As comedians go, Mark Steel may be the leftist of the lot.

A stand-up comedian known for his left-wing beliefs Steel has built a career out of refocusing the agenda of the media and inverting the key messages of large instituions.  Writing for both The Guardian and The Independent, Steel is perhaps still best known for his thought provoking comedy and series of lectures, particularly his bbc radio 5 show ‘The Mark Steel solution’ with its manifesto of “Give me thirty minutes and I’ll convince you of anything!” – something he tried in particularly memorable episodes ‘Criminals should be recruited as high courts judges’, ‘Everyone in Britain should be rehoused at random’ and ‘Everyone should have to be gay for two years’.  Interesting premises indeed.

Intentionally vocal, Steel has gained a reputation for hard hitting, hard affecting free speech.  Back in the North East with his fast selling-out show ‘Every Little Thing’s Gonna Be Alright, the show has been described as an antidote to the once unlikely series of events that would see the UK would vote to leave the EU and Donald Trump move from prime time star to president.  Reasons to be cheerful indeed.

On top of his comedy Mark has written several acclaimed books, including: Reasons to Be Cheerful and What’s Going On and writes a weekly column for The Independent for which he won Columnist of the Year at the Press Awards in 2015. Surely not a show to be missed this one.

Mark Steel will bring his ‘Every Little Things gonna be alright’ show to Stockton Arc Centre on Friday 23^rd March.  Tickets from £15