ALEXEI SAYLE

Comedy great set to go back on stage

- BY SIOBHAN McNALLY

ODFATHER of alternative comedy Alexei Sayle has lost none of his Marxist zeal or rage against the establishment — and says his firebrand act is needed more than ever to resist an “assault on comedy’.

After more than 30 years of rants at the state of the nation, the 72-year-old veteran of The Comic Strip and The Young Ones is increasingly troubled about the ever-widening gap between the rich and poor.

Still on his soapbox, he said: “I would like to retire - but the world keeps getting worse. So what am I supposed to do?”

Comedy, he says, is one of the first casualties of an authoritarian society. “They don't like a laugh” said Alexei. “Healthy ones encourage criticism. Comedy is a pressure valve — it's a way to let off steam about the injustice of the world. Comics should also point out injustice”

We meet in a park near his house in Bloomsbury, Central London, where he lives with his wife Linda and their 18-year-old Maine coon cat, Wilf.

Now completely white-haired and with a beard trimmed into a Lenin point (his barber's idea), he’s also wearing a Panama, which gives him the air of a professor on his holidays, especially as he’s waving a wooden stick.

“It's my martial arts staff - I do tai chi” he said, twirling it expertly.

Apparently it’s not a peaceful hobby. “No, it’s a way of killing people very slowly” he deadpans.

It's been a while since Alexei has been on the stand-up comedy circuit after his comeback tour in 2020 was interrupted by the pandemic.

But his delightful travels around the UK with his Strangers On A Train series last year on Radio 4 has found him a whole new audience.