'He took his dark experience and transformed it into great comedy'

Tributes to Robbie Bonham following his death at 54

Tributes have been paid to Irish comedian and cartoonist Robbie Bonham following his sudden death at the age of 54.

He was found unresponsive in his Dublin flat on Tuesday, with his brother Dave confirming the news on social media.

‘To say I'm shocked would be an understatement,’ he wrote. ‘I'm struggling to take it in. Rob was the most talented person I know, and the biggest most positive influence on me as a child growing up, I couldn't have asked for a better big brother. I'm utterly heartbroken. I love you bro, rest in peace.’

The comedian’s death comes less than a month after he wrote a heartbreaking blog speaking about being ‘at rock bottom’ and ‘in a dark place’ in the early hours of New Year’s Eve. In it, he said he wanted to share his feelings to let others in a similar situation ‘know you’re not alone, and thoughts are nothing to be scared of’.

He wrote: 'I’ve struggled with my mental health most of my life, and indeed, recently got a medical diagnosis saying as much, for what that’s worth. But I’m getting it addressed, that’s the main thing. Hopefully that comes with solutions. I also find it hard to talk to close friends, the prevailing attitude being "it’ll get better", but it’s hard to believe that while you’re in the thick of it.’

Bonham had been dry for two months following struggles with alcohol abuse but also admitted he was ‘in constant financial crises’ and talked about contemplating his own mortality as he saw famous people of his generation dying.

He also said he gad given up on stand-up in the past year, which he considered ‘a way to engage with the world as honestly as I could allow myself. It’s not something I did purely for entertainment purposes, I’d always hoped certain outlooks would be of some help to SOMEone out there.’

And while he said a comedian friend urged him to return to the stage, he feared ‘I’ve burned a lot of bridges’.

However, messages posted online in the wake of his death showed how much he was admired by fellow comedians.

Praising 'a very talented guy’, Kevin Gildea wrote: ‘Robbie had traveled a hard road. Comedy itself can be hard as it often attracts people who are trying to fill a hole or salve some damage. The comedian is the brand - the product, so rejection can be a very personal thing. The very thing that offers solace can itself inflict damage.

‘What was brilliant about Robbie is he took his dark experience and transformed it into great comedy. He was real and authentic and spoke of those on the margins - the outsiders. But he was not precious or a victim. He was a funny funny fucker. He was not a crowdpleaser but he pleased crowds. On his terms. He made them laugh at the darkness. For me he was the real deal - honest, authentic and hilarious.

‘Robbie was a sweet guy. A lovely guy. Sometimes the darkness peeked through and the spiky came through.. But the amount of love and respect shown since he passed shows how much he was loved. He will be missed. What a sad sad shitty loss.’

Keith Farnan added: ‘ A lot of acts on here won't know who he is but he was one of the good ones. When you start out, you just think that the good ones will make a great career if it and find their way to where they should be but sometimes things get in the way, not least the people themselves.

‘I don't know all the ins and outs of the past few years of his life, but I know Robbie had it hard, some of it inflicted and some of it self-inflicted and yet I always loved his take on things and his drawings, we shared that nerd-y view of the world… When he was at full tilt in the Laughter Lounge in Dublin, he left us all for dust.’

Derek Ryan called him 'a natural born comedian of the highest talent, adding: 'At his best he left us all in the dust. No contest. Always will remember him as the long haired, bearded, sly-eyed, evil-grinning, nerdy, dry-witted, unbendable, stubborn as a mule mad genius so many of us looked up to when we first started out.'

Friends also launched a crowdfunder to pay for Bonham’s funeral, which has already topped €10,000, agains tan original target of €6,000.

Bonham came to comedy relatively late in life, at 33, and was once named Dublin's best comedian by radio station 98FM. Ge performed at many leading venues in Ireland and the UK, including the Empire Comedy Club in Belfast, The Comedy Store in London and in Vicar Street, Dublin as well as Kilkenny’s Cat Laughs festival. He took his show, Cartoon Character, to the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe.

In 2018, he and fellow stand-up Christian Talbot collaborated on a book called Comedians’ War Stories, illustrating real-life anecdotes about the ‘joys and despair of being a comedian’. The strips originally appeared online and in Fringe Pig magazine at the Edinburgh Fringe. Stand-ups who contributed stories included Ed Gamble, Rachel Parris, Mick Ferry, Phil Wang and Paul Sinha.

Last year he was the subject of a student documentary: