Scott Brennan, Adam Richard and Toby Sullivan present what they freely admit is probably the least structured or rehearsed show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, a stand-up panel they’ve dubbed Talking Poofy.

Quaffing champers throughout and making each other laugh pretty much constantly, Brennan, Richard and Sullivan (‘just three VERY fucking lazy drag queens, people!’) manage to simultaneously challenge and reinforce a good deal of stereotypes about gay culture. Ranging from old-fashioned Carry On camp to new century pop culture – ‘Homo Mythbusters’ being a simple but effective highlight – the Poofy crew deliver a lot of laughs and a few knowing groans.

Unfortunately, the show itself seems slightly confused about exactly who it is aimed at – the gay community, who will get all of the jokes and in-crowd references? Or the curious straights to whom so much of the material seems aimed at ‘educating’?

Which brings me to the thing that put me on the back foot almost from the very start – the fact that, like so much of the gay community, Talking Poofy supports the concept and only acknowledges the existence of a binary-option model for human sexuality. Any gay men in tonight? Any lesbians? Any straight people? Sure, but when do the rest of us get to raise our hands? I struggled for the rest of the show to keep reminding myself that I clearly wasn’t their intended audience – even though I was laughing continuously.