With more inflammatory wit and congested phlegm than Serge Gainsbourg in Lemon Incest, Perth’s favourite chain-smoking philanderer Marcel Lucont returns to Fringe this year. Gallic Symbol is side-splitting snobbery with all the Anglophobic trimmings that we have come to expect of a night with Lucont. The audience is dragged further into the pit of purposeful perversion established by Lucont’s idol Gainsbourg, whose pun on “in-zest du citron” included posing in nothing but a pair of jeans with his teenage daughter.

A brief summary for those who have not already been granted the honour and divine sensuality of Lucont’s presence in Australia: comedian Alexis Dubus’ alter ego is the embodiment of everything the non-French love to hate about the idea of the French.

Heavy-lidded and donning a black turtleneck, Lucont’s sneering observations of the chest tattoos of Adelaide women are painfully apt. We have no reason to believe that Lucont is anything less than the artist, writer and musician he makes himself out to be (greatest hits include Continental Breast-Fest). Yet one wonders if his jokes would go down so well if they weren’t delivered in an accent that is similar to John Cleese atop a castle in Holy Grail, yet terrifyingly authentic.

Diagrams of sex positions favoured by bishops, while amusing, are really just collateral to Lucont’s astounding ability to be as inappropriate as possible. Lucont is the shameless foie-gras of Fringe, and an absolute must-see. He may look exactly like a man who once licked my shoulder in a Parisian supermarket, but I would highly recommend chatting to him after the show.

Here Lucont assumes his position as purveyor of fine wares, including cigarette packet stickers that maintain that smoking is both irresistible to women and improves jazz. He will kiss your hand and perhaps offer you some of his vices (yes, he drinks a whole flagon in an hour and sky dives with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth). You will leave wondering what is so incredibly attractive about shoeless French perverts.