Nottingham’s own Matt Forde is a comedian, TV and radio presenter, writer, impressionist and more. He’s perhaps best known for his podcast The Political Party, where he interviews politicians. However, he’s also a regular on radio, TV and even voiced Donald Trump in the reboot of Spitting Image.
Firstly, tell us about the new show End of An Era…
First and foremost it is a stand up show full of impressions of people like Donald Trump and Keir Starmer. Obviously the fact that we've got a new government means there are a lot of new people for me to take the mickey out of. However, the show also deals with the fact that a year and a half ago I got cancer and subsequently had spinal surgery to remove it. So there have been quite a lot of changes to my body which I am now mining for gags.
I’d heard 2023 was quite a turbulent year for you health-wise. Can you tell us what happened?
I was performing at the Edinburgh Festival and had really bad nerve pain in my left leg. I couldn't move a millimetre without it hurting and was paralysed by the pain. I presumed it would just be a slipped disc or something, but then I had an MRI scan and I was diagnosed with a chordoma, a very rare form of cancer that only one in a million people get. So I had the base of my spine removed and was in hospital for ten weeks, recovering from that. As a result, I've now got a stoma and I have to catheterise myself. It impacts on all sorts of things, but I'm just so glad to be alive and cancer free. To have the base of your spine removed and still be able to walk is miraculous.
You’ve had a love-hate relationship with the Labour party over the last few years. We are now ten months into the Keir Starmer era. How do you think he’s doing?
I think he’s done really well. Obviously they got a landslide but only 35% of the vote, so it's not as if everyone was on board. They've inherited a very difficult set of circumstances and I think broadly they've taken the right decisions.
For me they were right to close the VAT loophole that private schools enjoyed and to take the winter fuel payment off wealthier pensioners. I think they were right to give public sector staff a pay rise when they did and to prioritize public services to bring waiting lists down. I also think the way Keir has handled a terrifying global situation, by trying to be a grown up around a chaotic vengeful actor like Donald Trump, has been praiseworthy too.
Childhood's incredible, isn't it? You're discovering the world and there’s some really exciting things like Goose Fair. I always thought I was so lucky to live in Nottingham, because Goose Fair was almost like the start of the party season.
What do you think of him as a human being? He’s been on your podcast a couple of times. What’s he like?
He's a ruthless problem solver and will make decisions in the best long term interests of the country. I like the fact he's different to the Boris-Johnson-types where it's all about them at the expense of the nation.
Keir's also a football-mad lager drinker. There's a lot to like about him. He's a normal bloke and happens to be very bright. I hope overall people find him quite a reassuring figure. I don't think people worry about him being in charge in the same way that we did when it was Boris Johnson or Liz Truss.
Tell us a bit about your upbringing in Nottingham. You went to Beckett school, right?
Yes, although I actually lived in Lenton and used to get a bus across town to school each day. Childhood's incredible, isn't it? You're discovering the world and there’s some really exciting things like Goose Fair. I always thought I was so lucky to live in Nottingham, because Goose Fair was almost like the start of the party season. After that it'd be Halloween and then Bonfire night. Then Christmas! Other memories from my childhood in Notts are playing on Colwick Woods, buying loads of out of date sweets from the discount store in St Anns. And Forest!
I read on Wikipedia that your mum was once a nun. Is that true?
That's correct. She was a nun for about fifteen years before she had me, having gone into the convent quite young. Two of her sisters did too and one of her brothers was in a seminary in Belgium.
Was religion quite a big part of your childhood?
Yeah, it was. We'd go to church and I was an altar boy. I once spewed on the altar because I hadn’t had my breakfast and felt sick. I don't know why I didn't eat, but I knew I was in trouble. From that day forth I’ve always valued breakfast as the most important meal of the day.
Your podcast The Political Party is now twelve years old and you’re over 400 episodes in. You must be proud of that?
Yeah, I started it back in 2013. Obviously, politics was completely different back then. It was pre-Brexit, before the Scottish independence referendum and before Donald Trump. So many of the people I've had on are no longer with us, so it's such an amazing vault of these profiles of people who've really helped shape our lives. I love doing it as a hobby, so the fact that it makes me a living is a real bonus. I'm just fascinated by these people and genuinely interested in them. I’m probably more interested in the ones that I disagree with actually.
Can you tell us some of the famous politicians you’ve had on?
Oh God! So Tony Blair, Tessa Jowell, William Hague, Neil Kinnock, Keir Starmer, Nigel Farage, Tessa Jowell, Charles Kennedy, Michael Heseltine, Nicola Sturgeon, Sadiq Khan, Alistair Campbell, Angela Rayner. Basically hundreds of interesting people involved in politics in the UK and beyond.
Can you pick out a few favourites for us?
Tessa Jowell. I was aware of her work and what she'd achieved in her career. But I had no idea about the nature of her personality. I don't believe in God anymore, but that is the closest thing to a spiritual experience I've had.
Tony Blair was incredible. It was a live event but we couldn't announce it for security reasons. So people turned up to the live show, having no idea who the guest was going to be. He's really funny. You can disagree with decisions that he took, but his ability and level of skill is unreal.
