Melbourne International Comedy Festival review by Steve Bennett

We live in tumultuous times. Mighty religious clash, the poor are exploited by the rich, and we are all complicit in the pillage of our planet. But never mind that, here’s Hughesy with a story about his pesky kids. That’s what sells the tickets; people want escape.

Yet while most comedians are happiest talking about themselves – and most audience happiest listening to them – Damien Power gets fired up by the big issues. Captured in the epic panoramic scope of I Can’t Believe I Cared are suicidal terrorists, corporate distraction techniques, Oppenheimer’s development of the atomic bomb and the insufficient evolution of our lizard-monkey brains to cope with all of this, and plenty more besides.

The fire of indignity burns bright in his belly, his arguments delivered with passion and inviolable conviction. He’s a smart guy energised by the need to point out bigger truths behind the fog of daily living, and he makes those points – salient every one of them – with conviction and wit.

Yes, his hour is driven by agenda rather than the comedy, which occasionally means his points overpower the jokes; but it is an eloquent argument he makes, subjects segueing freely into each other as components in the overarching worldview he has developed. If you were looking for forebears, you’d have to say he was carrying the torch of Bill Hicks and George Carlin, however obvious they may be as reference points.

The contrast between the bleak big picture and the mundane everyday is where some of his best lines lie, exemplified by the bland outpourings of corporate Twitter account. Or the near limitless potential of humanity, the end product of billions of years of planetary and biological evolution, compared with what trivial bullshit actually occupies us.

This is only Power’s second solo show, but he has the confidence and the delivery techniques beyond his years in comedy; and his topics are single-mindedly attacked with both a vitality and an oratory that boasts an assured use of language. If only politicians had this much conviction.

Review date: 10 Apr 2015
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival