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New show for 2025! Expect improv, mayhem, gaming comedy, crowdwork and songs from the UK’s most manic comic*!
Best known for his high-octane improvisation and game show The Dark Room, come get played with! 'A force of nature' ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (Daily Telegraph).

Top ten Best-Reviewed Shows, Edinburgh Fringe 2024.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 'A punk rock Robin Williams' (Fringesider.com).
NOMINATED: Best International Act, New Zealand Comedy Festival 2025.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ “A splendid comedy beast” Scotsman
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ TheatreInBrighton
WINNER: Best Comedy, Edinburgh Darkchat 2025

WATCH HIS CROWDWORK ONLINE: TikTok: @RobbotronTwitch Insta: Mr_Dark_Room
*There’ll be a bit of language. And tragically, electric ukulele.

News and Reviews for this Show

August 21, 2025 International Times Australian, now UK-based, John Roberston, is an act I seem to have seriously overlooked, for which I apologise. He has been somewhat of an iconic fringe participant for many years, and having seen him this year, I can see why. With an almost manic Jerry Sadowitz persona, without the radical offensiveness, he freewheels his way though an hour of what the hell happens next, even starting the show again for latecomers, with such assurity, we watch in true awe and wonderment. Surely, he’s going to clam up at some point, but no! Perhaps, his safety net is to grab his electric ukulele and play punk-like songs with choruses we can all join in with. And we do. Robertson has two shows at the fringe, one a ticketed cult show at Gilded Balloon Venues, and this free show at the Counting House. He offers the best of both worlds, one for the richer and one for the poorer, and it’s an admirable ruse. Suffice to say, go watch him play with the audience and see a fantastically gifted comic in his element. Reviewer: Kevin Short Click Here

August 14, 2025  The QR Reviewing ‘John Robertson Plays With The Audience’ is a little like reviewing the weather. If someone asked you what the weather will be like on Friday, you’d be a lunatic to say, ‘Well, it was great on Monday!’ And yet, here we are, with a need to write a review of this 21st-century court jester, out to skewer the world and everyone in, in the most delightfully uplifting way possible. I really don’t know how many songs the master of The Dark Room has planned for the show. I think he managed 3, including ‘Perverse and the Neurodiverse’, and ‘I Got My Divorce Papers At the Orgy’, both predictably OTT ditties with plenty of imagery involved. He has a unique ability to bawl out the most bawdy, sordid songs, without it seeming remotely seedy. Bodily fluids and bizarre situations just give him more to be absurd with. It’s hard to be offended, I’d also argue, by any song set to ukulele, even if it is electrified and features more than 2 chords. However, John Roberston is far funnier when he’s just working with an audience, and riding the waves of chaos he foments in a room. How many times will John restart the show? How will he gamify parts of the hour for specially selected audience members? Why do strangers deliver juice in a paper bag and then leave? Is it part of the show, or is John’s life simply prone to the unexpected, the way Snowshoe Hares have to deal with Lynxes? Why have I mentioned Snowshoe hares in a comedy review? I don’t know, but I do know it’s both hilarious and joyful to watch John conduct all of this and more, like some fairy imposter on a day out amongst humanity. Who else but some fae-interloper would end their show with poetry after an hour of raucous, irreverent mischief? (Yes, I do read a lot of fantasy, and no, I’m not apologising for it.) It’s fair to say that John Robertson is a comedic force of nature. Does he swear a lot? Sure, but this is the Fringe, not This Morning. Lighting quick-witted, he spins a show from whatever he finds in the room. Where other comedians studiously record their observations over time, he makes, and deploys them live: it’s impressive to behold. The stage is pretty much a launch pad for him; he spends little time there. Instead, he’s out amongst his people, assessing their outfits, and identifying the main characters for the show ahead. Methinks ‘John Robertson Plays With The Audience’ has more in common with some of the legendary anarchy the Fringe knew pre-social media. This isn’t a show you could snip up to post to your Instagram, or a routine aimed at garnering awards. It’s just a very funny man making the most of his time here on Earth, and hoping to enjoy an hour of it as madly as possible with a ballroom full of kindred spirits. Will ever show be an unfettered success? Probably not, but when it’s great, expect the sublime. The rest of the time, you’ll just have to settle for very, very good. Click Here

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