The poster art for Mother Of The Year is tantalising. Catherine Deveny (from The Age and ABC radio) brandishes a boxing glove in front of fellow comedians Nelly Thomas and Christine Basil. The prospect of a bit of biffo between these sharp wits had me really looking forward to the show. It turned out that there wasn’t a lot of actual sparring, but the good news is that the show was still funny. The show’s title and artwork is more a concept that packages the three comedians together – don’t expect too much politically incorrect competitiveness about motherhood like Fiona O’Loughlin’s schtick.

The three comedians did a 20-minute set each and then came together at the end, where surprisingly the well-known Deveny came away with a few bruises. Onstage and freed of editorial control, she didn’t have to creatively word her aggression and so resorted more to swearing for impact, losing some of her punch. That’s not to say she was bad, just that the other comedians outshone her at the final bell (okay – no more boxing metaphors).

Nelly Thomas set a political tone with some material about maternity leave, and her closing theatrical re-enactment of giving birth was a winner when it so easily might not have been (Thomas did break her promise that it would be mimed, but it still avoided the disarming displays of distress Hollywood films relish in). The highlight, though, was Christine Basil. Her twenty years on the comedy circuit came to the fore as she slickly and simply ran through her hilarious and heartfelt take on motherhood.

The marketing of this show means it’ll mostly be a ‘mum’ crowd that attends, and there were plenty of happy murmurs of agreement at the references throughout the show. But most people have at least one mum and there’s joy to be had here for a wider crowd.

Deveny may not have lived up to the hype, but her notoriety will get more people discovering Thomas and Basil. So it’s a good result either way.