Settle. Despite the misleading title of the show, Nick doesn’t actually set himself on fire. Looking past that slightly disappointing fact, what he does do is make you laugh.
On Fire is the quintessential Aussie stand-up show. No-one is safe. Bogans, Hooligans, his mum – they all cop it in this show. And it’s funny. Unafraid to flirt with the line between offensive and funny, there are times where Nick’s stand up wanders into the realm of political. But it’s only brief and it’s decidedly light hearted. Perhaps Nick is the guy to give the Bible Society some coaching on how to make serious topics ‘light-hearted’.
From his recent wedding through the honeymoon choices, this show is a comedic appraisal of the last year or so of Nick’s life. “If your friends are decent people, you can even have your bucks the night before your wedding. But my friends are animals. Which is why I chose to have my bucks seven years ago.”
Of special note for this show was the point at which, while telling a joke about people who get tattoos of things like the Australian Made logo, he realised there was actually someone in the crowd who had that tattoo. Of course, like a good comedian does, he used the situation as fodder for improvisational laughs by having a crack at this lady’s friends who’d thrown her under the bus.
Nick is a natural comedian, but expect no bells and whistles. This is stand and deliver comedy. No props, no movement. Just a sharp tongue and a quick wit. Toward the end of the show, while telling a joke about pissing himself in an elevator in LA, Nick realised his fly was down. “Afterward I was on the phone to my wife and she asked, did you get your dick out? And I said, you don’t understand how pissing yourself works do you honey? If I’m standing in an elevator with piss all over the floor and the doors open to someone in the lobby, they’re going to call the police. You’ve left them no other choice.” It was then he realised his fly was down. I’m still not sure if this was a happy accident or a stroke of planned genius.
Nick Cody’s season at the Adelaide Fringe has now ended. The Reviewer attended the show on March 12th.
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