There was a palpable sense of anticipation and relief at the Laugh in the Park Saturday evening comedy event, produced by the Red Card Comedy Club in Norwich’s Chapelfield Gardens.
This was the third night of the open-air summer comedy festival that Red Card has run for 10 years.
This show was diverse and entertaining and well glued together by compere Matt Richardson, who got the evening warmed up with some good audience interaction.
The opening act Mat Ewins uses video and animation for his act which makes it more suited to a small theatre than the big tent he is under tonight, but his recreation of Mission Impossible on a miniature railway was very funny.
Next on was Tania Edwards, whose act takes a very self-aware and self-deprecating approach to being a middle class London mum.
The pressures of lockdown have given her plenty of new material and she was honest in her obvious longing for a holiday.
The headliner was Londoner Dane Baptiste, who has a growing profile through his BBC3 TV show Bamous.
Dane has a real presence and he had the crowd laughing from the get go.
His deadpan delivery of material that largely focused on the psychological battle of the sexes is a thin line between subverting expectations and reinforcing stereotypes.
I would have preferred some more diverse subject matter, but his warning about criticising his mum’s cooking was funny as was his topical observation that the only time straight men receive flowers is by either dying or winning an Olympic gold medal.
He went down a storm with this audience and he is obviously a comedian that we will be seeing on our screens regularly.
Big credit to Red Card Comedy for bringing this event again to the city in the difficult circumstances of the last few months.
The outside tent and bars have a great vibe and they are building on it with their ‘Movies in the Park’ event, which runs from August 5 to 7 in the same Chapelfield Gardens location.
Laugh in the Park runs until Sunday, with tickets also available on the door.
Buy tickets for Red Card Comedy Club events at redcardcomedyclub.com
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