[Comedy/Stand-up Victoria, World Premier]

Upstairs at The Howling Owl – Thur 22 Feb, 2024

Standup comic Nick Schuller delivers on his show’s titular promise of a “Still Dry White” in more ways than one as a thoroughly deadpan comedian with a knack for very funny wordplay.

Schiller’s carefully honed comic persona consists of a deliberately wooden, hilariously affectless delivery of slyly grotesque material. It’s a quietly winning combination that the performer relies on to navigate a routine unafraid to reach for fairly blue material.

Schuller’s show also flirts regularly with metacommentaries on the structure of standup comedy itself, with one particularly funny extended bit revolving around the repetition of a joke with a pre-recorded audio track describing the intended effect of each element of the joke upon the audience – predictably, most of these intended effects are “realise how attractive Nick Schuller is”.

This meta element adds texture to occasional moments where Schuller falls back on more conventional material, though it is slightly disappointing when a well-worn gag follows up the set’s more inventive material.

Still, Schuller delivers an undeniably satisfying set well worth a look in the crushing wave of standup that washes over every Fringe season.