Dave Bloustien
Beastly

Jah'z Lounge
Fri 23 March
until Sat 31 March


Last year Sydney based comedian Dave Bloustien turned out to be among my favourite new acts to watch out for at future events; and this Fringe he didn't disappoint.

First and possibly foremost, he's such a nice guy and his virtuous good nature certainly goes a long way when making initial contact with audience members. Secondly, while his brand of comedic storytelling isn't side-busting uproarious, it is intelligently humorous enough to make you want to listen to every word and laugh along when appropriate to do so.

As he noted at one stage, his style is more "niche humour", therefore while no one is ever excluded, some jokes are more appreciated by some people than others.

Rather than opting for straight stand up as he did on his last visit, 'Beastly' starts out as a travelogue of Bloustien's recent trip to Africa, and emerges as a political dig at the recent trend of third world baby adoptions by celebrities and misappropriated global charity funds. And once again he remained fair rather than downright nasty with his squinted sense of witticism.

Providing plenty of less well known facts, theories and the occasional lie about the continent's wildlife, Bloustien backed much of these claims with photos and either a single or double note on a toy xylophone to signal whether or not they're true or false. Then there was the part where he told us of being asked to entertain a group of school kids, only to realise that after performing a coin trick that black magic was strictly taboo in that village. An enjoyable show in the true sense of the word.

Steve Jones