Should this comedy thing not work out for Will Sylvince, he does have something to fall back on - robotics.

The Haitian-born, United States-based comedian has a degree in electro-mechanical engineering and was building robots while moonlighting as a comedian.

"I loved technology and I still love it now," Sylvince says.

"One of the robots I worked on was in the movie Rocky IV.

"My boss was very flexible, he was allowing me to come and go as I wanted as long as the work was done. So I would turn up after a show at 3am and go home at about 7am. But in my head as long as I had something to fall back on I would never take comedy to the level that I needed to. So I had to eliminate that safety net, so it was now or never."

Also, he had to break the news to his parents that he was a comedian.

"Comedy was really just a hobby because my parents were so strict they would not let me do comedy so I had to do it behind their backs," Sylvince says.

"One day I landed a TV show and my brother was like 'hey, Ma saw you on TV'.

"I went to the the house and in living room my mother was talking to six of her friends. I walked in and they all stopped talking and looked at me. One of them went [in a Haitian accent] 'is that the comedian, there?' and they all started laughing. That's when I found out as long as I get on TV, doing comedy is okay."

Comedy can also help him see the world too. Sylvince has been in Australia performing his show Syllables, Fat and Celibacy at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and is now part of their touring roadshow.

On the roadshow, he's doing new material rather than an abbreviated version of his festival show, which includes a few observations about his time in Australia.

"I talk about when I was in Sydney and the lady at the hotel said 'why don't you go to Circular Quay because it's really nice there'," he says. "I was looking for Circular KEY for 20 minutes. 'I see Circular QUAY but I don't see no Circular KEY'."

On this tour, Sylvince has been surprised to find that all the comedians get along and that it has been "a load of laughs".

"I was thinking 'would I be able to connect with these guys and girls on the road?'," he says. "Usually when you go on the road in a group, there's always this one who no one gets along with, who's a diva and who complains about everything.

"So you're thinking, 'who's it going to be?' Then you're thinking 'wait a minute, it might be me. I hope I'm not that one'."

The Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow at IPAC will also feature Bob Franklin, comedy duo ElbowSkin and MC Geraldine Quinn.