Matthew Crosby is a five foot five bearded man with a side parting, who wears short-sleeved checkered shirts and black, thick-framed glasses. He somewhat resembles a young Woody Allen. He is a hypochondriac, spends way too much time on his computer and used to be a teacher. On top of this, he is a grammar freak and terrified of sleeping with someone ‘good in bed’, preferring the prospects of bedding someone ‘evenly-matched’. It would not be unfair to say that stand-up comic, Matthew Crosby, of Pappy’s Fun Club fame, is a bit of a nerd.
However, nerd though he may be, he knows how to misbehave. From the word ‘go’, or really from the word ‘fuck’, it was clear that he was not going to let himself be fazed by the presence of children in the audience. On spotting a twelve-year-old seconds after spotting a ten-year-old, Matthew shouts and points, ‘Holy fuck – there’s another one!’ Other audience members too provided abundant mocking opportunities for Crosby. There was a man who admitted to sometimes donning an ape mask to jump out at his wife in, and there was a boy who had been named after a famous poet and had never read any of said poet’s material. These swiftly became facts which Crosby cleverly referred back to throughout. He also did not neglect to mention the tricks he’d been playing on his dad, the pranks he’d been pulling on his girlfriend, and, of course, their retaliation.
Similarly, if Crosby is a nerd, he’s a nerd of pretty exceptional social abilities. Usually comedians fall into one of two groups: those whose material is original, sound and meticulously planned, and those who entertain simply by being themselves and relying on their natural, unpremeditated banter. Matthew Crosby seems to fit into both. Topics ranged from his lack of understanding of art, to his absurd finds on sites like WikiHow, to mortifyingly embarrassing pulling stories. It was well-rehearsed, fluid and complemented by fitting slides. He was also very good at continuing threads of banter with different audience members and weaving them into his anecdotes throughout his set.
Matthew Crosby is a great part to play, if a bit nerdy, and I don’t think anyone could have done it better than Crosby himself.
