Famously forthright ABC presenter Virginia Trioli is unamused by queer comedian Nath Valvo’s shtick. So much so that the memory of sharing the couch with her and News Breakfast co-host Michael Rowland some six years ago still haunts his recurring nightmares. By complete fluke, Valvo was booked to appear on the same morning as his hunky boyfriend, with the producers blissfully unaware of the connection. His partner just so happens to be an infectious diseases scientist who’s been in high demand this last couple of years (while Valvo mastered TikTok) but was then on to discuss advances in HIV treatment.
Valvo, by comparison, chose those 15 minutes of fame to talk about a record-breaking assembly of folks dressed in cow onesies. The interview literally ended with Trioli telling him to stop talking and go away. It’s just one of many excruciatingly hilariously incidents the self-deprecatingly gifted comedian mines to induce raucous laughter from a predominantly straight crowd who can’t get enough of his Olympic-level face expression throwing and stage prancing.
Our worked-up audience lapped up his generous insights into the wilder excesses of a gay man’s life – a joke about why he’d be on his knees in a park is a hoot. But he’s also great at conveying just how humdrum life is in his late 30s and 12 years into a de facto relationship. Gloriously reinforcing that no one has to be coupled up to be happy and fulfilled, he does love single folks because they liven up otherwise dreary dull dinner parties with their self-shaming tales of slut pride. From post-Catholic jokes to over-the-hill pokes, Valvo stands and delivers. Back in the Habit may not reinvent the comedy wheel, but it sure turns the venue into a big-hearted party.
This show was reviewed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2022.
