Review: Daniel Muggleton at the Newcastle Comedy Club

But Daniel Muggleton had no problem finding his mojo last night at Newcastle Comedy Club, and indeed, raised the laugh meter when he finally raised the subject near the end of his show.

Muggleton's headlining set on his White & Wrong tour didn't stop at bogans, taking square aim at racist white Australia and its difficult position in a changing world, especially at home in the face of a litany of indigenous issues.

He didn't really expect to see any bogans in the crowd (it was a full house). "Bogans don't pay money to hear people talk," he said.

But, citing champion golfer Cam Smith and Smith's famous mullet haircut and race car driver Daniel Ricciardo and his trademark drinking from a "shoey" on the winners platform, he declared, "Bogans are winning."

"Bogans win every FM radio competition... Bogans win State of Origin."

Bogans attend Hillsong church and sing "team songs" to Jesus Christ.

"Bogan is believing deep in your heart that knowledge is gay."

Muggleton, a rising star on the comedy circuit in the middle of a national tour, covered a plethora of subjects, drawing the audience in on several subjects, particularly marriage and fertility and raising a family.

Muggleton's set was preceded by Tom Witcombe, the opener who quickly acknowledged he was a Jeffrey Dahmer look-alike.

The MC on the night was local Luke Dillon, who got proceedings off to a good start, landing solid punches with his crowd interaction - it set the tempo for the whole night.

Muggleton, hitting the stage in his now-trademark red Adidas tracksuit, began by picking on Adelaide. "Adelaide is one of those towns with Brisbane symptom. They think they are a city."

After talking about working in the UK as a comedian and coming back to Australia just before the pandemic lockdowns - specifically, to get married, he worked his way into the subject of wanting to have a child with his wife and the subject of fertility and dealing with kids, before segueing into the subject of "white Australia".

He zeroed in a Novak Djokovic's deportation from Australia - "turns out we've got a court you can't win in" and pointed out that he was white - so it was a "victimless crime".

He reached into the bag of "I think we are trying to change" on the racism issue and addressed the controversial notion of changing Australia Day ("I just don't think there's a day we weren't c - - - - to them," he said).

Muggleton goes dark and deep, with intelligence. He admits on stage he is not everybody's cup of tea. But he certainly is cathartic, and that's the best reason to go to a comedy club.