Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

At the top of her game after 20 years, Celia Pacquola offers the Rolls-Royce of stand-up – elegantly classy and so perfectly engineered that it seems effortless, despite a powerful comedy engine purring under the hood.

She says that she was reluctantly compelled to put together this show after receiving a wholly inappropriate 42nd birthday present from her partner – an inflatable kayak, something she’d never expressed any interest in – and needed to unload about it. And thank god she did.

The unwelcome surprise obviously got her thinking about relationships and how well people know each other, with this hour then spinning off to other thoughts about gift-giving, family (parenting especially, as the mother of a toddler) and the Avengers-style group of friends she can always call to say WTF?! whenever boyfriend Dara does something weird.

Her topics are highly relatable – aging, her hatred of jazz and tattoos, blokes being well-meaning but sometimes a bit useless – but she never offers a bland take on any of it. That comes from being honest about her experiences and drilling into them rather than reaching for the clichés. 

We can also identify with less generic stories that are ‘just her’, like being attacked by a cat in a very particular way, because she presents herself as a slightly hapless everywoman, just one who happens to be sharply funny.

For Pacquola is a deceptively tight writer. Gift Horse may sound like conversational storytelling but there’s a  gag every couple of lines. She conceals her craftsmanship expertly, in this and in the way the show builds a structure as it goes.

In a slight departure this year, the comic allows herself to depart from the comfort blanket of that tight script to solicit ‘bad present’ stories from her audience. No gold today, though it’s amusing enough, and other rooms have given her material she can pass on. 

Everything ties up satisfyingly, too, with a rewarding climax that comes across as natural and unforced, unlike some comics who reach for laboured callbacks.  Again, she makes it look easy to build an hour that’s charming and upbeat, yet still punchy, and the final furlong is the perfect distillation of that. 

• Celia Pacquola: Gift Horse has finished its Melbourne run, but plays Hobart, Brisbane, Sydney and Newcastle next month.

Review date: 15 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival