Review: Jamali Maddix – Vape Lord

A cosy night in Gorilla. The room is packed with loud and proud Mancunians ready for a night comedy. We can see Jamali peering his head out on stage to let the lighting guy know he’s ready. The act who appears on stage is Alfie Brown.

Brown is a well-seasoned comic, opening for Jamali on this tour. If you get a chance to see him, you won’t be disappointed. He knows how to work the crowd (or should we say pick on it), and spends his time making light of vegans, his friend’s significant other, and one particularly muscular guy in the front row.

There was clearly a very tangible friendship between Brown and Maddix: Brown made it clear he was happy for Maddix’s success despite having been working the circuit for twice the amount of time.

After a bar break, Jamali comes out on stage for his set which lasts an hour and a half. Hailing from East London, Maddix won the 2014 Chortle Student Comedian of the Year Award, and rose to fame through hosting the Vice documentary ‘Hate Thy Neighbour’.

Throughout the night Maddix made many jokes about how Vice had ruined his life and how he hated the show. He explains how his life was put in danger several times during filming, especially at a KKK bar.

Maddix was able to get laughs out of the crowd with minimal effort, especially once he started to vape on stage and asked the audience to buy him drinks. The second half of his set focused on his hatred for cats, his ways to cure the blues (by watching Paedohunters) and joining ISIS. He could make light of these difficult and crowd-dividing issues (I’m more of a dog person myself) all while sipping on a can of Red Stripe.

The show, in all, was chilled and relaxed but full of laughs. Maddix is on tour with Vape Lord until early next year, travelling through the states and the rest of Europe.