Count Arthur Strong announces his 'farewell' tour
Count Arthur Strong has announced his farewell tour… but don’t expect the old variety hall star to be going anywhere soon.
The character says he’s going to ‘gradually phase in his farewell to the nation with a tour over a, as yet to be specified, number of parts’.
The first part of this valedictory tour, entitled And It’s Goodnight From Him, will run from February to June next year. More than 60 dates will go on sale from 10am tomorrow.
» Count Arthur Strong tour dates and tickets
Delaney created Count Arthur Strong whilst studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama in the 1980s. In the 1990s he resurrected the character for an outing at The King's Head, Crouch End and on the following day retired from acting to focus his career on Arthur.
The character became an Edinburgh Festival Fringe institution, and a cult Radio 4 hit, before transferring to BBC TV, with three series airing from 2013 to 2017.
News of his latest show comes in a busy week for new tour announcements.
• Mo Gilligan has announced 20 UK dates for his new tour, In This Moment, next autumn. The show will also visit the US, Canada, Dubai, Australia, New Zealand, and several Europe countries, all yet to be announced. Mo Gilligan tour dates.
• Stand-up and All Killa No Filla podcast co-host Rachel Fairburn has announced a 35-date autumn tour, Showgirl, promising to talk about whether her ‘pretentious new alcohol-free life (accurate at time of writing)’ has made her mellow too much. Rachel Fairburn tour dates
• Jonathan Pie, the spoof news reporter performed by Tom Walker, has announced a new Heroes and Villains tour, celebrating the heroes (‘nurses / Gary Lineker/24 hour off-licence proprietors’) and taking a verbal blowtorch to its villains (‘the Tories /cyclists’). Ticket for the 30-date tour in early 2024 go on sale at 10am tomorrow. Jonathan Pie tour dates
• Micky Flanagan has announced two Ovo Arena Wembley shows on May 6 – Coronation Day – and three at Cardiff International Arena on April 28 and 29. Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster at 10am today.
* New tours are soon to go on sale by Ivo Graham, Myra Dubois and Tom Stade, while Sophie Duker is also extending her Hag tour.
» 142 comedians with forthcoming tour dates
Published: 30 Mar 2023