It’s a fine line between stupid and clever, said David St Hubbins. And the self-proclaimed bogan from Exmouth, Squirly, treads that line for our entertainment and amusement.

What are we laughing at? Are we allowing ourselves to kick back to simpler times before comedians discovered politics, suggesting better ways for society to be? Or is this act asking us to hold up our prejudices for examination? Exhibit A – Squirly.

There’s enough insight here to make most people happy, though not all. If we look hard enough we can see ourselves looking back. It’s just that not everyone wants that.

Warmed up by Jon Pinder: Pinder doing a great take on Damo, the every-bloke who drives a ute with an upturned wheelbarrow in the back who does indeed sound like a crow. Pinder also does a great impression relaying our mutually disturbed Sunday morning lie-in with crow arguments.

The animals permeate both acts with Squirly also explaining that doing a good goat impression works as a pick-up line in Exmouth though not so successful in Perth. It is a good goat impression. But what is he saying?

The comedy of win-lose comparison is surely on a path of diminishing returns. Even if you’re in Freo laughing at them over there in Exmouth some of the audience is female and some of us can inhabit a world where such othering is the problem. How does an act which rightly picks at the ‘redneck’ Americans ridiculous social/political stances also uphold a poor view of Exmouth women?

Squirly gives it all away in his final wonderings about the intellectual mindset of new generations and social positioning displaying a fluent understanding of the nuance we had been beguiled away from during parts of the preceding act. He dissects the societal issues around trans understanding and then offers an insightful, hilarious solution.

This is a friendly, intelligent man ready to expand his repertoire with a courageous step into the unknown parts of himself and the Australian psyche.