Steven Oliver is a self-confessed Faboriginal. Discuss.  

Comic Steven Oliver is self-confessed ‘Faboriginal’, which if his show is anything to go by means he’s a very talented, very funny, very entertaining gay man from Cloncurry.

I had never met a Faboriginal before Steven Oliver. What is a Faboriginal?

Well I guess the only definition I can come up with is that a Faboriginal is a talented, very funny, very entertaining gay man from Cloncurry. How many of them are there?

Not sure but Steven Oliver is a self-confessed Faboriginal and his fans love him for it.

Those fans packed out La Boite’s Roundhouse Theatre last night for his Bigger & Blacker show, running until March 27.

The audience was a lovely diverse mixture of non-indigenous folk with plenty of mob on hand to cheer him on.

I spotted artist Tony Albert in the throng and everyone was having a great time as Oliver spoke about the intimacies of his struggles, the love he feels for his “mob”, the ups and downs of show business and the slings and arrows of love and the healing power of music. He also talks about being “a minority within a minority”.

Oliver is a Brisbane-based comedian and TV personality whose starring role in the ABC TV series Black Comedy gave him a national profile.

He’s a descendant of the Kuku-Yalanji, Waanyi, Gangalidda, Woppaburra, Bundjalung and Biripi peoples and was born in Cloncurry and then he grew up largely in Townsville.

Steven Oliver. Faboriginal? Moi?: picture supplied by Adelaide Cabaret Festival

He’s 45, 46 soon, which he happily shared and he’s a poet, rapper, song and dance man and a charming presence in a theatre.

He’s also an ambassador for the experience of Indigenous Australia and his honesty and warmth in sharing his experiences is gratifying and gives us a window into his world.

His singing is actually more like spoken word than singing at times but that’s okay.

He writes his own material which is terrific and he is accompanied in this show by his friend, pianist and music director Michael Griffiths on piano.

That makes this show a somewhat old fashioned affair, a cabaret nightclub experience of the sort that was once popular and is coming into vogue again now.

The interaction between Oliver and Griffiths is priceless and Griffiths is there to back him up and then at times the two croon together and it’s old school entertainment of the best sort.

Michael Griffiths and Steven Oliver are a dynamic duo in Bigger & Blacker: Photo by Morgan Roberts

And Oliver struts the stage with all the chutzpah of Judy Garland mixed with introspection and even self-doubt at times

This show, which is around 80 minutes long, made its world premiere at the 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival to rave reviews and will tour again nationally after a season at La Boite.

And I kind of get the feeling that Steven Oliver is just getting started.

laboite.com.au