MELBOURNE, VIC. — Melbourne venue Comedy Republic will present its first-ever fully packed month of daily live shows, after humble, mid-pandemic beginnings.
October marks a major milestone for venue owners Rhys and Kyran Nicholson and Alex Dyson. It will be the first month ever that Comedy Republic is open every single night of the week. Kyran and Alex met while broadcasting on Triple J, and went out on a limb alongside Rhys, to open a comedy venue in the heart of Melbourne.
It originally didn’t go too fabulously.
“Because of restrictions, our grand opening was to a total audience of 24 people in June of 2020 – on the upside it was super easy to sell out,” Kyran says. “But then we went back into lockdown for another four months before weekend two. So probably the softest opening of all time.”
During the venue’s first year of business, thanks largely of course to COVID, they sold only a few hundred tickets in total. But over the last 12 months, Comedy Republic has welcomed more than 47,000 laughing punters, and still growing.
Some highlights throughout October include solo shows from Ify Nwadiwe (‘Comedy Bang Bang’) and Guy Montgomery (‘Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee’).
Tapings from rising stars like Sashi Perera and Blake Pavey. . . Work-in-progress shows including one from Rhys Nicholson, who’ll be working out new material on stage with some other comedians. . . And intimate concepts like ‘Dinner Stories’ with Damien Callinan, and ‘Yeah Sure, Why Not’ with the indie crew from Club Club.
“The fact that we have all of these shows running makes me extremely proud,” Alex Dyson says.
“Comedy is alive and well in Melbourne.”
“Look, I’d love to think Comedy Republic is thriving because I’m usually standing in the bar waiting to be recognised, but I suppose it’s probably because it’s one of the cheapest nights you can have out,” Rhys Nicholson says, “and people are remembering stand-up comedy happens live, right here in Melbourne, and not just on your phone while you’re on the toilet.”
Check out the full 31-day October schedule.
Comedy Republic is at 231 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
