Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Angella Dravid’s I’m Happy For You must contain some of the darkest humour on offer at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. 

On the back of her Fred Award win for best New Zealand Show at the NZ International Comedy Festival, Dravid brings her startlingly black sense of humour to topics most comedians wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. 

Her show focuses primarily on a traumatic incident she endured as a child. Appropriately, she dedicates a good portion of her opening to trigger warnings, adding refreshing commentary about the tightrope the alerts force her to walk; how can she provide adequate pre-emptive care for her audience without spoiling her imminent punch lines?

Many comedians have taken to deploying their darker stories  to strike a sombre chord late in their shows before the joyful resolution of a final chorus. But Dravid has the unusual luxury – or burden, depending on how you spin it – of having numerous traumatic stories throughout her hour-long show. 

This is what makes it so crucial that Dravid communicates her desire for the audience to laugh along with her. She makes it thoroughly clear: she is saying these things because she thinks they are funny, so the audience should feel Comfortable finding them funny too. Even the fact that she has such a wealth of material is funny to her! 

She plays knowingly with the blessing-but-a-curse predicament she finds herself in as a comedian with such intense lived experience; she’ll always have something to write a show about. 

While one particular story of abuse forms the bedrock of I’m Happy For You, the several others that Dravid references tangentially don’t get the airtime they deserve. 

The comedian’s assurances notwithstanding, it’s hard to laugh at an almost throwaway comment about a horrifying experience someone endured. The anecdotes Dravid dedicated the most time to flourished because they gave her charmingly confrontational comedic persona the space to thrive. But often that persona disappeared to reveal the comic’s shyer natural self, taking with it any urge to laugh at this vulnerable person’s tribulations. 

Not for the faint of heart, I’m Happy For You will reward those seeking to darken their definition of black comedy. 

• Angella Dravid:I’m Happy For You runs at the The Motley Wherehaus at 8.30pm today and tomorrow

Review date: 4 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Anna Stewart
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival