Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

Before Damien Power starts, there is a programme to be read containing quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Sagan and the Slovenian psychoanalytic philosopher, Slajov Zizek. Just in case you were thinking this was going to be a show of amusing incidents on the tram or jokes about Tinder.

As the paperwork suggests, Power is clearly a fantastically well-read comedian, although it’s also a slight drawback in that he can seem like a conduit for the thoughts of others as much as he is considering these things for himself. The main thread, for example, of humans figuring out how to make our ‘monkey-lizard-possum’ brain function in a world it’s not properly adapted to is a cornerstone of evolutionary psychology.

Still, there are definitely more laughs in Power’s take on the topics than your average textbook, as he uses the science to explain our base instincts and how we are lucky they are genuinely held in check most of the time. Otherwise you might find yourself trying to fight a car, a behaviour Power has observed first-hand.

This is the incident that sparks this swirling hour of ideas, from white privilege to how we create our own realities online, from Reclaim Australia racists to him being a single father, and from badly behaved footy stars to chickens (which might not be such an evolutionary leap) as he communicates the complex ideas he’s read up on with a light touch.

All is delivered with the forceful swagger of a bar-room philosopher and peppered with accessible jokes. But beware! Not all are what they seem, as, in the most audacious and impressive section, Power lays punchlines as traps, then challenges our assumptions that made us laugh.

It is impossible to write a review of this passionate comic without evoking Bill Hicks, not just as the go-to reference for anyone doing big-picture social comedy, but because Power’s musings on the unknowable consciousness are very close to Hick’s hippyish views on the same. The preacher-like style is present, too – although at times he’s a bit more like a lecturer, albeit a good one, as he’s keen to explicitly show his mental workings, and get us on board too. 

His assertion is that he wants us to laugh and to think, which is pretty much achieved, even if he is compelled to tell us exactly what it is we should be thinking.

Review date: 8 Apr 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett