The UK’s most manic comic! Life-affirming, high-octane improv filth! 'A force of nature' **** (Daily Telegraph). 'Secure tickets now before some Taskmaster-type programme claims him for mainstream fame and his star becomes unreachable' **** (TheReviewsHub.com). Expect trademark wildness from the creator of legendary improv game-show – The Dark Room (British Comedy Guide’s Best-Reviewed Comedy Edinburgh Fringe 2025 and nominated Best International Act New Zealand Comedy Festival 2025). Check viral clips on Instagram: @Mr_Dark_Room, TikTok: @RobbotronTwitch, YouTube: Robbotron.

August 18, 2026    Chortle

Visually, he’s part Rocky Horror’s Riff Raff and part musician Edgar Winter. Vocally, he’s ‘mad bloke yelling in the street’ and ‘classical actor gone rogue’, with a pleasingly Lou Reed-timbre singing voice to boot.

And comedically, John Robertson’s racing mind constructs a show out of nothing every damn night. It is an extraordinary achievement.

Having not done my homework, I did not know this was an improvised crowd work show, audience fully lit. I don’t think anyone remained unspoken to, which would ordinarily have me galloping for the exit, had I even entered in the first place.

However, it was a completely positive experience. Instead of the traditional approach of ripping the piss out of anyone in the comedian’s sightline, we were universally bathed in jocular affirmation, without it ever feeling ingratiating.

The crowd plainly adored the experience, bonding over the in-jokes against latecomers (very gentle ribbing), while Robertson uncovered a few audience champions to whom he returned but not to the point of bullying. They all seemed to love it.

He had two modes, both unmic-ed, the hectoring street roar and the smooth, actorly tones. It made me worry for his voice, but clearly he doesn’t have a problem.

The hook of the show was that ‘it hasn’t started yet,’ even at the 40-minute mark when he introduced an electric ukulele – a high-risk manoeuvre if ever there was one.

Ridiculously the singing amplification distorted the vocals too much on a couple of songs, but the sheer brio of the performance carried him through, and the audience were thrilled to provide call and response.

While the musical numbers gave the audience a rest from participating directly, they were not as strong as the stories spun on the hoof. But presumably even Robertson needs a moment to pause without being seen to slow the performance.

Everything about this show is uncommon; he’s an extravagant, genial showman whose audience interaction doesn’t make you want to spit. It was a commanding, bonkers street performance brought indoors, with a warmth that dissipated any anxiety/hostility that improvisation can provoke. And when you see it, it will be completely, riotously different. Click Here For Review

August 16, 2026    Entertainment Now

John Robertson bursts onto the stage with an energy that immediately makes it clear this is not a conventional comedy show. With long white hair, bulging eyes, and relentless intensity, he looks almost like a character straight out of The Witcher, if there are any video game fanatics reading. This was my first experience of the Free Festival at this year’s Fringe; I am not quite sure what to expect. The discovery that the show is also live streamed on Twitch adds another unusual layer to an already unconventional performance.

There is little traditional narrative. Instead, Robertson appears to feed off the room, moving wherever the audience’s energy takes him. He jumps into the crowd, confronts audience members, and embraces moments of complete unpredictability. In one particularly surreal moment, which literally made me cover my eyes, two audience members participate in an intimate act by sucking his nipples while he continues reading poetry to the room. Yes, you read that correctly, and somehow Robertson’s confidence makes even the most unexpected moments feel deliberate.

His electric banjo and songs add another dimension, while his years of comedy experience allow him to maintain control despite the apparent chaos. Robertson somehow talks about everything and nothing simultaneously. The show is frantic, strange, and completely unpredictable, but that becomes its greatest strength. I have little idea what will happen next, and I enjoy every minute of it. Expect the unexpected. Click Here For Review

August 12, 2026    Starburst Magazine

John Robertson is a very, very naughty boy. And as the title of his latest show implies, rather excitable. The 40-something Australian comedian is better known for his consistently sold-out interactive game show The Dark Room, a high-energy crowd-work show inspired by impossible-to-win multiple-path adventure games. With such a show requiring so much energy, you’d expect John’s other show to be a rather sedate affair.

You’d be wrong. Excitable Boy has Robertson leaping and capering across the small venue like some possessed court jester, funneling a near preternatural level of energy to tease and entertain the audience. This is mostly crowd work and observational comedy blended together in a seamless way; there’s no malice to the act; instead, what we have here is a celebration of the absurdity of the human condition, with John acting as a living firework of sorts.

The buy-in and engagement from the audience is pretty much instant, and we’re starting to see what happens when a crowd who knows what to expect regularly comes to one of these style shows; the result is that John’s energy feeds the audience, and their response feeds the performer even more, until we are all at our limit with laughter. The ‘boy’ in Excitable Boy is a misnomer; the man’s a living rocket. We’re pretty sure he can’t be stopped by conventional means.

We have said this before, and we’ll say it again, but we still have no idea why Robertson isn’t more well known; he’s pretty much become an Edinburgh Festival Fringe legend at this point, so why he hasn’t barrelled onto some panel show or other is beyond us. Go see this show, because it’s very good.

 Click Here For Review