Just For Laughs: The Stand Up Series

Relationships have long been the source of comedic fodder; everyone has either had one, wants one, is in one or desperately looking for escape. Thanks to the comics who peeled back the layers at The Playhouse for the Australian Just for Laughs series hosted by Dave Thornton on Saturday night, there wasn't much that escaped scrutiny.

Thornton shared the terror that can arise when your other half arrives home, legless, amorous and determined to have their way while you cower under the doona waiting for the drink-induced madness to pass. 

Karl Chandler's examination of the world around us and the foibles of his fellow man make for some interesting contrasts - especially the gap between expectation and reality. Unlike his contemporaries performing on Saturday, Chandler's stock in trade is the traditional one-liner which offered a different world view and an interesting flavour amid an evening of anecdotes.

Gretel Killeen explained why the members of her generation have been conditioned to settle for losers; "Our parents didn't love us, they didn't tell us we were special or important or pay us any attention. They said "What's so special about you?" 

Cam Knight shed some light into the trauma associated with having children. Whether this was as a form of group therapy, a cautionary tale or a demystification of the process, I have yet to decide. Still, Knight's tale was a wonderfully warped view of a process, focusing mainly on dealing with desensitised staff at IVF clinics and how to get the sample into the cup. Daddy's little trick shot indeed.

Em Rusciano expanded on this theme, with a focus on the real facts of life after your progeny has arrived - all the stuff she rightly says you will never read about in the smarmy pregnancy and birthing books. And a hell of a lot more than I ever wanted to know. Bitch keeps it tight.

Moving past conception and the rigours of childhood, Tommy Little instead shared his musings on finally having money - any money - spend on things he's never bought before (prosciutto anyone?) and what those in the sensible shirts and shoes in the audience somehow intrinsically know is the correct amount of cured meat. I dunno either, Mum always boiled her own corned beef.