As Jane Austen once observed, “All young women are accomplished. They sing, they draw, they dance, speak French and German, cover screens and I know not what.” Well Ms Austen, in the case of female comedic collective the Skirt Network, inimitable attitude seems to rank high on the accomplishment list – and their second annual showcase was no exception.

Appropriately for this session of sheilas doin’ it for themselves, the evening kicked off with some actual sisters. Karin and Emma Muizneiks are two girls and a guitar, and take on that oh-so-feminine topic of blokey love. Between blokes. But not like that. The material was certainly left-field, but a fun and punchy start to a night of surprises.

Bogan humour continued to run amok with Sarah Bennetto and Melinda Buttle. Straight out of Swan Hill and Brisbane respectively, Bennetto’s long treatise on the risks country girls face when separating from the pack was sheer genius, and highly educational. Festival darling Buttle won hearts while defining “diet-bogan”, and Emma-Louise Wilson brought up the feral rear with her uncomfortably convincing Oakes Day “lady” impersonation.

Droll “poet laureate” Telia Neville turned to verse to evoke equally shameful events, in her moving work entitled Blue Light Disco – specifically, moving the room to tears of laughter. Bearing a harp, Linda Beatty took the art of words a step further, with an ode to female orgasm that has forever changed the way I’ll watch Disney’s Aladdin. More character work came from Lou Sanz, with an erudite reading from her own eventful memoirs. Sanz has comic timing in spades, and held court spectacularly.

While you get the impression that all these girls could talk under wet cement, show-stealer Anna “Pocket Rocket” Lumb didn’t have to. Instead, the trapeze artist took to the skies with a killer punk-pop soundtrack, and a hilariously mimed romantic subplot, casting herself as a superhero even bigger than GI Joe.

Headliners Felicity Ward and Celia Pacquola didn’t put a foot wrong with trademark tales of awkward yet adorable antics. So much talent left MC Claire Hooper somewhat in the shadows, but her co-host Geraldine Hickey made the most of the role, with a blokey and in-your-face running commentary. Really, though, the pair did the right thing in letting the acts speak for themselves. And collectively, the clear message was: Girls Rock.