Personal life

Forde married his partner Laura in 2023.[4]

In October 2023, Forde announced via his Twitter account that he would be undergoing surgery for a spine tumour. The base of his spine was removed during the surgery and he had to use walking sticks while readjusting to walking again.[19][4]

References

  1. ↑ "Matt Forde heads to Edinburgh". Nottingham Post. 7 August 2009.
  2. ↑ "From gags to riches?". Nottingham Evening Post. 7 October 1999. pp. 6–7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ↑ "Politically Homeless". Quercus. Retrieved 2 July 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Hogan, Michael (25 June 2024). "'Keir Starmer came to cheer me up when I had cancer - it deepened our relationship'". iNews. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  5. ↑ Banerjee, Rohan (21 July 2017). "Matt Forde: "Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May are indistinguishable on Brexit"". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "A letter from Matt Forde". Russell Howard & Jon Richardson. BBC Radio 6 Music. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  7. ↑ "Comedian Matt Forde joins Absolute Radio". Radio Today (Press release). 29 May 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  8. ↑ "Spitting Image: The voice of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump". BBC News. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  9. ↑ Roper, Kerri-Ann (30 October 2020). "Spitting Image star: Trump is intellectually insecure". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  10. ↑ Chesterton, George (7 October 2020). "Matt Forde: Politics is crap but there is hope". GQ. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  11. 1 2 Anderson, Sarski (22 March 2022). "Matt Forde: 'It's depressingly easy to find the funny side of things'". Bristol24/7. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  12. ↑ "Spitting Image star Matt Forde pleased to stop doing 'terrible' Liz Truss voice". Harrow Times. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  13. ↑ Dibdin, Emma (2 August 2022). "6 Podcasts About Political Scandals and Upheaval". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  14. ↑ Forrest, Jo (16 August 2023). "Jon Richardson and Matt Ford head 'Down The Dog'". TotalNtertainment. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  15. ↑ Logan, Brian (8 August 2022). "Laugh? I almost cried at Gordon Brown's night of Edinburgh fringe comedy". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  16. ↑ Bennett, Steve (16 June 2022). "Matt Forde: Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To the Right". Chortle. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  17. ↑ Barry, Caroline (20 April 2022). ""I miss Nottingham every day and I pine for it" - Comedian Matt Forde on missing home, Forest and his new show". Nottingham Post. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  18. ↑ "The Matt Forde Focus Group". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  19. ↑ Jackson, Siba (9 October 2023). "Absolute Radio host and comedian Matt Forde 'overwhelmed' by support after revealing spine tumour diagnosis". Sky News. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.