"IT was June 24, 2016 and I found myself contemplating a supermarket meal deal. I only wanted a sandwich and I only needed a sandwich but given that I could get a snack and a drink for only 5p more it seemed financially irresponsible not to. I had spent so long pondering the EU Referendum result from the day before that I was now in a massive rush. The lad on the till scanned the first two items no problem but the third item, he couldn’t get to scan at all. I thought: this is going to be a nightmare – there was a queue building up and he looked like he was going to call the supervisor. Then, to his credit, he tried to scan it one more time. It wouldn’t scan – so he went ‘bip’ himself and chucked it through. And it was at that moment that I thought: “Oh, we’ll be alright as a country we will.”

And we will be alright. Trust me. I’m not a politician."

A YEAR and a half since his last tour Peak Bullsh*t, household name, Andy Parsons is back on the road with Healing the Nation – and he is confident that playing to a whole host of theatres across the UK will undoubtedly mend the myriad divisions this country faces.

Parsons is a well known face for appearances on Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, QI, BBC’s Question Time, The Daily Politics, This Week and Newsnight.

In the last year, he has hosted People’s Vote rallies at the Electric Ballroom, Central Hall Westminster and in Parliament Square as well as fronting Independent Age’s latest Campaign Against Loneliness.

Since being a writer on the legendary Spitting Image, Parsons won the Time Out Comedy Award in 2002 and has performed stand-up all over the world.

To date he has done five sell-out national tours and released the DVDs Britain’s Got Idiots, Gruntled, Slacktivist and Live & Unleashed – But Naturally Cautious. He was also responsible for the Slacktivist Action Group podcast, which played host to a wide range of MPs, journalists and comedians.

Andy Parsons, Healing the Nation. North-East dates include:

Stockton ARC, Friday, October 4

Harrogate Theatre, Saturday, October 5

Richmond Georgian Theatre Royal, Sunday, October 6

Northallerton The Forum, Thursday, December 5

Barnard Castle, The Witham, Friday, December 6

Contact venues for tickets.