One of Matt Price’s ambitions is to be one of the nicest people in comedy, and man, he’s succeeding. This particular performance took place on the day of Matt’s 10th wedding anniversary. Before his set begins, and before he has taken his place on stage, he introduces his wife to the room. He talks about their relationship warmly and self deprecatingly, his jokes based around their marital life are entirely at his own expense, demonstrating that you can be an absolute gentleman, and yet remain absolutely hilarious.
The most shocking thing about this performance is that it is free. Go!
Being that this is Free Fringe, there are many moments of comic hilarity caused by the particularly rambunctious audience. Matt takes it all in his stride: at the start of the show he allows a man to grab a pint from the next room while he stalls, warming up the crowd with excellent observational humour based on the layout of the venue space. Later on in the show he looks after another man’s coat and beer as the guy confidently struts to the loo. Matt’s natural sense of humour is incredible, unrivalled perhaps. He meets and bests every audience member’s comment and action hilariously, without resorting to any unoriginal put-downs. He makes the very best out of every unexpected situation, leaving the audience in stitches.
Now, heckles aside, Matt’s material itself is truly brilliant. His stories are well put together, excellently told, and wonderfully funny. Matt asks his audience what it is to give people permission to laugh, before demonstrating perfectly how it’s done. You see, some of Matt's stories are very personal, dealing with a tough childhood and addiction, and yet, while another comic could have failed fantastically to bring humour to the situations described, Matt triumphs spectacularly. His commentaries throughout on the mechanical workings of comedy are insightful and very funny, adding a whole new layer to his performance.
The most shocking thing about this performance is that it is free. There is absolutely no reason not to see Matt Price this Fringe. Go!