The winner of the 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award for Most Outstanding Show, Rhys Nicholson, returns with a one-off 2023 performance of their critically acclaimed show, Rhys! Rhys! Rhys!
"Well, last year seemed to go quite nicely. How about a return in a big room of that nice little award-winning stand-up comedy show, yeah? That sounds nice, doesn’t it?" said Nicholson. "A nice little comedy show with your ol’ pal Rhys. Let's squeeze as much cash out of this cow as possible. Lovely."
The last couple of years has seen Nicholson continue to rise to the fore of the comedy scene, including the success of their critically acclaimed Netflix comedy special, their role as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, co-opening Melbourne’s newest live comedy venue, the Comedy Republic, numerous acting roles and writing a book of essays.
Over the years, Nicholson has enjoyed many guest and supporting roles in a range of sitcoms traversing networks and countries. Most recently, Nicholson was cast as a series regular in the Netflix sci-fi comedy The Imperfects.
Rated five stars by us here at Time Out Melbourne at the 2022 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with the “highest number of laughs per minute,” you can catch Rhys! Rhys! Rhys! at the Melbourne Town Hall on April 15 and book tickets here.
This is our five-star review of Rhys Nicholson's 2022 show 'Rhys! Rhys! Rhys!' by Cassidy Knowlton:
I had a moment of trepidation when perusing the program for this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Would the great Rhys Nicholson, missing from last year’s program and now a bona fide television star with both a Netflix special and a starring role as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, be too big to do a MICF show? But luckily for Melbourne audiences, Nicholson is back, bringing their signature dry humour, arch sensibility and slightly oxymoronic combination of manic energy and world-weary ennui to a packed-out Forum Theatre.
This show both is and isn't about the pandemic and the past two years, as the neat praeteritio trick of "let's not talk about it, I don't want to talk about it, but..." lets Nicholson both respond to and ignore the lockdowns and attendant trauma. Like a lot of people, he used the lockdown to do some introspection and came to the conclusion that they were non-binary (Nicholson's preferred pronouns are either he or they). The show isn't really about that, but it is a jumping-off point for stories and jokes, including a side-splitting protracted bit about his childhood decision to lean into his own creepiness and call their mother "Mother Dearest". Bits about going to the gym or friends in bad relationships could be tired in another comedian's hands, but Nicholson makes them fresh and delightful. Thanks in part to the speed of their delivery, this is probably the MICF show with the highest number of laughs per minute.
Nicholson is an absolute master of the form, weaving in and out of jokes and stories while continuing to insist "the show hasn't started yet. Actually, there is no show". It's another neat Nicholsonian trick from someone who has perfected the art of stand-up. It's not a reinvention of the form, but when someone is this good, it doesn't have to be. We hope Nicholson's star continues to rise for fortune and glory. Just as long as they still come back to delight us at MICF.
