Josh Thomas on his return to stand-up ahead of Canberra show

The Australian comedian - who is now based in Los Angeles - instead turned his attention to the small screen.

His television comedies - Please Like Me and Everything's Gonna Be Okay - gained him international attention. And it seems that there is a third hit in the making, with Thomas in the process of writing Good Person, for Hulu and 20th Century.

In fact, Thomas has always said his content is better suited to the small screen.

Still, the comedian - who got his start at 17, after winning RAW Comedy at the Melbourne International - says this latest show is his best yet.

Written alongside award-winning playwright, Lally Katz, Let's Tidy Up is about what the title suggests. Which, for the most part, is not an interesting topic for most people, but Thomas says is an Everest-sized feat for him.

"I was told by a psychiatrist that I was never going to be able to learn how to do it. But it also just seems like something that's not really that acceptable to decide that you're not going to be able to do," Thomas says.

"So this show's about me trying to figure out how much we're meant to accept the things about us that we're not capable of changing.

"That sounds quite serious, doesn't it? That sounds like it's an art piece. It's just a silly comedy show.

"But it is about that but there's also a lot about talking about the silly dates I've been on as well."

Thomas is finding a certain freedom in stand-up again.

Yes - he's had playwright Lally Katz by his side throughout the writing process - but, unlike television, there are no producers, executives, directors and the like to answer to. There's just the audience.

Well, the audience and himself.

And sometimes it's not the audience that is his harshest critic. Having spent so much time in the US, this is something Thomas has had to learn.

While Australian audiences will only yell out from the crowd when they're heckling, Americans are more likely to call out with a compliment.

"And they do a lot of standing ovations. It's never happened in the history of the world in Australia, but doing stand-up it's different and I find it jarring, actually," Thomas says.

So yes, Thomas is almost always his harshest critic.

There was once a time when Thomas - like every other stand-up comedian - had to do a new show every year to make a living. But the problem with that was that he hated doing that.

"There's just not a lot going on in my life [to use for content]," he says.

"I just want to do it when I think I have something to talk about. Because I want to be interested in it myself, as well.

"That seems obvious but it can be hard talking about something over and over again, and still be interested.

"It happened all the time where something was funny a week ago but now it's not, and I have to delete it."

Let's Tidy Up, by Josh Thomas, is at the Canberra Theatre on February 23. For tickets go to canberratheatrecentre.com.au.