Cal Wilson: Things I've Never Said (MICF)

After perusing the front row, Cal Wilson announces she's delighted she can't see any ten-year-olds present. During last night's show, Wilson explains, she was distracted by a youngster's mum turning to her kid, mouth agape, every time questionable content flew out of the comedian's mouth (which is a lot since she does enjoy swearing and especially stringing unlikely swear words together).

According to the blurb for Things I've Never Said, which only about five among us have read in advance according to a show of hands, Wilson's show will see her discussing feminism, politics and those brown shoes her husband won't throw out. Wilson says she's only just now felt qualified to incorporate politics into her stand-up, because Trump was elected. She discusses feminism at length (especially how much she hates the word female and being referred to as a female comedian). The brown shoes, however? Wilson warns these won't be discussed at all tonight.  

Wilson's stand-up is always an absolute joy to experience; even the inner workings of her mind are funny. She takes avoiding conflict to another level entirely, even getting married (previous husband, not this one) and graduating with a different degree than intended as a result of her self-confessed people-pleasing nature. Wilson is an absolute riot and the way she describes what it's like to have a mammogram is utterly unique. Her objections to Enid Blyton books are priceless. The Famous Five come under fire for their lack of suspense, from one novel to the next, given that the famous five always get into strife but are all accounted for in the sequel's title (so obviously survive).

Stories about Wilson's husband and son are always welcome, too, particularly her invented worst-ever swear word 'frompstable', which she told her son as a substitute for the C-bomb. "No one happy lives in the internet," she cautions after explaining she once found herself reading an online comments section. According to Wilson, whistling is only fun for the person doing it (hear-hear!) and the saying "it was only in fun" never actually relates to anything fun.

And then in comes the disturbing section during which Wilson tries to comes to terms with an unpleasant type of initiation ritual that she endured once - at the hands of rugby players - as a teenager in New Zealand, then narrowly escaped a second time (when she cried uncontrollable) and wound up being ridiculed for not being "a good sport". It's awful to hear stories such as this and we hope talking about them helps prevent similar intimidation/bullying tactics while encouraging victims to speak out. But, still, are comedy shows the correct platform for delivering such harrowing material?

This one minor complaint aside, we will never miss a show by Wilson who effortlessly unleashes constant guffaws from her audience.

Cal Wilson presents Things I've Never Said till 23 Apr at the Swiss Club, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.