If you're looking for a US comic with rock-star charisma and sharp observational material, in the absence of Arj Barker, Greg Behrendt will fill your need. A 20-year veteran of stand-up, Behrendt has clearly fallen in love in with Melbourne - this is his third year in a row here.

While the American does talk about his brushes with fame (he appeared on Oprah after co-writing the book He's Just Not That into You), it's his ability to take seemingly narrow topics (buying goldfish, seeing baboons in Africa) and extend them into 10 or 15 minute bits, piling on joke after joke, that impresses

If you've seen Greg Behrendt before you'll know food and aging ("I'm old") are two recurring topics in his comedy.

Well, he has brought his neuroses back bigger and better than ever.

Behrendt weaves through observations and stories as wide-ranging as going on Oprah to eating his first Tim Tam, with regular appearances from his wife and two daughters, who he clearly adores but not enough to fool himself with anything but the truth ("she's just not that bright".)

While there are one or two moments when you scratch your head and wonder how we got to a particular point or story, the great thing about the show is the writing and the way he pulls the themes together again and again.

Tales of woe and humiliation interweave beautifully and the ending makes you smile as they all come together in a beautiful and disgusting climax.

His talent for writing and narrative shouldn't really be surprising - he was a script consultant on Sex and the City and wrote the hit book He's Just Not That Into You.

Behrendt's talent is in exposing some of his most personal thought processes with a heavy dose of self-deprecation, but somehow you still think he's cool.

He's rude and lewd, but you still want to take him home to meet your grandmother.

Stars: ★★★★

American comedian Greg Behrendt is an accidental relationship guru. He famously has been the token straight guy on the Sex and the City script writing team and is the author of the hit book He's Just Not That Into You, which landed him a spot on Oprah and a Hollywood movie deal.

But his true calling is being a stand-up comedian, which is something that he's been doing for more than 20 years.

Although you might expect that this comedy would centre around love and sex, there are two topics that are clearly more important for Behrendt these days: Food and aging.

He shares his first encounter with a Tim Tam ("If you try to explain anybody how it tastes like, imagine you're dead and in heaven and there's a pony. If you slice it into pieces, that's exactly how Tim Tams taste: Dead heaven pony meat) and his new-found love for Pineapple Lumps ("I wish I could eat them for a living").

Behrendt is a great story teller, who makes his own embarrassments and humiliations into hilariously amusing tales. ("Can I have a chicken situation")

His banters include stories about how he encountered Oprah, being 'the weird old guy at a concert" and how sleeping suddenly has become fraught with the risk of injury. Never have the perils of being middle aged been so hilarious.

Towards the end of his show he finally comes to relationships and apart from some more hilarious moments, when he tells how he squabbled with his wife over Pictionary and his task to illustrate the word 'few', the audience also goes home with a message - albeit one that should be quite obvious anyway:

If something in your relationship doesn't work for you: Just don't do it again.

Behrendt's banter is witty and hilarious. It's just a shame that yesterday was the last show of his tour. But if you ever get the chance to see his stand-up routine: Do go, you won't regret it!