Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

Just about everything about Rhys Nicholson’s presentation is a stand-out. He sports a look that’s so distinctive he’s almost a human logo while he cracks out tart judgments with a whiney lisp and at a relentless lick – bursts of acidic energy that stand him in excellent stead as a host.

His material is as confident as his showman-like delivery, though over an hour the ‘me, me, me’ theme strains for something more weighty than catty barbs. But atypically of what might be classed as camp comedy, most of these are aimed back at himself – it is the most topic he finds most interesting, after all.

There’s arguably higher purpose in his constant reminders about Australia’s reluctance to legalise marriage equality, though other comics have seemed to care more over the years. It’s of special interest to him, though, as he’s now waiting for a law change, having recently proposed to his boyfriend of six years. In a really messy, unromantic way.

He touches on anxiety too, while the alleged theme of Bona Fide, lying, is only fleetingly present. The idea of this being a show about untruths is a fib; it’s more than likely a title chosen to envelop an hour of barely related routines merely because it has the word ‘boner’ in it.

It is, in fact, an hour built on funny yarns that seem genuine, from the spectacular revenge prank his mum pulled, of trips to Queensland, or of him getting very drunk at fellow comic Steen Raskopoulos’s wedding. They might not be anecdotes that stay with you for weeks to come, but offer a bracing ride as he tells them.

They are filled with waspish bon mots, ‘truth bombs’ he brags semi-ironically, which might benefit from a little more space to breathe, although the relentless delivery is so inherent a part of Nicholson’s charisma you wouldn’t want to slow him down. 

Overall, the tone is a mix of self-deprecation and self-confidence, perhaps typical of a generation of twentysomethings taught to celebrate their quirks and place themselves at the centre of the universe.  That’s certainly true of this acerbic wit.

Review date: 6 Apr 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett