Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

No Small Talk is something of a misnomer for Anisa Nandaula given she loves chit-chat with her audience. 

The crowd work doesn’t produce comedy gold, but the personable stand-up is popular on TikTok – and the social media audience tends to like the personal touch. She’s flirty and friendly, affectionately referring to anyone she speaks to as ‘cutie pie’ while seeking out the various relationship statuses and nationalities in the room (especially African ones) helps tee up her routines.

Growing up as a black Muslim in Queensland with an Asian-Australian boyfriend, cultural differences are inevitably a big part of her material. Her personality takes elements from both the  progressive therapy-forward cosmopolitan urban Australia she now inhabits and her blunt Ugandan dad who’d never knowingly express an emotion. Nandaula herself is open and gregarious, but can also be brutally unsentimental, sharing the same no-nonsense attitude. 

She plays on liberal guilt – especially if it  can make her white male bosses nervous, allowing her to claim some power over them. Meanwhile, she dismisses white nationalists as ‘so silly’ rather than giving them the anger they seek – typical of the light touch she brings to her more substantive material.

And plenty of this sophomore show – loosely hung around travel back to Africa – doesn’t lean on such issues at all. The quandary of telling a woman whether her bikini is too exposing might not exactly be universal, but everyone can surely understand the premise. 

Nandaula’s background as a beat poet gives her pacing and delivery an appealing natural cadence, while she has an immensely personable and effortlessly confident stage presence. It’s a winning combination that’s bringing big audiences, even before the profile boost an appearance on next series of Taskmaster Australia will bring.

Review date: 6 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival