We’ve enjoyed some really cracking Sunday nights at Komedia in Bath being superbly entertained by a rich range of comedic talent. Last night it was the turn of comedian, political commentator, podcast favourite and TV regular(ish), Matt Forde, with his Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokes To The Right tour, described as ‘There are wallies everywhere and half of them are running the country. The other half are trying to. Matt Forde (Spitting Image, Have I Got News For You, The Last Leg, The Royal Variety Performance) lashes out right, left and centre. And chucks in some funny voices.’
And fair to form, from the start Matt is straight on to bashing the Tories, having a go at moral-free vacuum of modern politics in general and throwing in a few impressions of famous politicians. And along the way, he does a decent job, making the most of the easy targets that Parliament serves up on a regular basis and covering the obvious targets from Boris and covid and Boris and parties, to Boris and lying and Boris and so much more.
Straight away, Matt comes across as a genuinely likeable and informed bloke with obvious left-wing leanings and an agenda to point out the problems in modern politics. He’s the sort of chatty, funny guy you might bump into at a party who makes some good points and makes you laugh a little while you’re opening the next bottle of Merlot.
The problem is that early on, the material is a just too predictable, even a little bit dated and nothing that we haven’t heard quite a few times before. Yes, it’s given a few more laughs thanks to his excellent impressions of Boris and Keir Starmer – the latter in particular is really spot on – but even these soon become a little regular.
OK, yes, there were a few clever touches – his observations about the problem of the politicisation of football being nothing compared to the footballisation of politics, with the example of the yobbishness of certain political figures and their followers, was clever and original. But too often the material just didn’t really hit the mark, although judging by Matt’s own continual laughter at his own jokes, he at least found it entertaining. And then, yes, again, it was back to the same few impressions in search of a laugh.
After the interlude, unfortunately it only got worse. A lengthy – actually, way to long – piece about racism in football came across as rambling and disjointed, with the person sat next to me asking his friend “When it this ending?” In among it all, again, there was the kernel of some decent material, but it was in need of some real work and honest editing to make it work.
And then, yes, it was left to the impressions again, this time mainly Donald Trump, albeit very funny, to draw any real response from the audience.
OK, there were a good few laughs from the audience and one guy behind me was obviously a real Matt Forde fan and appeared to love every minute – the failed football bit aside – but sorry Matt, this one wasn’t for me.
With some excellent comedians coming up over the next few months, including the superb Dylan Moran, the pun-master Gary Delaney and the regular Krater Comedy Club evenings, there are some great reasons to enjoy a visit to Komedia. Unfortunately, sorry Matt, but this wasn’t one of great successes.
To find out more about upcoming shows at Komedia Bath, click here