Mike Dorey
In the dimly lit Metro Comedy Club I was brought face to face with an Australian comedian and Fringe festival veteran Matt Harvey.
Comedy is, in my opinion, one of the more subjective art forms, stand-up comedy in particular I think is very difficult to judge. Everyone’s sense of humour is so varied it can be tough to make an objective call on whether a performance of this variety is ‘good’ or not. There are some things though that I can be sure of.
Harvey is a master storyteller: he doesn’t drag his tales out unnecessarily or linger on unimportant points; nor does he skip to the end before the audience is finished absorbing the absurd stories he tells, all whilst lightly dancing over moments where the crowd maybe doesn’t react as he expects. He reads the room with apparent ease and engages with the audience a healthy amount without leaning all the way into crowd work. He appeared to adapt his delivery to provide the audience with the best experience he could and he gained a lot of respect from me for that.
This is not a polished or one of those word-for-word scripted stand-ups I have seen in the past and overall I prefer this approach. Harvey appeared very relaxed and seemed to bask in how comfortable he was. If he wasn’t comfortable, he should be commended on his acting ability aswell as everything else.
Whilst a clearly capable performer, Matt Harvey’s comedy perhaps isn’t for me, or at least not entirely. Having said this, and to reiterate my opening point, comedy is extremely subjective and the room as a whole adored him. I struggle to fault him beyond my own personal taste in comedy.
Recommended drink: A nice cold beer (it’s bloody hot in that venue)
Performances of I Got Bit By a Monkey Once have now concluded at Prague Fringe 2026.
Raynar Rogers
Shay Mace
