Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

You couldn’t want for a warmer welcome from Nick Robertson as he hands out cups of Earl Grey and chats engagingly to the audience as they arrive in his intimate venue. He even offers iPhone chargers for those low on juice.

Which is why what happened next was all the more shocking. As this mild-mannered comic made the acknowledgement of country that opens every comedy festival show, paying tribute to the traditional Aboriginal custodians of the land, a man booed, demanding: ‘Enough woke nonsense, get on with the comedy.’

Obviously he was asked to leave - read the room, man – swearing as he was escorted away, and causing audible commotion once outside.  

If he was fazed by any of this, Robertson didn’t show it, calmly allowing the room reset to the friendly space he’d previously established.

Anyway, on with the show…

Everything That Happened At Number 68 is the story of all that happened in a Melbourne sharehouse where Robertson lived for a couple of years in his early 20s, inevitably a formative period.

It’s a neglected place, owned by penny-pinching landlady who’d never get anything professionally repaired, not least the mould in the bathroom. His housemates include a ‘dumb and pretty’ lad and a couple of party-loving girls.

Indeed, all his housemates seemed more outgoing than the relatively sheltered Robertson, who got a full induction into the world of drugs thanks to a wild party No 68 hosted.

He likens himself to the frog in the well-known analogy, with the water slowly boiling around him as life gets wilder. But unlike the metaphorical amphibian, he did eventually leap out.

In truth, there’s not actually much drama to the story, which builds to the rather twee conclusion that it’s not the building that makes a home but the people in it. However, Robertson has the audience invested all the same, thanks to the detail in the characters and his endearing, low-key style. 

Does it make him a bad storyteller for not having a more impactful yarn, or a great one for spinning something out of so little? Probably somewhere in between.

Indeed, he admits he’s inspired by musician Courtney Barnett, who’s known for her ability to elevate the everyday into something special. We do get from Robertson a strong sense of what it was like to live at this address, a realistic snapshot of life for Generation Rent in substandard accommodation, thrown into unlikely friendships by circumstance. It doesn’t sound like a bad consolation. 

Review date: 17 Apr 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival