Melbourne comedian Nath Valvo brought his stand-up show ‘Not In This House’ to Brisbane as part of the ‘Wonderland Festival’ at the Brisbane Powerhouse.
This follows on from scoring a nomination for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, recording a debut stand-up TV special for the ABC and appearances at the Just For Laughs Festival in Sydney and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It’s not hard to see why; Nath Valvo is funny... Really funny.
The crowd on Saturday night were laughing throughout and occasionally clapping and cheering in agreement, something Nath never failed to get a fix on and acknowledge. As a gay man some of his routine had to do with the recent plebiscite result, Grindr escapades and other situations seen through the prism of a gay man’s existence. Yet it doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight, there’s certain things that we all go through and that is what Nath’s show is all about.
The sudden disinterest from your parents unless you have grandkids, the comfort of an ongoing long term relationship, peers' milestone achievements plastered across social media, family dynamics and overpriced baby monitors that you have to be careful around. As the show went on, a particular series of bits about childhood memories of family holidays had the audience in stitches. He brought insight and great wit to things many of us can relate to and there was unpredictability to where his show was going to go next. Triathlons, as it turned out.
This is stand-up the way it should be done: holding up a mirror to an audience and inviting them to laugh at themselves and the comedian on stage... Bringing people together by sharing what we have in common. The very funny Nath Valvo’s star will only continue to rise.
