Comedy Festival 2018: Joel Creasey’s hype reel fills fast in Blonde Bombshell ★★★★

JOEL Creasey won’t change your life but you’ll have a damn good time. Top bitchy storytelling from the unapologetically fame-hungry star.

“You might leave this show dumber, but we’ll have a f---ing good time.”

Joel Creasey’s show begins with a manifesto. Well, actually it starts with a lengthy hype reel video showcasing his story so far and how great his career is going. It’s shameless self-promotion and it’s hard to imagine too many other acts getting away with it.

When the man himself finally emerges, he assures everyone that there will be none of the dark personal tales that have become de rigueur at other festival shows, no engaging with the audience (“ew!”), no message, no hugging, no learning.

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What there will be are red carpet stories, online troll-hunting, self-obsession and not-always-flattering celebrity references. In an era of trauma-based comedy offerings, Creasey offers the sweet sugar-rush of inconsequentiality.

His unapologetic hunger for fame is the core of his act, and mercifully he has the required storytelling skills and mix of charm, vulnerability and (ever so slight) self-deprecation to keep it engaging.

Story topics range from being an answer on The Chase to meeting Cher at Mardi Gras to feuding with Vance Joy at the Arias to taking on Kevin Rudd at book fairs.

Joel Creasey’s unapologetic hunger for fame is the core of his act in Blonde Bombshell. Picture: Supplied

But while some yarns might not ace the relatability test – Eurovision tech problems aren’t an issue many of us face – they do serve as delivery systems for gloriously bitchy asides about adjacent celebrities. If you were an Australian Idol contestant at any stage, enter at your own risk.

Even when it gets mildly serious as he describes a health issue that other comics might have leveraged to consider what the meaning of it all is, Creasey keeps it light, bright and breezing along.

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His affair with an unnamed AFL footballer – which generated plenty of headlines upon the release of his book last year – is mentioned late on without a hint of malice and provides a deftly played and wonderfully sweet closer that brings a little substance to proceedings.

He might insist he’s in this less for “the craft” and more for the “fame, free stuff and d--k”, but it’s no accident he’s already forged a formidable career at 27. That hype reel’s only getting longer.

Joel Creasey, Blonde Bombshell

Fairfax Theatre, Arts Centre until May 22

comedyfestival.com.au