Matt Forde review

Lively mickey-take of Brexit-era omnishambles.

British TV is not suffering a noticeable dearth of bumptious comics taking a sideways look at the news, but rarely are the consequences amusing. The holy grail of such television - a marque to stand alongside Jon Stewart-era Daily Show or John Oliver's Last Week Tonight - remains, on this Atlantic shore, ungrasped. Forde's effort is the latest, and - at this admittedly early stage in its development - seems unlikely to change that.

Review: Unspun With Matt Forde, Dave

Matt Forde's new political series nearly hit the buffers before it had even been recorded. Forde's first guest was scheduled to be Labour leadership contender Owen Smith, but he pulled out. Forde suggested on the show that Smith was concerned about appearing laddish. It was a shame, but his stand-in, former Home Secretary Alan Johnson was good value for money anyway.

Considering the tumultuous political landscape, now seems like a good time to launch a weekly satirical chatshow taking the mickey out of the mighty, and Unspun will be recorded a day before broadcast to ensure maximum topicality. Host Forde also feels like a good fit: with his dark suits, open-necked shirts and sensible haircut, the thoughtful, politics-obsessed standup could easily be mistaken for a roving BBC correspondent.

Unspun with Matt Forde review

A bold commission from what was once the home of the repeat, an ultra-topical political show recorded the night before transmission.

Can satire show Unspun humanise our MPs?

Trust in our leaders has never been lower. But now, Matt Forde's comic current affairs show is here to humanise the people behind the politics.

Preview: Matt Forde gets political with Unspun on Dave

The show is recorded the day before transmission to give it that all-important topical edge.

Edinburgh Diary: festivals, satire and Brexity Britain

The FT Weekend editor takes his first trip to the Fringe and visits the grand old man of Scottish politics.

How Brexit gave comedy the shot in the arm it needed

"I woke up on June 24, and thought 'Cor blimey, I didn't see that one coming!' " exclaims Henning Wehn, self-styled "German Comedy Ambassador in London", near the start of his Edinburgh Festival Fringe show Westphalia is Not an Option.

Edinburgh Fringe: Why comedians need to get serious

found myself sitting at a comedy gig at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe the other day and having a Richard Pryor moment. It was a decent show, by an established comic, musing on the vagaries of life. It was funny and well observed but all I could think was, what am I doing here? I wanted something different. A comic who would use his or her wit to interrogate some of the big issues we're facing.