Neil! A pompous and pedantic type would quickly point out that the sentence "This place isn't nearly as fun without him" is lacking a VERY necessary word.

The word is "much". You don't say "isn't nearly as fun". That's NOT good English! Tut! Tut! No....you say "isn't nearly as much fun".

And there's your proof that this place isn't nearly as much fun with Spaw off duty.... ;-D