I spent a lot of time in April this year going to various shows during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and it’s safe to say I never came across anything like Binge Thinking, by a relatively unknown Aussie comedian and author Xavier Toby.

His performance was energetic, passionate, friendly and engaging, something which worked well given the setting of the show. The audience, there were only about 10 of us (mostly friends of Toby), were all seated on crappy fold out chairs, in a tiny little room on the top floor of the Portland Hotel. It was definitely the most intimate show I’ve attended, but for this young comedian it worked so well. It was refreshing to be able to sit less than a foot away from the performer, it made us all feel more involved and made for a better experience.

The show began with a joke about Toby being kicked out of Seaworld for f**king a dolphin. Sure, it was funny and the audience laughed but it’s not exactly the most intelligent way to introduce a stand up show that, essentially, is about how the human race are getting stupider.

From there, however, Toby somehow managed to give a solid, very funny and enlightening performance. What made his show better than a lot of other shows out there was his ability to tell a combination of the sex, footy and beer jokes we’ve grown so used to from other Aussie male comedians, but combine this with his own personal insights into issues that obviously mean a lot to him: the importance of reading, and of education and how we must give back to our community and stop thinking just about ourselves.

By the second half through, the show became almost boring. The dinner party story (which had been the centre of the entire show) started to drag on a bit and become stale and, whilst Toby was still just as friendly and energetic, it started to become more of a personal rant than comedy. Despite this, the few good jokes he did get in were still a lot better than a lot of other comedians working today.

An audience of ten is not enough to make a living, and it would be a shame for a talent like Xavier Toby to go by unnoticed. So, if you get a chance, come and check him out at this year’s Fringe – you won’t be sorry.