Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

Understandably, Rhys Nicholson is not the only comedian whose thoughts turned to the plebiscite for this year’s comedy festival show. Just as soon as he looked up what ‘plebiscite’ actually meant, that is.

Marriage equality meant a big deal for him. Primarily because he’d proposed to his boyfriend in a drunken Haze a couple of years back, when there seemed to be no possibility of that promise ever being able to be called in.  Yes, with a Nicholson show, it’s all about him.

He brings up the vile bigotry that gained a twisted legitimacy during the public ‘debate', fearing it emboldened the knucklehead who threatened to attack him on a train. The story has menace, but Nicholson doesn’t let it hang for too long, joking that he’s no Hannah Gadsby.

Deep topics are hinted at, but nothing to derail the impeccably stylish comedian’s shtick that’s essentially superficial and selfish. So Seminal is another hour of what the comic’s growing fan base want – arch dismissal of anything he considers an impediment to his indulgent life, whether it be parties where he has to mingle with hoi polloi or couples’ retreats where he has to mingle with… well, same again, really.

The show’s 90 per cent withering attitude, but his fey superiority also yields strong jokes, whether it’s why crystal meth is like a Jennifer Aniston movie or a quip about his certainty about what a good person he is. He suppresses deeper emotion – and has an excellent analogy as to why he wouldn’t want to take a consciousness-expanding substance, lest his demons be unleashed.

He returns to the marriage theme a few times, mulling on his ceramicist parents’ 30-year relationship, sneering at activities deemed romantic, or recalling a proposal he witnessed while working the cruise ships, a stint that’s given him some morbid material about the advanced age of many of the passengers. It’s not the freshest of premises, given how many comedians do similar work at sea, but it’s all infused with Nicholson’s distinctive sass.

Lack of anything more powerful, either in subject matter or comic execution, holds this back from the upper echelons of must-see shows; but acid-tongued Nicholson, always delivers a solid hour of ego-driven comedy cheek. And that job is done again here.

Review date: 10 Apr 2018
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival