Political comedian and satirist Matt Forde will bring his Defying Calamity tour to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford on March 1 at 7.30pm.

The show is about finding positivity in life despite all the evidence to the contrary in politics and his own health.

Since launching in 2013, Matt’s Political Party podcast has brought parliament to life through stand-up and lively debate with some of politics’ most powerful figures, including Keir Starmer, Nicola Sturgeon, Tony Blair, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Angela Rayner, Michael Heseltine, Anthony Scaramucci, Alastair Campbell, Gordon Brown and Gary Neville.

Following an 18-month hiatus because of a bone cancer diagnosis, Matt resumed his four-time extended West End residency.

His podcast has amassed more than 11 million downloads, earned multiple nominations from award bodies - including the British Podcast Awards and the Chortle Awards - and is regularly featured as a top podcast pick in the press.

Last autumn Matt released a new YouTube series, Spitting Image: The Rest Is Bulls!t.*, which was creatively led by Matt and Al Murray, two of the writers behind stage show Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical.

The BAFTA and Emmy award-winning satirical Spitting Image television show ran for 18 series between 1984 and 1996 and was watched by more than 15 million viewers.

In 2020 it made a return to television on BritBox, with Matt writing and voicing characters, including portrayals of Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer and Donald Trump, achieving critical praise across the political divide.

On social media channels Spitting Image content was massively popular, with more than 200 million views globally and three number one trending videos on YouTube.

Three one-off specials for ITV - alongside BritBox - saw huge success on terrestrial television, with a 4.4 million audience in 2020 achieving ITV’s highest Saturday night rating for four years.

After enduring what he thought was sciatica during the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Matt was diagnosed with cancer. A few weeks later he was having the base of his spine removed.

He learned to walk again and returned to work on his acclaimed Political Party, British Scandal and Down The Dog podcasts, alongside hosting Absolute Radio’s Rock ’n’ Roll Football Show.

His final challenge was returning to the stage with The End of An Era tour, which was the best-reviewed show at last year’s Fringe out of 1,638 performances according to the British Comedy Guide, before embarking on a successful nationwide tour.

In the world of audio, Matt completed a six-part political comedy series on Radio 4, The Matt Forde Focus Group, featuring Matt in conversation with politicians, comedians and subject experts, discussing current issues and the ideas behind them.

Matt hosted four series of Unspun with Matt Forde on Dave and has numerous other broadcast credits including Have I Got News For You, The Royal Variety Performance, Mock The Week, 8 out of 10 Cats, Hypothetical, Rory Bremner’s Coalition Report, Rory Bremner’s Election Report, Question Time, This Week, Newsnight and Daily Politics.

For tickets, priced £29, visit https://www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/