JB Smoove

Local lad Lindsay Webb opens up to a pretty stiff reception; as an MC he gets the job done, but we don't really need to hear another joke about the first guy who discovered cow milk was drinkable.

LA-based comic JB Smoove bursts through the crowd and onto the stage with fearless energy, posturing confidently, and for a long time, to the bemused crowd. A series of bits about Australia – he's particularly fond of Tim Tams, but doesn't like that we eat kangaroo – lead into his evidently more tried material and it's at this point that we realise this is a true stand-up talent, not just an actor riding high on a plum TV gig. His material is raw and blue, a mixture of physical, observational and surreal comedy keeping the crowd in stitches for 90 minutes. Broaching topics such as semen, stagecoaches, sexual positions and truly frightening – but hilarious – crowd participation show his fresh approach, ensuring the most common topics are staid.

It's not until the very end of tonight's performance that Smoove directly references his Curb Your Enthusiasm character Leon Black, but it's obvious from his set that the comic is very much left to his own devices on the hit show, the character evidently an extension of Smoove's own brilliant comic persona.