Comedy Festival 2018: Dave Thornton easy to warm to in So What Now? ★★★

AS true-blue Aussie as can be — exaggerated with loads of f-words, fun stage antics and packed with comic energy — Dave Thornton is one of the most affable, matey, comics in the festival.

THE tone of Dave Thornton’s show is set within the first few minutes of appearing on stage.

When he sees a quarter-full glass of Coopers that has been left on the stage, he swills it quickly winning plenty of laughs.

But everyone loves him for it. He’s that kind of guy. Impossible to take offence; easy to warm to his easy, Aussie style of humour.

Dave Thornton in So What Now?

Content is plentiful from his Foo Fighters concert, describing it as a pilgrimage which accessed the “dormant bogan waiting to come out”, to his dig at Melbourne’s rich suburbs being full of “thoroughbred dogs being walked by thoroughbred humans”.

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The proud Brunswick dweller makes light of his crazy neighbourhood but most of the show’s jokes are about fatherhood to his 18-month-old daughter. He sets it up as a type of duty to give men in the audience aged in their 20s a rite of passage to prepare them for fatherhood.

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Toddlers make for natural comedy and he milks those possibilities for all they’re worth.

It is the energy Thornton brings to the stage that brings impetus to his comedy and he doesn’t miss a beat. He is quick, anxious, well-prepared, self-assured and few would be disappointed with his show.

Dave Thornton, So What Now?

Max Watts, 125 Swanston St, City (opposite Melbourne Town Hall). Until April 22.

comedyfestival.com.au