The house was almost full for Mark Steel, who was in York for on Saturday 1 November, for one night only.

By Tanya Nightingale

We welcomed him with enthusiastic but “polite” applause, as he commented, (“It’s such a polite place, York,”) He praised the city for its Cathedral (which someone corrected him, was a Minster) and then he gave deserved short shrift for our disgraced ex-Duke. Familiar echoes of his BBC Radio 4 programme Mark Steel’s in Town.

But we were here to deal with a far more personal elephant in the room, or rather, leopard in his house, his recent diagnosis of and treatment for, throat cancer.

As every comedian knows, any subject can be a mine for humour if handled in the right way, and Mark’s familiar warmth was obvious straightaway. As he said, “many of you will know people with cancer, or have had cancer yourselves,” and statistically this is true. As a friend said to him after his treatment, “You will get an hour’s worth of material out of this,” to which he quipped “Oh, two, at least,” and you could imagine him making mental notes throughout the experience. From first noticing the lump on his neck (“Like most men, I ignored it,”) to the end of his final chemotherapy session, when, after asking his surgeon “Have you remove it all?” he heard a knock on wood,  absurdity is always close.

His radiotherapy mask was on the stage, looking like the head of a Roman statue, and he showed us how tightly it fitted. “And then – it was bolted to the table.” Matter-of-fact, honest and amazed, Steel’s response to his experience is optimistic throughout.

The love he received from his family was wonderful to hear: his son came with him to most appointments, and Grandpa was walking around the supermarket with his granddaughter, telling her stories, as soon as he could.

There was a piano on the stage, and he played and sang in the interval (Tom Waites was requested, but that was a bit too advanced; we had Sleepy Jean instead.) Steel spoke of his love of the French language, “You’re missing out if you don’t know it,” and his meeting his old French teacher after his first consultation. He told her of his diagnosis, and she corrected his grammar. Absolument.

Telephone calls came from unexpected people, not least Jimmy Tarbuck, who kept the conversation flowing when Mark couldn’t speak after treatment. Friendships were quickly and lastingly made, as with an Army General in the chemotherapy room, and an oncologist who shared his love of cricket.

He brought to light the many doctors who had treated him: “I’ve had people from all over the world treat me,” he said, “Even North London.” And we ended with applause for them, as well as Mark himself.          

Mark Steel’s The Leopard in My House was performed at York Theatre Royal on Saturday 1 November 2025.