If there is a downside to anything comedian Mark Thomas does - and I realise I'm properly clutching at straws here - it's perhaps the sense of frustration he imparts on his audience when we leave his shows.

It's not easy helping to change inheritance laws or blocking the building of a dam that will displace hundreds of thousands of people, especially when you've got a day job and you're running your kids from one after school club to the next.

Of course if we really wanted to change the world, we probably could, it's just we other things on our mind to distract us from actually helping out.

Which is why Mark Thomas' latest show is possibly his greatest one yet, because not only is it packed with his trademark scampish wit and humour but it also allows us to make a direct impact on a pressing issue of the day.

In The Show That Gambles on the Future, the audience do exactly that with Mark collecting and examining his own predictions and those of the audience before literally taking a gamble on their outcome. By making futurologists of us all, he's hoping to create a fantastical, hilarious and possibly accurate vision of the world, while making a few quid on the side.

Which he's done already.

"We did a few shows before the election," he tells me, "and one of the bets was on May not winning as many seats as she had hoped for, so we got a bit of cash then.

"There's also Jeremy Corbyn still being the leader of the Labour Party in 2018, which netted us odds of 5 to 1, which I thought was pretty good."

But there are also a few which might not pay out such as Donald Trump being found dazed and confused in the Arizona Desert by the end of the year.

"I went into the bookies and asked a lovely young woman behind the counter," he continues, "and she had to phone it through to the special bets department. Half way through the conversation she said to the guy on the end of the other line 'No, the Arizona desert'. So the Donald Trump being found dazed and confused bit was obviously fine, it's just the Arizona desert which was a little hard to fathom."

Other bets include the UK abolishing the metric system at 2 to 1, and Donald Trump converting to Islam, which nets unsurprisingly good odds at 50 to 1.

Recognised as one of Britain’s most acclaimed comics, as well as one of the country’s best-known political activists, his many achievements

include changing the law on inheritance tax and leading the Ilisu Dam Campaign, which was successful in blocking the development of a large-scale dam in south-east Turkey, which would have led to the removal of more than 78,000 people, mostly Kurds.

Mark also holds the Guinness World Record for the most number of political demonstrations in 24 hours and has picked up the UN Association Global Human Rights Defender award, as well as the Kurdish National Congress Medal of Honour.

And that's just an off-shoot of his main career which is essentially one of the country's funniest comedians with six series of the Mark Thomas Product and Mark Thomas Comedy Product with Channel 4 under his belt, as well as filming numerous documentaries and publishing a number of books.

But that’s what you get with most Mark Thomas shows.

One moment he’s talking about something quite ridiculous, making you cry with laughter, and then a few seconds later he’s revealing another injustice in the world which makes you clench your fists with rage.

In his One Hundred Acts of Minor Dissent show, Mark attempted to break the rules, both big and small, on 100 occasions. Those included, the very timely, racing remote control Barbie cars outside the Saudi Embassy and getting the workers of the Curzon cinema chain unionised.

While in 2012's very personal Bravo Figaro Mark got professional singers to perform in his parents’ living room in front of his opera-loving, working-class dad, who had become ill with the degenerative disease progressive supranuclear palsy.

The Show That Gambles on the Future is a mixture of both with Mark gazing into his comedic crystal ball over current affairs while talking about his past growing up in south London, with a little bit of audience participation thrown in for good measure.

"Little stories of the wonder of human nature weave in and out of the show," he tells me. "I know people are frightened and that's because we live in frighting times. I understand that. But with times of great flux there are also opportunities to make a change for the good.

"I think you need to harness the human power of imagination and that's what I'm trying to do in this show.

"I once heard Brian May of Queen say his favourite song was We Will Rock You because the audience were just as important as the band. I always say to young comics, the audience are your friends, they've come for a good night, they don't want you to fail, and some of the best moments in my shows have involved the audience.

"The Red Shed wouldn't have worked without audience participation. It relied on it, mainly because at one point we have to get a whole load of them on stage to be a Greek Chorus. They have to sing and pull party poppers, and they're always bloody brilliant doing it."

Mark Thomas: The Show That Gambles on the Future.

Chalkwell Park Rooms,

London Road, Southend.

November 17. 7pm.

£16, £12 concessions. 01702 483900.

parkviewchalkwell.co.uk