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Avalon Edinburgh Preview: Matt Forde and Chloe Petts
A double header of comedy as two top comedians warm up ahead of the Edinburgh Festival.
Matt Forde
Matt Forde is one of the country’s most in demand satirists.
Described as 'our foremost satirical stand-up' by The Sunday Times, Matt Forde has toured critically acclaimed shows nationwide including most recently Clowns To The Left of Me, Jokers To The Right in 2022 and Inside No. 10 in 2023.
Matt Forde’s hit live podcast The Political Party transferred to the West End’s Duchess Theatre in 2021 after over 70 sold out shows at Westminster’s The Other Palace, for a twice extended fortnightly residency continuing in to 2024. Matt has brought Parliament to life with his stand-up and debate with some of politics’ most powerful figures including Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Tony Blair, Eddie Izzard, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Angela Rayner, Michael Heseltine, Anthony Scaramucci, Alastair Campbell, Gordon Brown and Gary Neville. Matt has received numerous nominations from award bodies including the British Podcast Awards and Chortle Awards and the show is regularly highlighted as a top podcast pick in the press.
Matt wrote and voiced characters for Spitting Image (BritBox/ITV) including Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer and Donald Trump. Matt currently presents Absolute Radio’s weekly Rock ‘n’ Roll Football Show. He is also the co-host of Wondery’s flagship British Podcast Award winning British Scandal alongside Alice Levine.
In 2019 alone, Matt hosted the Alternative News Desk for Channel 4’s election night coverage, chaired the One Nation Conservative leadership hustings and debated Britain’s withdrawal from the EU with Tony Blair for the Institute of Global Change.
Matt 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: Have I Got News For You (BBC One), The Royal Variety Performance (ITV), 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’s first book Politically Homeless was listed by The Sunday Times as one the Best Political Books of 2020.
Chloe Petts
'One of the most compelling young comics' Brian Logan, The Guardian
'Clearly a rising star whose name will soon be in lights' Bruce Dessau, The Evening Standard
Chloe has established herself as one of the most exciting up and coming acts on the circuit.
Chloe is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer with her new show How You See Me, How You Don’t. This comes after a UK Tour of her show If You Can’t Say Anything Nice which sold-out in the first week of the Edinburgh Fringe last year, leading to 6 extra shows being added to the run. In 2022, she performed her debut show Transience to sold-out audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and for two five night runs at Soho Theatre, which led to a tour around the rest of the UK which ended with an extra date added at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. Receiving rave reviews from publications including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Evening Standard.
On television and radio, Chloe recently appeared on Have I Got News For You (BBC One), and hosted her own segment every Saturday morning on Sky Sports News. She has also been a regular on The Frank Skinner Show (Absolute Radio), World Cup Breakfast (Sky Sports) for the Men’s Football World Cup 2022 and previously for Good Morning Euros (Sky Sports) for the UEFA Women’s Euros. Further appearances include MOTDx (BBC), Jonathan Ross’s Comedy Club (ITV), The Stand-Up Sketch Show (ITV2), Richard Osman’s House of Games (BBC Two), Random Acts (Channel 4), Hypothetical (Dave), Fighting Talk (BBC Radio 5 Live), BBC Three Quickies (BBC Three), as well as winning Pointless Celebrities (BBC One). In terms of podcasts, Chloe has appeared on Off Menu, Films to Buried With and co-hosted The Guilty Feminist.
An alumna of the prestigious Pleasance Comedy Reserve, shortlisted for the BBC Comedy Award, finalist of Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year Awards 2017 and runner-up in the Funny Women Awards 2017. As well as supporting Ed Gamble on current Hot Diggity Dog UK tour and previous tour Electric, Chloe has supported Frank Skinner during his West End run and performed at Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year and last year.
She is a co-founder of The Lol Word, a queer comedy collective that hosts sell-out monthly London nights, boasting the finest female and non-binary queer acts on the circuit. Their most recent Edinburgh run was a sell-out. Diva Magazine has described it as a space that is demographically queer, inclusive, and safe, and on top of all of that – the comedic talent is smart, insightful, hilarious, and completely relatable.
Studio
£12
Matt Forde
Matt's website
Chloe Petts
Chloe's website
X ChloePetts
Insta chloepetts
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