Mark Steel

Interview: Mark Steel

Mark Steel is the latest in the rich line of comics that Shetland has been treated to in recent months.

Mark Steel upsets the chakras with Glastonbury show

Mark Steel has been accused being abusive towards religious beliefs, after he mocked the New Age followers who live in Glastonbury. A complaint about an episode of Mark Steel's In Town broadcast on Radio 4 in January escalated all the way up to the Editorial Standards Committee of the BBC Trust - which has now cleared him of being offensive.

Russell Brand's book's confusing but so are his critics

It's a truth universally acknowledged that his detractors have always made perfect sense.

Mark Steel recalls bar fight

When most people think of Cheltenham, they envisage Regency buildings befitting of a spa town with a rich heritage. For comedian Mark Steel, however, his lasting memory is witnessing a bar fight with a prostitute.

Why isn't Mark Steel more famous?

Why isn't Mark Steel one of the biggest stars in British comedy today? It's a question I've been asking getting on for 30 years now.

News: Balham comedy festival line-up announced

The 2014 Balham Comedy Festival, running from July 11-19, has announced its line-up. Among the names confirmed are Susan Calman, Paul Daniels, Robert Newman, Phill Jupitus, Reginald D. Hunter, Tim Vine, Stephen K Amos, Marcus Brigstocke, Milton Jones, Shappi Khorsandi, Mark Steel, Richard Herring, Jeremy Hardy, Susan Calman, Kevin Day, Gary Delaney, Kerry Godliman, Tony Law, and Fred MacAulay with more performers to be announced.

Mark Steel: Comedy is rarely as funny as when wrong

I was asked to do a show during the Sports Journalist of the Year Awards, in the Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden. Gigs like these are always tricky.

Radio Times review

The last stop on Mark Steel's tour of towns in need of an affectionate ribbing is Huddersfield, and he concludes that it's just what you'd expect a town in the middle of Yorkshire to be.

But before he reaches that conclusion there's the locals' dour pessimism to explore, the extraordinary crimes that take place there, the legacy of Luddism, which was born in the town, the unique construction of the indoor market, the cultural significance of brass bands, rugby league - and, of course, the exploits of three elderly men in Last of the Summer Wine.

Throughout the series, Steel has displayed an aptitude for accents and he ends on a high, delivering a speech in French - with a Yorkshire accent. His feeble knowledge of Last of the Summer Wine is brutally exposed when talking to the owner of Sid's Cafe in Holmfirth, but he's stronger on the Luddism, explaining why still buying CDs instead of downloading music does not make you a Luddite - though if I were CEO of iTunes I'd steer clear of anyone calling themselves one. Steel describes precisely why in one of his trademark wry twists on historical fact.

Radio Times review

Mark Steel pitches up in Birkenhead and instantly gets the home crowd on side with a few jibes about the Mersey Tunnel toll and the town's more famous neighbour across the water. But the residents of the town on the Wirral are easy in their ability to laugh at Birkenhead's shortcomings. Steel's incredulous description of a night out in the town centre has them howling.

The comic is in rare form, displaying his mastery of accents with everything from Birkenhead to American redneck, and delighting in the quirky, oppositional nature of the town, from the fans of Tranmere Rovers to the First World War "Bantam Army" and the lyrics of cult indie band Half Man Half Biscuit.