Thu Apr 5, 7pm, Liquid Room, Edinburgh, £10, 0131 220 3234; Fri 6, 7pm, Garage, Glasgow, £10, 0870 220 1116

Mark Steel always imagined he'd simmer down when he reached his 40s. Though a paragon of self-aware wit against the caricature of humourless lefties, the bolshy stand-up, writer and newspaper columnist is, if anything, becoming more belligerent. On his last tour, the Kent-born comic eulogised the French Revolution, and irrespective of Tony Blair's impending departure from office, remains completely committed to his passionate tirades against New Labour and the political classes generally. One rare exception to his ire is Tommy Sheridan and it's the Glasgow MSP who comperes this gig. Whatever your opinion of the pair's politics, and Steel describes himself as "a Trotskyist, but not mad, honest", both actively seek to relate the political process to the person in the street, in a manner that's forthright, sells newspapers and sparks angry letters of disagreement to those very same papers. Informed and pugnaciously funny, Steel has made precious few appearances north of the border in recent years, so at this moment of intense debate on Scotland's future, expect him to crack wise about the nation's emerging interest in cricket. Support is from Mark Nelson and Andy Sir in Edinburgh, and Patrick Rolink and Sheridan-look-alike Des McLean in Glasgow.