If you go to the Sun House Tent at 8.30pm from now until the end of Fringe, Melbourne-based comedian John Conway will come at you like an express train. His opening night on Thursday saw the crowd in hysterics from start to finish. There was not a single dull moment.Conway has his own intro music. But the sound technician might stuff that up. He also has a few prepared jokes. But he might stuff them up too.

This is the genius of his show: to err to blur the lines of stand-up comedy. Also known as “winging it”. On Thursday, Conway kicked things off by getting to know the crowd. He talked shop with Eric down the front, played muffin-tennis with a young hipster, and discussed breakfast cereals with a group of Canadians.

Once everyone was settled in and chuckling away, Conway let rip on some hilarious, high-energy material, which he self-critiqued as he went along. He even backpedalled on one of his jokes to try out a range of different punchlines.

Conway also likes to branch-off on schizophrenic tangents just to see what will happen. At one stage what happened was an audience member spinning around saying “Chocolate milk”. At another, Conway himself was screaming “Instagram, Instagram, Instagram”.

The show is manic, but not inane. It is absurd, but not thoughtless. Through his rollicking banter on small bars, sausage fests and backyard pizza ovens, Conway points to a deeper truth: that this world is absurd, and absurd is, well, funny.

Conway is the Pied Piper, leading his audience up a mountain in his jodhpurs. He is screaming “Freedom from the drudgery of this business-suit world”. Go see him.

The New Conway Vibe runs until February 24 and is part of Fringe World 2013. Tickets are available from fringeworld.com.au.