Alex Williamson

Alex Williamson tapped into a relatable and hilariously deplorable vein of Australiana with his comedy, which had the audience laughing guiltily throughout.

A YouTube-famous comedian and notorious potty-mouth, Alex 'Shooter' Williamson wasted no time setting the tone of the night by immediately calling the crowd a "bunch of fucking pill-heads", which they loved. It was clear that Williamson wouldn't be softening his brutally honest verbal assault on social rules and expectations, and from the hearty laughter it was clear this was exactly what the crowd had come to see. Using expletives like punctuation, Williamson quickly launched into jokes about the dangers of public masturbation and some tongue-in-cheek advice for those looking to explore such a thing — a prospect that earned him a wave of laughter. With his unique ability to turn the disgusting into something weirdly optimistic, he posited that, like sport, music and art, masturbation is such a universal part of the human experience that it transcends cultural barriers. Absurd as it is, this was something that every member of the audience could reflect on. Williamson's faux-philosophical questions were a definite highlight, posing ludicrous questions to the crowd, who offered confused laughs.

Williamson thrives in his brand of perverse social commentary and comedy without rules. For those familiar with Williamson's work, the shock value of his dark comedy was lessened, so he took his jokes a couple of long steps past the point of no return. An equal-opportunity offender, Williamson delivered jokes about paedophilia, child abuse, disability, mental illness, drug abuse and the horrors of war with a casual depravity that showed exactly why the South Australian can be so polarising. For Williamson, political incorrectness is not a restriction and, more than anything, the gasps from the audience seemed to entertain him the most.

Williamson made things personal, letting the crowd know about his lewd Tinder exploits, mundane family experiences and sexualisation of famous TV characters. His reflections on getting old in a changing drug culture struck a chord with the young audience. He also added a poetic touch to his reflections on death and voyeurism, tying this to the urban Australian spirit. It's true that this morbid curiosity is an essential part of the Australian sense of humour, yet Williamson was very aware that his material is not to everyone's taste. To those who found his jokes offensive, Williamson kindly invited them to "go home and watch Pingu" before concluding with a curious ballad about the struggles of a sexual drought that epitomised his unapologetic approach to comedy and then left the stage to warm applause.