Minger of the World | Cardiff Comedy Festival | Chapter Arts Centre | 13th July 2016
As you may or may not know, all over Cardiff across the month of July, venues are hosting the Cardiff Comedy Festival which is going strong in its 7th year despite often unknown to many Cardiff residents. One of the many shows it put on was Carri Munn’s Minger of the World at Chapter Arts Centre.
Before I get on to the actual show, I must talk about the support act Charlie Smith. As support acts go, you couldn’t have picked a more well matched start to the end. Smith, opening with a blend of slapstick and topical humour which surprisingly worked to great effect, then delivered a set of delightful (if not groundbreaking) observational material punctuated with pertinent political jokes.
Despite his asides of how his performance degree had given him little skill (tangents I seemed to enjoy a lot more then the rest of the audience), he used those physicality skills masterfully in his setups and punchlines.His upbeat attitude and setup contrasting with the bleaker material was hilarious, the only thing was it could have been pushed even further.
It was a shame that sometimes jokes were lost through enunciation and that he lost his momentum at the end of the act, but he delivered the majority with a charm and enthusiasm that made it difficult not to laugh.
Going on to Munn herself, it was easy to see the similarities between her and Smith. Both had a lot of funny, if not the most novel set of observations (running is hard, relationships lose their sheen over time, etc.) but yet again her exuberance carried it through to a very enjoyable performance. Both her face and body are incredibly dexterous throughout, resulting in some of the best physicality I have ever seen in a performance.
She occasionally twisted observations into something far darker and these were the comedic highlights as her brilliance as a jokewriter shone through. I just wished that there was more! However, as the saying goes, “know your audience” and Munn was certainly savvy of hers. Not only it is quite graphic at points but sometimes the cultural references were clearly aimed at the middle aged majority of the audience. I will say this is definitely not a show suitable for you younger readers!
Also as a show based around a woman and a self-proclaimed “minger” examining her own appearance, behind all the laughs there was a rather sad element in the real life element of scrutiny. All evidence shown to the audience as proof of this title only seemed to show the comic’s harsher critique of herself than others would have and highlighted how maybe we are all too hard on ourselves. Whether this was the intended point is uncertain as the ending lacked a punchy conclusion, but definitely worth a watch if you hate how you look.
Overall, however, Munn is an extremely likable performer that you’ll love if you like Sarah Millican and has created a highly relatable and entertaining show, even if not exactly for a younger audience.
You can follow Carri and Charlie on Twitter to keep up to date with their future ventures:
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Image Credit to Chapter Arts Centre