Mark Steel's In Town

Mark Steel's back with his Sony Gold-winning stand-up programme, Mark Steel's in Town. And what a lovely show it is: slotting into that Radio 4 6.30pm slot with humanity, humility and, best of all, jokes that genuinely come out of the situation in which he finds himself. On Wednesday, Steel visited Handsworth and managed to engage the locals to such an extent that he could riff about a Rasta weatherman, in full Jamaican accent, and it not be offensive in any way. Good comedy is such an amazing skill, such a balancing act between telling the truth and pointing out faults, between teasing and bullying. Steel manages to be political and make an audience feel as though they've had a great big cuddle. That is a hard thing to do.

Mark Steel's in... Leith

Mark Steel's In Town has come up to the fringe festival to record a one-off episode of the stand-up show - this time about the Edinburgh district of Leith, home of Irvine Welsh, the Proclaimers, and some of the most bonkers pubs in Christendom. Here's some of what we picked up along the way...

This can't be right. The comedic chronicler of small-town Britain tackling the majesty of Auld Reekie? But fear not, Mark Steel is not concerned with the tourists traps on the Royal Mile; he's down the road in Leith. It may now be considered part of Edinburgh, but it only became so in 1920 despite fierce opposition from the locals, and Steel will be casting his, er, steely gaze upon the unique characteristics of the area.

And unique it is: there's the pub where staff perform The Rocky Horror Show on the bar and a cycling shop that held a birthday party for a hole in the road. It should make for a lively show, as long as there's no mention of trams - Leithians hate the new tram project with a vengeance.

Radio weekly #7 - Mark Steel's in Town

This week saw the return of the multi-award winning stand-up radio series Mark Steel's in Town, in which the socialist comic performs some specially tailored stand-up to the locals of a particular town.

Legend has it that when the Crimean War came to an end, Berwick-upon-Tweed - which, caught between England and Scotland, always had to be mentioned separately in legal documents - was left off the end of the Treaty of Paris, and so remained at war with Russia.

In 1966 the UK correspondent of Pravda travelled north to declare peace, but Mark Steel wrote to the Foreign Office to clarify matters anyway.

It responded: "If Berwick-upon-Tweed is at war with Russia they certainly haven't informed us."

It sounds as if they were entering into the spirit of Mark Steel's in Town, a jolly romp around places that are off the beaten comedy-gig track, in which he mugs up on the location and delivers a bespoke show. The third series kicked off in Berwick, whose split identity makes it an assured winner in the comedy department. It has switched allegiance 13 times, Steel reported. "The last time, the mayor said, 'Thank Christ for that - I couldn't stand another bloody Scottish winter.'"

It's not just an Anglo-Scots thing, he observed: it's Border Scots versus North-east England: "When you see salmon swimming up the Tweed, you must be unsure whether to sit on the riverbank, gently fishing for them, or wade through the river shouting, 'Who are you looking at, yer pink bastard?'"

I hope Steel wouldn't mind my saying, though, that for all his good work - and it is consistently the funniest programme on the radio - the best remark was from a local woman: "If Berwick was an animal I think it would be an octopus. Because it looks quite simple just lying here, but when it moves it moves in all directions."

Mark Steel's In Town, by Mark Steel

Many books are compared to Priestley's English Journey but Steel is as perceptive as JB and far funnier.

Mark Steel reveals why UK towns are anything but boring

They might have identikit chain stores and car parks - but every town in Britain has a distinct character. So argues comedian Mark Steel, who has made provincial pilgrimages from Basingstoke to Wigan.

Local colour takes Mark Steel's comedy out of routine

Comedian Mark Steel certainly enjoys a challenge - he's performing a different gig at every location on his tour. As he swots up on material for Cardiff, he shares some local anecdotes with Dave Freak.

Mark Steel's in Town- the review

On Friday night popular TV and radio comedian Mark Steel performed to a packed house in the New Phoenix Cinema. The performance was recorded as the last show in his BBC Radio 4 series 'Mark Steel's in Town' which will be broadcast on 12th May at 6.30pm.