Frank Skinner Tickets

Following two sold out runs in London’s West End at the Lyric Theatre and the Gielgud Theatre, and a sold out 41-date national tour, Frank is returning to the Gielgud Theatre this Summer with 30 Years of Dirt for 3 weeks only from 5 August.

What the critics are saying about 30 Years of Dirt:

“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”
Dominic Maxwell, The Times

“He’s still got it… a comedy master… a masterclass in crowd work, with Skinner getting spontaneous laughs off every interaction…exquisite one-liners”

Steve Bennett, Chortle

“Skinner is never less than beadily alert…you come away happy that after 30 years Frank’s still dishing his dirt, and happier still that he can dish plenty more besides”

Brian Logan, The Guardian

“Immaculately constructed…Skinner’s crowdwork is as sharp as ever…he can spool out a yarn every bit as entertainingly as prime-era Billy Connolly”

Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard

Born Christopher Graham Collins, Frank Skinner grew up in the West Midlands with a passion for football and a problem with drinking.

After graduating from the University of Warwick with a master’s degree in literature, he initially became a lecturer. However, in 1987 he decided to give stand-up a try and adopted his stage name from a Jack the Lad member of his father’s pub dominoes team. That summer Skinner spent £400 of his last £435 booking a room at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Thanks to his newfound passion for performing and reconnecting with his Catholic faith, he managed to give up alcohol.

Skinner made his TV debut in 1988, and his laddish banter was not only met with lots of laughter but also 131 complaints. In 1991, he returned to Edinburgh Festival Fringe and took home the prestigious Perrier Award – beating out nominees Jack Dee and Eddie Izzard.

Skinner met fellow comedian David Baddiel in the early ’90s, and the two went on to not only share a flat but also create the hit TV series Fantasy Football League, which ran from 1994 to 2004. Ahead of Euro 1996, they joined with the Lightning Seeds to co-write and record the popular football anthem Three Lions. The song reached No.1 that year and again when they re-recorded it for World Cup 1998.

In 1995 Skinner also launched The Frank Skinner Show, which set the tone for modern-day chat programmes by mixing an initial stand-up segment with celebrity interviews. He hosted the show for a decade. Among his other TV credits, he appeared in the talk show Baddiel And Skinner Unplanned from 2000 – 2005, starred in Frank Skinner’s Opinionated from 2010 – 2011, hosted the game show Room 101 from 2012 – 2018 and landed a guest spot in an episode of Doctor Who in 2014.

In 2014, Skinner returned to Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Man In A Suit and later took the show across the UK, selling out a run at London’s Soho Theatre and a five-week residency at the Leicester Square Theatre in 2015.

In addition to television and stand-up, he’s published several books including 2002’s autobiography Frank Skinner, 2009’s Frank Skinner On The Road, 2012’s Dispatches From The Sofa: The Collected Wisdom Of Frank Skinner, 2020’s How To Enjoy Poetry and 2021’s A Comedian’s Prayer Book.

What’s more, as England made their World Cup run in 2018, the song Three Lions, topped the singles chart for a fourth time.

In 2019, Skinner returned to the road with his first live show in five years, Showbiz. Yet again he performed sold-out runs at both the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and London’s Leicester Square Theatre. Critics gave Showbiz rave reviews with The Sunday Times calling it a “beautifully confessional new show” and “possibly his best show yet”,  and the Evening Standard praising Skinner as “the king of stand-up”.

In September 2023, Skinner announced his next tour, 30 Years of Dirt.