Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson had an incredibly productive 2019.
He toured his show ‘Nice People, Nice Things, Nice Situations’, was nominated for awards, and was featured on Conan O’Brien’s show. After such a busy year, Rhys’s 2020 was meant to start with a break.
“I was touring that show for so long I thought I’d not do the Australian comedy festivals and take a bit of time off and write another show,” Rhys says. “And then the globe had a different plan.”
As the pandemic engulfed 2020, Rhys’s planned break was extended. After being locked down in his Melbourne home, Rhys is excited to head back to the Adelaide Fringe Festival to develop his new show in front of a live audience.
“I’m not a sit-down writer,” he says. “I need stage time. But there hasn’t been much stage time lately. By the time everything was cancelled last year, I had about 20 minutes of stuff that was working.
“I was always the kind of person who didn’t want a radio job or anything because you lose those, but you can’t lose live performing. But now it turns out you can absolutely lose live performing,” he laughs. “By the same token, I’m much, much luckier than some. I can’t complain about too much, but at the same time I’m happy to complain about lots of things.”
Despite touring being cancelled, Rhys did end 2020 on a positive note with the release of his 2019 show as a Netflix special. That show was centred around a letter he received from Carol, a woman who scolded him for being a poor representative of the gay community. While the special was well-received, Rhys is still waiting to hear Carol’s thoughts.
“I’ve sent her two messages because she’s still in my inbox – one while I was doing the tour, and one when the Netflix special came out. She never replied to me, but she’s seen them; my phone says she’s seen them,” he laughs.
His appearances at the Adelaide Fringe Festival will be used to develop his next show, giving fans the chance to witness the comedian’s developmental process. “I dread doing new material shows,” Rhys admits. “Standing backstage waiting to do them is f...ing terrifying because a lot of it is me on stage trying to work out if something is funny or not. But doing them is really fun! No show is the same; whole chunks change and get moved around. It’s a bit of an organism.”
Since the show is in early stages, no theme has emerged. However, Rhys has one topic he hopes to avoid.
“My aim is to not talk about COVID,” he says. “I mean, obviously you can’t avoid it, but I’m trying to not to have a huge section dedicated to the fact. I don’t think anyone really wants to hear about it; I never want to hear about it again. There’s already going to be a lot of festival shows called, ‘Blah Blah Blah is going viral!’ That’s why my show is called ‘Huge Big Party Congratulations’; it’s a title that’s the opposite of what 2020 was.”
Rhys Nicholson plays the Rhino Room (Adelaide Fringe) 16-20 March.
