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Writer's pictureJon Matthews

Reviewing 2022

2022 was my first full year of comedy since 2019 and it has been a very exciting year for me. I began with a decent number of gigs booked in across the East Midlands and it felt like I was starting to get to know the scene up there. I also had my new gig in Hampshire, which had launched in December 2021 and was very excited about what that would become. CISter Act, my split-bill show with Sam Michael, also had some dates booked in and I was looking forward to the opportunity to play with longer format jokes as part of my preparation for my solo show, which had the working title Vaguely Political Comedian.


I had some nice, early gigs that served as useful warm ups for Leicester Comedy Festival in February, where I performed at a couple of compilation gigs ahead of the debut of CISter Act. The idea of CISter Act was a self-deprecating show about the last few years in politics from two cis-gender white men, really leaning into the idea that the voice of cis-gender white men is often the most audible and the least appropriate. Unfortunately, Sam caught covid ahead of the Leicester show and I ended up delivering the show on my own, a 45-minute performance which was effectively a work-in-progress for Vaguely Political Comedian, which was still a very vague idea at the time. A couple of months later, at Bath Comedy Festival, the situation was reversed and Sam delivered a work-in-progress whilst I was in my sick bed. Performing a longer set was enjoyable, but the show lacked punch, moving from subject to subject without any clear direction. The call-backs worked well and the various jokes got good laughs but it felt like a set, rather than a show. It was still a good gig, with some very positive feedback from the audience, but it forced me to reflect on what I wanted from my debut show and if Vaguely Political Comedian was it.


In the end, CISter Act was only performed once in its entirety, with both of us on the bill, at a busy night at the fantastic PRSC venue in Bristol. It was a great gig; the crowd were warm and eager and we delivered the show to a great response. I was very pleased with my own performance and Sam was on fire too, the contrast between our styles and approaches enhancing the event and the different takes on similar subject matters (fathers, kebabs, #metoo) created a cohesion between our sets. It was nice to know that people had come out to see us, not just to see a comedy night we were part of, but specifically to see us. Some of the audience had remembered us from other gigs in Bristol, spotted the event and decided they wanted to come – surely there can be no greater compliment to a comedian than this.

During the Spring, I performed at numerous paid gigs, pro shows and new material nights. They were accompanied by the usual ups and downs. Some audiences howled with laughter as I produced graphs or talked about the periodic table, whilst others just looked on in puzzlement. I was booked to perform a 20-minute middle at a pro-show in Ipswich, the booker had seen me before and thought his regular audience would really enjoy my set. I was excited and made a weekend camping excursion out of the trip, to enjoy a beautiful part of the country. On the night, the headliner was unable to attend and I was bumped up to close. It was my first time closing a professional weekend show, but as promised the audience responded really well to my graphs, maths puns and science jokes. Reflecting on that gig, I decided that this was the better direction and scrapped Vaguely Political Comedian, an idea I had been nursing for a few years, and decided that Talk Nerdy To Me, a show devoted to the nerdiest and geekiest jokes I could think of, was the right direction for me.


I worked on material for TNTM throughout the Summer and had the opportunity to enjoy gigging at a couple of festivals in the process, including Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival, where I was the MC, and Tribfest, where I had a guest spot. Tribfest was a great weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed the music, good company and the opportunity to experiment wildly in the late night comedy show, as well as delivering a more standard set earlier in the day.


My regular night at Dusty Barrel built momentum throughout the year, with a core audience growing and accompanied by curious locals who became regulars. Performing in my hometown affords me the opportunity to deliver some niche local jokes and booking my own gig gives me the opportunity to see comedians I enjoy or am curious about. It also forces me to be creative, thinking of new ways to entertain an audience that may have seen a lot of my jokes before, a challenge I have enjoyed and utilised by playing different interactive games with the crowd.

Working on Talk Nerdy To Me through the Summer was a challenging but satisfying experience. Once I decided the direction that I wanted the show to take, I began trawling through old notepads for the geekiest jokes I’d written, as well as dedicating time to writing plenty of new material for the show. Road testing the material was difficult, it is hard to measure the quality of material designed for a certain demographic when not performing in front of that demographic. It was however, incredibly useful and there were plenty of gigs where I was able to take important feedback from the audience’s laughter or silence. There were certain gigs in particular that I knew I could try the most niche material at and I am very grateful to those nights that cater to the more alternative, because they gave me that opportunity to shape and refine the material. It was also surprising, at certain gigs the most unlikely characters were laughing hysterically and coming up to me afterwards to tell me what jokes they enjoyed. It taught me a valuable lesson in judging audience members by appearances, even rugby lads might enjoy a joke about viral organisms.


While the jokes were coming together, the show lacked a certain something, the big ending I desired wasn’t there. I wanted something special, a couple of big moments, an arc. A flippant idea, an eBay purchase and some experimentation finally gave me what I wanted. I tried the idea out at a quiet but lovely gig in Chesterfield and was delighted with the result. I finally felt like the show was more-or-less complete.


The first full Talk Nerdy To Me show, performed at the Nottingham Comedy Festival in November, was my comedy highlight of 2022. Everything came together nicely and I was lucky to have such a warm and hungry crowd. Advertising the show as ‘nerdy’ helped bring in the kind of people I’d hoped to perform in front of, people like me, who like the jokes I like. They were a wonderful audience and it felt so natural to perform in front of them. I was smiling from ear to ear for days afterwards and I was honoured to be named a ‘best show’ by Late Stage Comedy.


The work wasn’t and isn’t over. I have chewed over the video footage, looking for areas to improve. I’m writing additional material for future performances, while looking for opportunities to take this show to audiences that I hope will enjoy it as much as I do. I have three dates lined up for early 2023 and am looking to book some more in soon. They are:

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