Comedy review: Rhys Nicholson: I'm Fine

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Rhys Nicholson sashays on to the stage in front of a bunch of fake orange roses with shiny nails, a sharp pale grey suit and a perfectly styled crimson quiff. He's an outsider and a misfit but he owns the stage.

Underbelly Med Quad (Venue 302)

***

Nicholson is one of the new generation of Australian comics who are currently storming the Edinburgh Fringe.

There is something very, very right going on in Antipodean comedy at the moment and Nicholson is no exception.

He has a distinctive comic voice, a sort of camp, arch drawl which is the perfect setting for his elegantly constructed material.

Punchline follows punchline as Nicholson exploits his neurosis, his sexual history and his quest to spice up his relationship by finding the perfect sex toy.

As Nicholson rightly ascertains, the audience is full of women who have dragged their boyfriends along and the room is still full of the slightly surprised laughter of straight white men who didn’t realise they could enjoy graphic gay material.

Aloof, wired, supersmart, superquick and unashamedly shallow, this crimson-haired diva doesn’t delve into politics or world events.

But this is an excellent, laughter-filled hour and by the end we are all Rhys Nicholson fans.

Until 27 August.