Mark Steel's In Town

Mark Steel's In Town ... & he's looking for local laughs

In front of an audience of audibly refreshed locals, Steel sees how far he can push the famed British ability to laugh at ourselves. The answer is quite a long way.

Clearly, 4 Extra isn't simply about exhuming long-forgotten shows as, for much of the time, it acts as a catch-up service. This week I heard Mark Steel's in Town, the series in which Steel, The Independent columnist, gets to know a town before affectionately taking the piss out of it in 30 minutes of stand-up.

In a programme first broadcast just a week previously on Radio 4, he was in Fleetwood in Lancashire, and among the delicious tidbits that he unearthed was that its greatest export, Fisherman's Friend lozenges, are beloved by Stevie Wonder; that it is the first town in the UK to publicly declare itself a "breastfeeding-welcome town"; and that its weekly institution "Tram Sunday" appears to be the only day that the trams don't run.

Radio Times review

Oh what a pity! After my absolute joy in the return of this series last week, there was no preview copy available to listen to. Fellow Mark Steel fans may like to check out the Radio Times website where we have an interview with the man himself.

He was originally due to be interviewed on Friday 8 May but when our journalist rang, after the general election results, Mr Steel, understandably came back with "Not today mate". I have been informed, however, that his mood is grand in this performance from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

Radio Times review

Mark Steel is no slacker. He always does his research before taking to the stage to talk to a town about itself.

In the case of Fleetwood in Lancashire, subject of this performance, it has involved reading local history books and pamphlets, going on a tour of the Fisherman's Friend factory (Fleetwood's most famous global export), visiting the museum and trying his best to get on the ferry, which never seems to be in a position to cross the 20-yard river to neighbouring Knott End.

But it is how he presents his research that wins over the locals and his Radio 4 audience. He discovers on the Fisherman's Friend website, for instance, that the high-octane cough sweet is "lozenge of the stars" -- based on the fact that Stevie Wonder once asked for one when he had a cold.