What?! Mark Thomas has been ‘standing up’ for 40 years? Impossible!! But how old does that make you…? Alas it is true; one of our oldest surviving alternative comics celebrates 40 years at the mic by coming to the Shiny Tap in Little Eaton.
Here, he will preview the show he is taking to the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe befoe embarking on a national tour in the Autumn.

So, here’s what he has done so far in numbers; performed comedy for 40 years, won 8 awards for performing, 4 for human rights work and 1 he invented for himself, made 6 series of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product (Channel 4), written 6 books and 5 play scripts, made 5 series of the Manifesto for Radio 4, made 3 Dispatches for Channel 4, sued the police (and won) 3 times, curated and authored 2 art exhibitions with artist Tracey Moberly and had 1 Guinness World Record for holding 20 protests in 24 hours.

If that’s not enough, he’s also walked 724km around the length of the Israel Wall in the West Bank, been credited with changing the law on tax avoidance, started a comedy club in Palestine with Dr Sam Beale and campaigned successfully for things like trade union recognition for cinema workers and getting multinationals to change their practices. You’re right, there’s more, but your attention is running out and we’re running out of space. So, let’s just say he’s generally mucked about trying to have fun and upset the right people…which he is really, really good at.

This is a taster menu of political and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a state of the nation broadcast as he tries to turn ‘what the hell is going on’ into a cogent evening of stand-up.

Support on the night will be from the delightful James Cook. His act has been described as “truly original” by Danny Wallace (off of the telly), whereas he’s been called “suave and chirpy” by that publishing powerhouse, the Bromsgrove Advertiser, and a “sarcastic raconteur” by the Leeds Metro.

As always, our brilliant resident MC will be hosting the night with his mix of crowd work, jokes songs and stories.