Frank Skinner is ready to dish the dirt … 30 years worth

He’s on a sell-out tour of the country, including a visit to Reading, and his visit is by popular demand.

Following a previously sold-out tour of the UK and Ireland back in the spring, and a similar experience in London’s West End, Frank Skinner has added a host of additional dates for his 30 Years of Dirt tour.

The comedian needs little introduction now, but back in 1987 it was a very different story: he spent £400 of his last £435 staging a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

It could have been a disaster. Instead, he returned four years later and scooped The Perrier Award.

Since then, he’s had a sparkling career, creating the hugely popular Fantasy Football Show with David Baddiel, and the spin-off hit record Football’s Coming Home with help from The Lightning Seeds.

He was a host of the BBC’s Room 101 comedy show, hosted Artist of the Year shows for Sky Arts, starred in Doctor Who, and presented documentaries on subjects such as Elvis Presley, George Formby, and Muhammad Ali.

Frank has also hosted radio programmes, including BBC Radio 4’s The Rest Is History, and his own Poetry Podcast on Absolute Radio.

An author too, his autobiography came out in 2002, and spent 46 weeks on The Sunday Times’ bestseller list, while a collection of his columns for The Times was also well received.

In 2019, he toured with a stand-up show entitled Showbiz, which led to a residency at The Garrick Theatre in London’s West End.

His latest, 30 Years of Dirt, premiered last year, and has received critical acclaim.

Praise included Dominic Maxwell from The Times, who said of Skinner: “(He has) a supernatural sureness of touch … just plain funny in a way that few other comics can touch … supremely fast-witted in his interactions with the crowd … exquisitely vivid in some of his turns of phrase: you can sense Skinner the poetry lover in lines.”

While Brian Logan of The Guardian wrote: “You come away happy that after 30 years Frank’s still dishing his dirt, and happier still that he can dish plenty more besides.”   

His Reading date will be on Friday, November 22, and is at The Hexagon.

Tickets cost £30.50, with the show suitable for ages 14 upwards. They are selling fast, so the gig may be sold out and a returns list may be in operation.

For more details, or to book, call the box office on 0118 960 6060, or log on to www.whatsonreading.com