Rhys Nicholson

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Friday 9th August 2024

It was the first of times, it was the worst of times. And this time we welcome Rhys Nicholson, the popular Aussie comic who's back at the Edinburgh Fringe - then touring the UK - with a new show, Huge Big Party Congratulations! that sounds intriguingly happy/romantic. But is there a spicy underbelly?

"Can stand-up be romantic?" Rhys responds. "I mean, there's a bunch of dick jokes in there? Is that spicy? Is a dick joke spicy?"

Depends on the dick really - but from the show's promotional blurb, it does appear that they've had a decent 2024, relatively speaking?

"I've been having a lovely year so far - well, whenever I'm not, like, watching the news or something," the comic confirms. "I got married last year, and then straight away my husband and I bought a dilapidated house in a country town to renovate, thus automatically sourcing ourselves years' worth of arguing and petty disputes. Bliss."

It's got 'long-running reality show' written all over it. For now though, let's toddle back down memory lane.

First gig?

I snuck into a pub to do an open mic when I was 16. I think I gave the game away when most of my set was about the teachers at my school.

Favourite show, ever?

My favourite was last year I reckon. I was on a live show at the Sydney Opera House with a bunch of mates and at the end during the curtain call, as a surprise to even us, Eric Idle came out and we all sang Always Look On the Bright Side Of Life. Pretty bonkers. We all agreed meeting an original Python makes you want to call and tell your dad.

Worst gig?

The most horrendous gig was a few years ago. I was in Los Angeles and spent 20 minutes onstage at the Hollywood Improv performing to complete silence. There was like, 300 people there? The only noise I heard was a lady muttering "Oh honey," as if she was worried for me. I think they thought it was a Make a Wish situation.

Which one person influenced your comedy life most significantly?

When I was 16, a close-to-retirement substitute teacher told me my disruptive and attention seeking behaviour in the classroom would get me nowhere in life, and if I didn't get myself together I'd die poor. Well, Mr Munroe, looks like someone underestimated the white hot power of pure spite.

And who's the most disagreeable person you've come across in the business?

They know who they are.

Is there one routine/gag you loved, that audiences inexplicably didn't?

I mean, not really? I'm a real sycophant so the moment they seem not into something, it's dead to me.

Any reviews, heckles or post-gig reactions stick in the mind?

A pretty prominent reviewer once wrote "Well it's a Rhys Nicholson show, so of course it's all about them". Yeah mate. What the fuck else am I meant to be talking about here?

My mum has been known to come to a show in the early days and let the room know I've exaggerated a story or added a little something in. But who's to tell her not to, you know?

Your weirdest Edinburgh moment?

A couple years ago multi award-winning actor Saoirse Ronan came to see my show. She waited around and bought some merch. There's an Oscar nominee wandering around out there somewhere with an enamel pin that's just a picture of my face on the foetus in a womb.

Rhys Nicholson: Huge Big Party Congratulations! tours the UK and Europe until the end of October 2024. Latest live dates and tickets