Being an Australian household name in the Comedy Festival carries with it a certain level of expectation. That burden couldn’t fall more heavily on Peter Helliar whose notoriety from ‘Rove Live’ and a fan base generated from ‘Before the Game’ seemed to be a major drawcard for the first of his two shows at the Melbourne Town Hall. Fortunately for this home crowd, Helliar is one of those rare comedians who actually live up to all the hype.

His talent doesn’t lie in the jokes he tells but the way he tells them. The topics covered aren’t particularly daring or atypical of what you would find in your average comedy routine: the differences between men and women, bird flu, Iraqi elections, and erectile dysfunction nasal sprays. By themselves, these gags are simply amusing at best. However, it’s the darting eyes, exaggerated gestures, character switching, not-so-perfect accents and bounding enthusiasm that had me gripping my stomach from laughing so hard. Quite simply, he looks like he is having fun and you get drawn in.

It’s clear that Helliar has become accustomed to working in front of live audiences and rolling with all the punches that this can bring. The true scope of his wit was displayed whenever his show didn’t go according to plan: many times he managed to turn minor screw-ups into comedic gems, making the punchline to the original joke obsolete.

I’m usually a tough crowd, but I struggled to find fault with this show. Go see it.