Mark Steel does one man shows in which he tells jokes and funny anecdotes but it’s probably more accurate to think of him as a raconteur rather than as a stand up comic. He prefers stories and mini-lectures to punch lines.
In 2001, he wrote a kind of autobiography called Reasons To Be Cheerful in which he was happy to be identified as a “dedicated trouble maker”. Until fairly recently he was a prominent member of the Socialist Worker’s Party (he resigned in 2007) and makes no secret of his left wing beliefs. But rather than sloganeering, his political philosophy is apparent from his unpretentious endorsement of common values and a fondness for debunking academia.
In his series The Mark Steel Solution broadcast on BBC radio 4 & 5 between 1992-6 he delivered scripted lectures to prove that arguments could be made to support even the most surreal and/or provocative points of view . Topics included ‘Pessimists should be persecuted by law’ , ‘The Royal Family should be chosen by weekly lottery’ and, my favourite, : ‘Nobody should go to school until they are 35’.
In 1998, his lectures were on social and political revolutions and from 2003-6 he lectured on famous historical figures from Lord Byron to Che Guevara.
‘Mark Steel’s In Town’ is subtitled ‘One Man’s Tour of Modern Britain’ and is based on a series of thirty minute shows he did for the BBC. Continue reading
