Matt Forde is a chatty, friendly man who quickly gets an audience on board. Though he’s rather lacking in punchlines, he marshals an array of impressions to balance out his laddish charm. His material is a little niche, starting with football and moving onto politics (and unwittingly revealing throughout that Forde is a man who very much has heroes and worships them quite openly). There’s something almost cute about how he apologies profusely to his audience before making a lewd comment or joke, like a schoolboy reading a note in class. Though he is entirely and regrettably incorrect when he claims that a smutty text he mistakenly sent to the wrong person would be the filthiest thing his audience heard at the Fringe.The latter half of his set deals almost exclusively with his obsession with politics, but instead of being a satirical commentary on the government of the present day or the past, Forde seems to revel in the glamour and personalities of politics. He is unashamedly a rabid fan of Blair as a dynamic politician, which is rather contentious, but he’s very aware and apologetic (to the point if being an apologist) about this. There’s something wonderfully compelling about seeing someone enthuse about their chosen passion, so this segment comes across as more charming than dull. That said, though his impressions really are excellent,the majority of the humour does stem from the one-liners spoken by politicians rather than Forde.If you love football and politics, Forde is a must-see. If you’re not adverse to them and fancy some charming, relatively inoffensive material that manages to avoid being toothless, you could do a lot worse.
