Matt Bragg steps in with only hours to spare
Posted on 3rd February 2025
For once, the Corn Hall opened its doors on a Sunday night, seeing off the weekend for the near capacity audience with a welcome night of comedy, compered by American Russell Hicks. He grabbed the crowd’s attention, quickly winning appreciative howls of laughter with his sharp-witted commentary on his mid-life crisis, oversharing, and the eccentricities of Diss.
On any other night, you might expect Andrew Maxwell to be occupying the headline slot, but bleary eyed from the Irish victory in the Six Nations, perhaps he had to get off home early. In any event, his scabrous take down of Brexit, Lizz Truss and ill-advised tattoos made for a barnstorming start to the night that covered everything from Orangutans to the Titanic. Hilarious, wicked and occasionally insightful, his slot was over all too soon. A tough act for any comic to follow, Jenny Collier deftly side stepped the challenge by offering up an altogether more personal routine that explored toxic masculinity, dating when drunk and body hair. Self-deprecating, witty and profane, she closed the first half to an audience thoroughly won over, despite the elephant in the room.
The elephant in question was the last-minute absence of headliner Sara Pascoe, prevented from attending by a family emergency. It meant that Matt Bragg was given the unenviable task of filling in for the act many in the audience had come to see. Fortunately, Bragg proved to be more than up to the task. Reminiscent of Frank Skinner in this prime we learned about entitled coffee shops, self-righteous cyclists and conspiratorial dentists. The biggest cheer of the night, however, was reserved for Neil at the Happy Palace, when Russell Hicks closed the evening with a call on his mobile, giving the audience the chance to show their appreciation of both Chinese food and an excellent night of comedy.