Angela Rayner is always funny, charismatic and unpredictable. Every time she's on, it goes viral multiple times because of something she said. Also William Hague and Neil Kinnock were both favourites. There’s hundreds of episodes, so it's so hard to pick out just a few. But there I just did.
You had a political TV show on Dave called Unspun, which ran for four seasons from 2016-2018. Any plans to resurrect it?
I think that particular show is probably over, but I'm always pitching TV shows of that ilk. I think there's absolutely a market in this country for the sort of late night shows they have in America. I don't think there's any reason why you couldn't have two or three high quality late night satirical shows with guests. I will probably make a show like that again. But it would be slightly different in its format.
Most of all, being able to do this for a living is like a dream come true. I first started going to watch comedy at Just the Tonic Comedy Club in Nottingham and I remember thinking I'd love to have my name on their flyer one day. That was really the extent of my ambition. So to come back and do the Playhouse is a real treat
You were also part of the team who worked on the Britbox Spitting Image reboot in 2020 and voiced Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Keir Starmer. How was that experience? Were you a fan of the original?
It was a legendary show in the 80s and 90s, but it was late night, illicit TV and I was at primary school then, so I never really watched it. However, I was very aware of its influence so to be asked to be part of the team who bought it back was incredible.
We also did it as a theatre show back in 2023, where I was working alongside Sean Foley and Al Murray. People’s reactions when they came to see the puppets live were incredible. They're these grotesque recreations of people and quite insulting a lot of the time. People were deferential to the puppet of the Queen, but they really hated Boris. It was like a Punch and Judy show live on stage.
You’re also a massive footy fan and have been a host of Absolute Radio’s Rock 'N' Roll Football show since 2018. Your co-host is fellow Notts lad (and my old schoolmate) Matt Dyson. How is he?
He is a dream! Radio is an industry where people need a level of self-confidence and self-belief and some people can become very pushy or unpleasant. But there is never any risk of that with Matt, he is so easy to work with. At the same time as being one of the most talented people I've ever worked with his instincts, he's a phenomenal person to bounce off. He's so funny! Happy to be the fool and deliberately misunderstand things. He also really understands how radio works, and there are so few people like that.
You also co-host the Wondery podcast British Scandal with Beeston-born Alice Levine. What’s she like to work with? And why is it that you gravitate to so many other Notts alumni in your career?
She is exceptionally talented and has so many different skills. She can ad lib at speed, but with such a calm delivery. She's got such a great brain for comedy and for just knowing how to make something funny and make it. She's also got such a good comic brain and voice. And again, you know, she’s just such a nice person. It’s great working with talented people like her, but it’s also just nice working with people who are pleasant to be around, so you don’t have to dread going to work. The fact that we're both from Nottingham is just a mad coincidence though.
Let's talk about Forest. I presume you're very happy with how they're doing this season?
It's the best it's been for thirty years. It's not even just about this season. It’s genuinely exciting when you think about what we could potentially achieve in the next five or ten years. We have been forced to live in the past for so long, because of how bad things have been. I was always buying retro shirts and watching old clips on Youtube because the present was fairly terrible. Then, all of a sudden there's this explosion of stars, not just one or two but there’s a whole team of players that you absolutely adore. I think in thirty years time we'll be reminiscing about Gibbs-White, Elanga, Yates and Murillo in the same way we now reminisce about Stuart Pearce, Des Walker, Steve Stone and Stan Collymore.
At the start of the year you went on Celebrity Mastermind with the specialist subject of ‘Nottingham Forest 1975-1993’ and won it! Tell us about that experience…
It was such mega pressure. They told me that the show’s concept was invented by a former prisoner of war to recreate an interrogation setting and I can totally see that. The pressure of that spotlight and that stage, and that theme tune. I didn’t feel pressured to win it, just not to get a Forest question wrong. If I had I could see my Twitter feed being dominated by it forever.
I chose Nottingham’s Emmanuel House as my charity, as my mum used to run the charity shop there and I know they help a lot of people in need. I also donated my trophy to the Nottingham Forest museum at the City Ground. I think that now counts as me winning a trophy for the club.
Comedian, presenter, writer, impressionist; you’re quite the polymath. What is it you enjoy best?
I enjoy them all in different ways. Stand-up is such a pure hit of adrenaline and satisfaction because you get the immediate reaction. Whereas with radio, podcasts or with telly - although you know people out there will enjoy them - you can't hear the laughter back.
Most of all, being able to do this for a living is like a dream come true. I first started going to watch comedy at Just the Tonic Comedy Club in Nottingham and I remember thinking I'd love to have my name on their flyer one day. That was really the extent of my ambition. So to come back and do the Playhouse is a real treat.
For most people I think work is just a slog. So if you can make the work part of your life something that you really enjoy then you're in a very small number of people and should count yourself as very lucky indeed.
Matt Forde is performing The End of An Era at Nottingham Playhouse on Thursday 5 June 2025. You can also listen to a more detailed version of this interview on our LeftLion Interviews podcast.
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