Dilruk Jayasinha: The Art Of The Dil (MICF)

Dilruk Jayasinha is clearly a smart guy. His onstage persona is very likeable, and he knows how to get a laugh. He appears to approach comedy with the same methodical professionalism that made him excel in accounting. He is not, however, the kind of comedian to try to impress with his intelligence rather than jokes.

In fact, he sometimes goes too far in the other direction, and makes very broad jokes he knows are kind of dumb. But maybe that's part of the deal if you're an ambitious comic who wants to sell tickets all over regional Australia.

Jayasinha brings an unusual perspective to Australia's fairly homogenous stand-up scene, the upper echelons of which consist mostly of blokes named Dave. He is admirably candid as he examines the homophobia instilled during his conservative upbringing in Sri Lanka, raised by his Buddhist father and Muslim mother.

The through-line of Jayasinha's show is the recently released statistic that 49% per cent of Australians support a ban on immigration from Muslim countries. Jayasinha scrutinises this statistic from multiple perspectives in a way that is comprehensive but never confronting. He is at his best when he goes deep and gets philosophical like this. He delves commendably into Islamophobia, but just enough to keep it palatable for audience members who may be in that 49% (he's too business savvy to ignore those odds).

Jayasinha is still a relatively new comedic voice, having first stood on stage in 2010. Perhaps given more time, as he becomes more familiar to audiences and gains more confidence in his material, he will allow himself to go deeper into the hard stuff, without being at pains to constantly keep his audience appeased.

Dilruk Jayasinha presents The Art Of The Dil till Apr 23 at the Greek Centre, part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.