It must be tough being the PR of one of the busiest stand-ups in the country.

Especially when you’re trying to convince a local journalist that despite interviewing your client only a matter on months ago, that journo should really speak to him again.

Of course it’s even tougher for the said journalist to refuse when the said PR informs him what the new show’s about and who it features.

So dear reader, while at various points in this article you may think this is an interview with the awesome political comedian Mark Thomas, it’s actually a piece about the two people who are appearing with him in his new offering, Showtime from the Frontline.

That’s Faisal Abualheja and Alaa Shehada, two actors and aspiring comics who Mark met when he went over to the Palestinian city of Jenin last year to run a comedy club for two nights.

Faisal says: “For me, as an actor, stand-up was something completely new. As an activist it was great to have Mark come over and teach us the power of comedy as a tool against authority and also breaking down stereotypes.”

Dodging cultural and literal bullets, Israeli incursions and religion, Mark and his team set out to run a comedy club for two nights, only to find it’s not so simple to celebrate freedom of speech in a place with so little freedom.

Jenin refugee camp is home to the Jenin Freedom Theatre, which was initially formed as the Stone Theatre by Arna Mer Khamis, an Israeli political and human rights activist.

Located on the top floor of a local family house, the theatre was destroyed by an Israeli bulldozer during the 2002 Battle of Jenin resulting in the deaths of several of Mer Khamis’ students.

Years later, Zakaria Zubeidi, a former student of the Stone Theatre, contacted Mer Khamis’ son, Juliano and suggested they set up a drama project for the new generation of young people, which became the Freedom Theatre in 2006.

Today, the theatre uses drama, role-playing, music, dance, and art to help students express their frustrations and act out their every day struggles.

Alaa adds: “My background is as a performer in many forms such as clowning and physical theatre but I’m still learning and exploring what can be achieved.

“Living in Jenin, you have to be careful what you do and say so I really like the concept of making people laugh but also making them think at the same time. It’s very liberating being able to criticise the authorities in that way.”

“What I liked about it,” Marks adds, “is when I first met Faisal back in 2009 and he was giving a tour of the theatre and it completely defied the idea of what a refugee should be.”

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.

It’s only been a matter of months since his Gambling with the Future tour but he’s back on the road with his two new partners in crime for Showtime from the Frontline.

Mark says: “When I went to Jenin and I saw all these incredible people writing plays and being creative, it felt just like the most natural thing in the world to go over and run these comedy workshops and then organise a couple of stand-up comedy nights.

“For me that was the thing. To go over there and do that but to then have the opportunity to come back to the UK and tell their stories with these great guys who are as funny as hell. Well that was the icing on the cake.

“There’s so much talent there in Jenin. I think it’s important that people are aware of that.”

Directed by Joe Douglas, Showtime from the Frontline is at the Colchester Arts Centre next Wednesday, January 31. Tickets are sold out but there is a waiting list for returns which is available by calling the Church Street venue on 01206 500900.