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Cambridge JunctionThe political comedian’s new touring show takes on Liz Truss and the Tories but too often swaps subtlety for stridencyMark Thomas’s last show drew on his lifetime of political protest to address the government’s new police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, and it couldn’t have felt more necessary. His latest lacks that focus, or any particular cause – and suffers for it. Black and White is about “the simple act of being in a room together and toppling international capitalism”. In practice, that means gags and abuse directed at the Tories, an improvised “civic anthem” for Cambridge, and some affectionate jokes about the late Barry Cryer and Thomas’s no-filter mum.The criticism usually levelled at Thomas’s work is that it’s more hectoring than comedy. That’s not often true, but it is in this first half, which finds the 59-year-old lashing out at Liz Truss, the need for “warm banks”, and the wider Tory shitshow. Nothing wrong with that. But if you’re aiming at such a soft target, you need better lines than “you fucking insane fuck” (of Thérèse Coffey) or “like the cookie monster went to Eton,” his well-worn epithet for our last-but-one PM.Mark Thomas: Black and White is on tour until 11 December. Continue reading...