Mark Thomas – Gaffa Tapes

After turning his hand to theatre at last year’s Fringe, in the excellent England and Son – five-star review from The Recs – Mark Thomas has this year returned to his bread and butter of stand-up comedy. A veteran of the comedy circuit, as the PR blurb for his latest show identifies, he is not your average comedian, having forced a politician to resign, changed laws on tax and protest andbbecome a world record holder for the number of protests in 24 hours. Thomas has always blurred the boundaries between humour and dissent.

Fans of politically-driven comedy will be delighted to learn that in Gaffa Tapes practically no one in authority is spared Thomas’ ire. Starting the show by asking the audience’s forgiveness he pleads “I’ve waited fourteen years for this!”, before launching into a highly amusing tirade against the new Labour government. Obviously, his targeting does not end there. The Conservative party – including Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, and Liz Truss in particular, and Nigel Farage – or “Faridge” as Thomas prefers to refer to him – are obvious focuses of his razor-sharp tongue. Yet his comedic critique also ricochets around multiple other subjects including the recent UK riots, pro-lifers, the conflict in the Middle East and the state of the UK media “GB News is basically Only Fans for fascists” he retorts, to peals of laughter from the supportive audience.

Acerbic though Thomas’ comedy is, it certainly isn’t without warmth and self-deprecation. This is particularly apparent when personal insights are introduced into the routine, with him talking about his bitter-sweet relationship with his father – a builder and street preacher – and his love for his fan-owned football club, AFC Wimbledon. At one point he laments that, whilst critically acclaimed, his recent foray into drama was financially disastrous. “I’m broke, that’s why I am back doing stand-up at 61”, Thomas states. Poignant though the observation was, it was apparent that the audience was delighted that the topical tornado from Tooting was once again shooting laughter-laden political bullets from the lip.