Colin Ebsworth – Ebz Dispenser | Various Venues | til 16th Feb | ★ ★ ★ ½
Colin Ebsworth is a comedian for millennials. He’s an Aussie woke bloke and if you’re under 30, there’s a good chance you’ll appreciate his humour.
In true Aussie bloke style, he started his show chugging an entire Corona beer to cheers from the audience and then launched into numerous jokes about Perth’s North-South divide and bogans. Lots of jokes about bogans.
Being a 26-year-old man, he covered topics around sex, sexual culture and the efficiency of Tinder. He made interesting observations on the topic of chivalry, making the point that chivalry changes with culture. He’s a young man adapting to social change in a culture that still celebrates macho ideals of masculinity and much of his humour touches on this.
He focused on sexism, asking men to step up their game. It was refreshing hearing him recognise the wage gap and make jokes around the reality of it. He has insight into young women’s experiences and makes a number of jokes around informing men in ways that are relatable. For example, he suggests being a young woman in a nightclub is like stepping into the ocean and coming across lots of seaweed when you didn’t know it was full of seaweed, a very apt description.
Then there was the plebiscite. Colin is a strong supporter of the Yes vote and outcome, joking that he’s a Werehomosexual, straight until it’s a full moon.
Jokes about being a millennial are scattered throughout the show and yes, maybe one day avocados will be the new form of currency.
He hit a point in the later part of his show where it was obvious he was still working on his material, pulling out an A4 with notes and referring to it regularly. Some worked, some didn’t and some bits he openly admitted needed work. When he’s cracked a dud joke, he owned it, took it in his stride and just kept moving.
He’s smart, he’s a lad and he’s woke. The audience loved him.
Colin Ebsworth is at various venues until Saturday 16th February. Tickets and more info available from fringeworld.com.au
Halimah Halse
