Qulture Magazine

Words: Kenny Ross

There are comedians who do crowd work, and then there’s John Robertson, who seems to view an audience as a collection of unsuspecting co-stars who simply haven’t realised they’re in the show yet!

From the moment he hit the stage, any hope of a conventional stand-up set was swiftly abandoned. His opening routine was repeatedly derailed by latecomers filtering into the venue, but rather than becoming irritated, he treated each new arrival as an opportunity to restart his introduction and unleash a fresh barrage of improvised observations. By the end, the constant interruptions had become part of the act itself.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t spared the attention for rolling in a bit later  (I was at the bar!). My media pass was immediately scrutinised and dismissed as looking like it had been written in crayon before he decided I resembled a younger Richard Branson. In fact, according to him, I looked more like Richard Branson than he does….If you know, you know. It’s hard to argue with that sort of logic when delivered at 100 miles per hour.

A group of six (I think) twenty-something studenty guys occupying the front row next to me, became regular victims throughout the hour, quickly earning the collective nickname of “the cast of Stranger Things” among other things – A bit into the show, one member of the group proved more than willing to joke with John, prompting the comedian to jokingly tell him to “fuck off” or along those terms. The joke took an unexpected turn when the young man actually got up and left…..(to the bar…)
Assuming he would eventually return, John took it upon himself to investigate the abandoned small man bag left by his chair.

After being specifically warned not to open the middle compartment from the others (they knew what they were doing!), he immediately opened the middle compartment. What he discovered inside appeared questionable enough to spark one of the evening’s best running gags. He promptly confiscated the mystery package before later entrusting its safekeeping to one lady, of the two older couples who had also found themselves repeatedly dragged into proceedings (this was after making her swap chairs with one of the guys at the front). The sight of an unsuspecting woman suddenly becoming a custodian of the evening’s most suspicious item had the room in stitches…. Disclaimer: He did return with a pint…. Much to everyone’s amusement!

The older couples were frequent targets throughout the show, although never in a cruel way. John has an impressive knack for making audience members part of the joke while keeping them onside. Even when he climbed onto chairs beside them in pursuit of another improvised tangeint and then discovered he couldn’t actually get back down again, the audience was laughing with him rather than at him. The eventual plea for assistance only made the situation funnier!

Elsewhere, a gentleman sporting a substantial cowboy hat at the back of the room found that distinctive fashion choices carry a heavy price when John is on stage. Nobody with a memorable feature escaped unnoticed for long.
What impresses most is his ability to somehow maintain control amid what appears to be total chaos. A wee bit heckling flew throughout the set, with jokes resurfacing half an hour after they first appeared and somehow landing even harder the second time around….. What could have felt random instead developed into a strangely coherent narrative featuring Richard Branson, Stranger Things, mystery contraband (allegedly) , elderly accomplices and a cowboy hat…. Only someone with ADHD could write this shit!

The final section saw him swap stand-up for music, performing a selection of his own songs that poked fun at modern culture and contemporary sensitivities before bringing the show home with a closing number that cleverly tied together many of the evening’s recurring themes…. Even having the keeper of the narcotics shaking the bag in time with the music…. Naturally, the front-row students remained central to the punchlines, with one unfortunate soul effectively recast as one of the Mario Bros thanks to his impressive moustache….

Excitable Boy! won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s loud, fucking chaotic, frequently ridiculous and often feels as though it could come spectacularly off the rails at any moment. That’s precisely why it works. Every audience gets a different show, and on this occasion, John transformed a room full of strangers into a cast of unlikely comedy characters for an hour of thoroughly unpredictable Fringe madness, I would definitely recommend this if you don’t mind being part of the show and full-on jokes…best not to sit at the front or arrive late like myself, if you are wanting to keep a low profile!