‘Best In Comedy’ nominee, Jarryd Prain, gives a hilariously educational show on an aspect of gay culture:  ‘The Hanky Code’.

Jarryd starts off by taking us back 50 years to 1970s San Francisco. The gay community suffered many hardships and injustices during this period. Consequently, they had to live secret lives and meet in dark public toilets, parks and clubs and ‘codify’ their sexual preferences or kinks to other gay men using hankies.

To illustrate, Jarryd starts the show with the different shades of blue. He describes what some of these shades of blue mean before going on a tangent about airline food.

We moved on with more colours, like gold, which means ‘into threesomes’ and Jarryd candidly discussed his experiences with threesomes. We eventually went through all the other colours, and found ourselves listening to more fun and hilarious anecdotes.

Besides the hanky code, Jarryd shares some of the toxic ways the gay community can identify their sexual preferences, even down to race, with apps like Grindr.

A  memorable moment, which I felt left an unexpected impact came towards the end of the show. Jarryd shared a personal and possibly traumatic coming of age experience with an older man that took advantage of him. Jarryd expresses how he is sexually liberated for the right reasons and not ‘consumed’ by sex, or from this experience.

Jarryd’s honesty, openness and attitude towards sex may not be for everyone. However, it is definitely a fit for the times.

I looked around the room a few times to see the crowd reaction and it seemed like everyone was very engaged and having a great time. Personally, I found myself hanging on to every word as the show flowed nicely and he spoke very well. Jarryd was clearly in his element.

If you want to further your ‘education’ on the hanky code while being entertained with relatable and hilarious anecdotes, go and see his show this weekend! You will not be disappointed.