Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

With last year's The Hurricane, Joel Creasey offered a fabulously indiscreet romp through the celebrity circles he found himself moving through, reporting back as an outsider who'd seen behind the curtain of stardom.

It's a format he strives to repeat with The Crown Prince, although not so successfully now he is fully immersed in Planet D-List himself, a regular on the red carpets and the gossip columns since appearing in I’m A Celebrity. Indeed, he kicks off proceedings with a glitzy, self-aggrandising showreel with clips of him in all manner of TV shows (and at a marriage equality rally - see how caring he is) just to underline the point that he's a growing star now. As if anyone who had a ticket didn't know who he was.

Once on stage, he tells us his new job is as the hired best friend of Playboy model Kendra in her new reality show - so much for the 'just like you' outsider. This first half feels very much like stand-up's equivalent of OK magazine, name-checking all manner of minor celebs and delivering gossipy asides about them. And although he gets upset at being dismissed as a reality star, he can be catty about those further down the food chain (ie on My Kitchen Rules) as being a nobody, all through a veneer of self-deprecation.

As a non-Australian, I was definitely at a disadvantage here as you definitely need to know who the people are for the in-jokes to work. But even if I did live here, I'm not sure I'd really care what Channel Ten entertainment presenter Angela Bishop is really like.

Only in the second half do things pick up considerably – all thanks to Creasey's pain when he's Dumped by a cheating boyfriend in Los Angeles, in a story where he nearly outs a closeted British actor (exciting!). His subsequent, failed, attempts to maintain dignity through his heartbreak – normally when Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Ellie Kemper was around – is much stronger, as the story is personal and the jeopardy real. And his attempt to snag a Broadway actor is a genuinely hilarious, and humiliating, yarn.

Even when the stories are weak, Creasey remains a warm and engaging chatterbox, keen to befriend the audience with his stolen confidences. It’s an appealing personality which lands him the increasing levels of TV work he’s getting – although he may soon have to decide whether his goal should be to become a great comic or just to become famous. 

Review date: 7 Apr 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett