John Robertson
John Robertson is a comedian, streamer, children’s author, improviser, actor, videogame writer, insult comic and manic hurricane man. LGBTQIA+, gamer, Goth, geeky and goddamn good at screaming at large groups. His crowd are diverse, perverse, wholesome, yet awful.
He’s been a stand-up for 19 years, headlining shows all around the world, created live-action videogame comedy The Dark Room (which is also an actual videogame, an online show and was a YouTube hit in 2012), streams 10 times a week on twitch, wrote the Puffin novel The Little Town Of Marrowville, did a TEDx talk on the semiotics of film and social media, can and has done 50 hour marathon shows for charity, faked a seizure on Australian Idol and met my wife doing it, been published in horror anthologies, hosted two years of the UK’s only videogame TV show, been the world’s greatest cosplay competition MC (terrible crowd surfer, though), and done a lot of it while being better dressed than the average vampire.
In 2012, he created “The Dark Room”, an interactive YouTube game that went viral. After 4,000,000 hits, he turned the game into a live comedy show at Edinburgh Fringe 2012. It has a cult following of people who call themselves Darrens.
Don’t ask questions.
The Dark Room was the cult hit of that year’s festival. It led to collaborations with BBC, Comic Relief, FremantleMedia, Hat Trick Productions and PIAS. The Dark Room has since returned to every Edinburgh Fringe and become the world’s only live-action videogame. It tours to places and events like the Soho Theatre, Insomnia Gaming Expo, PAX Online, London Film & Comic-Con, Download, BlueDot Festival, Fringe festivals, your house and corporate events.
In the last few years, I’ve toured the Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Germany, the Philippines and Hong Kong, performed corporate shows for the BBC, 7thingsmedia, EB Games Australia, the Australian Web Awards, Game and Rio Tinto – and worked in clubs around the planet.
“NOT TO BE MISSED” The Guardian
“Strides onstage giving precisely zero f*cks” ★★★★★ The Skinny
“a splendid comedy beast” ★★★★ The Scotsman
“this is astute, amoral comedy for the morbidly-inclined” ★★★★ The Age
“a triumph” ★★★★ Herald Sun
“ballsy, in-yer-face and crass” The West Australian
“[John Robertson’s show] is one of the funniest sights around… don’t miss it.” The Daily Telegraph