Comedy Festival 2018: Titus O’Reily finds the goal in A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport ★★★½

MATCH-fit sports satirist Titus O’Reily boots plenty of winners in his quirky guide to the games Australians play.

“ANYONE here a non-sport person?”

Titus O’Reily posed this question the other night and not one arm shot up.

Which was just as well.

His one-man show, A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport, is tailor-made for the sports nut whether their passion is footy, racing or cricket. Or all of the above.

Titus O'Reily in A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport.

O’Reily, who dresses like a bookie, knows his stuff and name-checks all the seminal events in our national sports story. Bodyline, the America’s Cup, Brendan Fevola ... and he’s not afraid to be a little controversial.

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Leaning on his mic, O’Reily draws neat parallels between British imperialism and the AFL, unpicks class differences between the rugby codes, and has a field day probing St Kilda footy club’s penchant for setting fire to short people.

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Does the ball-tampering fiasco get a fly? Of course. O’Reily - sensitive to the nuances of Test cricket - is just the man to take a good, hard look at sandpaper between the groin.

All in all, a good innings. Well judged and nicely pitched.

Titus O’Reily, A Thoroughly Unhelpful History of Australian Sport

Imperial Hotel (cnr Bourke and Springs Sts, city), until April 22.

comedyfestival.com.au