It was great to see Jamali Maddix at Komedia in Bath, last night, one of Britain’s brightest comedy talents at the city’s best comedy venue, Komedia. I’m old enough to remember the building as a cinema and watching Roger Moore-era James Bond there. These days it’s moved on from the flares and Ford Capris to host a seriously great range of comedy and music talent, with Britain’s Got Talent finalist Daliso Chaponda, Geoff Norcott, Shaparak Khosandi and Lou Sanders all due to appear over the next few months.
Of course, Jamali Maddix is a staple of comedy circuit and a regular on TV too, best know, perhaps, for a stint on Taskmaster. With his dour-natured observations of everyday life, he’s offers a modern, very masculine view of British and world culture that appears to rest well on the shoulders of mixed aged audience, taking on topics such as his everyday life, misogyny and even a nostalgia for old-school terrorism in a way that will have you cringing and laughing in equal measure.
Back to last night at Komedia though, and the yes, of course the packed audience were treated to the inevitable white middle class audience jibes – Bath audiences always are, mainly because they are largely white and middle class – but Jamali’s is also a wonderfully funny and original talent and we knew there was going to be more to the show than the same old predictable jibes.
During the evening, we’re treated to a lot of chat about Jamali’s sexual history, drinking, drug taking and an inability to break the US audience due to some poorly considered 9/11 material, alongside some not exactly original, but really well delivered insights into British culture and everyday life. He’s also a performer who works his audience, ripping mercilessly into the guy in the front row with a topknot, amazed at just how old Gary in the second row was – he was 59! – and wondering whether he really knew where he was or who he was watching, and his wonderful put downs of the inevitable heckler – “Listen, we both had difficult childhoods, we’re now both attention seekers, the only thing is mine grew into a talent.”
The result was superb – clever, slightly uncomfortable at times but always very funny. Jamali seemed to be enjoying it too, with constant references and comparisons to a recent Bristol gig that saw a stage invader getting in on the action, even if he found the local crowd “certainly the weirdest audience of the tour.”
To find out more about upcoming events at Komedia Bath, click here.