Melbourne International Comedy Festival - part 3 / by Stephanie Puls

RHYS NICHOLSON - Easily my favourite show of the festival so far. Just rapid-fire laugh after laugh after laugh from this Sydney-based comic. Crappy venue (Roxanne, tucked in near Chinatown) but that doesn't detract from what a brilliant show this is. Highly recommend! Herald Sun's Mikey Cahill gave it 4.5 stars, to add weight to my claim!

DAMIEN POWER - I've heard a bit of hype about Brisbane-based Damien during previous festivals and was determined to catch him this time round. There was certainly plenty of laughs but said hype did mean my expectations were really high and this show didn't quite get there for me. It's an interesting style, some really blokey quite bogan stuff which seemed to be well-received but then some stuff on Karl Marx and Pompeii just didn't land, which he acknowledged in the show in a way that was funnier than the material. Interestingly, Mikey Cahill from Herald Sun gave this show 4.5 stars too. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one, more like a 3 star show for me.