Having never seen Sydney-based Tom Witcombe perform stand-up before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. He likes to define his comedy as ‘edgy’ and ‘not for everyone’ and after seeing him on Saturday night, I could definitely see what he meant. Confident, articulate and very funny, Tom is a comedian who uses a lot of sarcasm to get his points across. It’s at times a little blokey, maybe even inappropriate, but in the confines of a comedy show hits all the right notes to get a laugh out of the audience. Tom Witcombe finds it hard, as a middle-aged white male, to stand out from a growingly diverse crowd. Having a girlfriend who wants to get married and pregnant within the next six years and trying to survive in the expensive Sydney real estate market, is just adding to his problems. This the theme of the show and, on the whole, it holds up pretty well. Mentioning to the audience at the start of his gig that Problematic is still a work in progress, I found that some jokes may have missed the mark but the majority landed pretty well. Even Tom’s bundle of ‘Jokes that didn’t make the cut’ got a good laugh out of the appreciative audience. But let’s maybe just leave the bagging South Australia jokes at home next time. After a month-long Fringe festival filled with interstate and international acts, the ‘boring Adelaide’ joke has been flogged to death. For a stand-up show that hasn’t been trialled much around Australia, Problematic offered plenty of good laugh out loud moments and cringe in your seat humour. If the Adelaide Fringe was his trial run for this comedic performance, then I’d say the eastern states (where he’s next headed) is in for a great time when he arrives. Problematic in name and nature, Tom is a comedian who is on the rise. FOUR STARS ****