Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

Australian comedy’s answer to the tabloid magazines, Joel Creasey makes no secret of his limited artistic vision. Admitting he’s only in comedy for the fame, fortune and sex, he promises his show is an hour of ‘calling celebrities fat for an hour’. He’s wrong on that. It lasts an hour and 15…

As a way-too-long and way-too-self-congratulatory opening montage shows, this former I’m A Celebrity contestant now moves in those behind-the-velvet-rope circles themselves. He met Cher when presenting coverage of Mardi Gras, mingled with various leading lights of the music scene at the Arias, and was on the receiving end of a viewer backlash for hosting the Eurovision Song Contest.

All this and more provides plenty of scurrilous – and possibly libellous – fodder for Creasy’s gossip-mongering. He’s a man who enjoys nothing more than seeing a fall from grace or revelling in the bitchiness of a celebrity feud, his own being with Riptide singer Vance Joy. 

He even enjoys the trolling he gets on Twitter, which he’s collected in a glittery scrapbook to share with the audience, along with his comebacks. Though both the concept of sharing such messages, and his responses – often a variant of ‘I fucked your dad’ – are hardly original.

Bitchy barbs at the easy targets of Z-listers are comedically slight, but give Creasy a waspish vibe that appeals to his ever-growing fan base. This is a 27-year-old whose ‘most harrowing experience’ was at Eurovision, so don’t go expecting too much deep soul-searching,

However he has got a couple of entertaining first-hand tales that go a little further than superficial gossip, not least of being upstaged by a dog (and occasionally a former Prime Minister) while on his book tour, or his unfortunate experiences nightclubbing in Kiev. 

And a thread about his relationship with a model who’s much hotter than him  – but less funny, as Creasey’s at pains to point out – adds some emotional cushioning to soften the insult-flinging elsewhere. Because hearing about his real-life experiences is more rewarding than reliving social media spats or what celebrities he’s insinuating are on drugs. 

Review date: 31 Mar 2018
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival