CHAOS and the Comedian

Comedian Mark Steel is bringing his show, Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright, to the Cotswolds. But is it really gonna be alright? asks climate-fearful, Trump alarmed Katie Jarvis. And does he actually mean that Every Big Thing’s NOT Gonna Be Alright?

- Katie Jarvis

We need clarification. And a timeframe.

“What’s it like,” I ask comedian Mark Steel, “being a comedian during Armageddon?”

I’m in two minds about this. On the minus side, it must be like being a Mr Whippy driver during the Pleistocene Epoch.

On the other hand… As Brexit deadlines loom without a child in the house washed, the Earth warms to temperatures nostalgically reminiscent of the Big Bang, and the most powerful man in the world can’t locate a decent tanning salon, perhaps a couple of one-liners will nicely straighten things out.

Ah, says Mark Steel. Actually. If there’s one good thing about national/global ‘we’re-all-going-to-die horribly’ catastrophes – (marvellous that there is one good thing, all you pessimists out there) – it’s that you don’t have to explain them.

“You don’t have to say, ‘You know there’s this thing called Brexit?’ Everybody knows and everybody knows it’s chaos. So that’s quite good, really. If I want to do an impression of someone – not that they’re brilliant, my impressions – you don’t want three-quarters of the audience going, ‘Ehh?’”

Indeed. If you want something far worse than Armageddon, then get this. Mark and his good mate Angela Barnes recently tried out new material in the sort of little pub where they let you try stuff out.