Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

The backbone of Big Mistake is Rhys Mathewson’s relapse after five years of being clean of drugs and alcohol. After taking tramadol to treat an injury, he returned to the opioid after the  medical need had gone.

As the affable New Zealander delves into subjects such as shame, absolution, self-care, addiction and gratitude, he has the audience leaning forward, rapt. The topics may be weighty, but he has a light touch, and a compelling honesty and vulnerability that makes the show intimate.

He’s frank, for example, about life being more boring sober (though the alternative, for him, is certainly worse), about all he owes to his supportive partner, or about being bad at having sympathy for himself – an emotion he has to outsource to his therapist. 

Yet for all the soul-searching, Mathewson has not gone soft. He offers a robust defence of being judgmental, takes a pop at those who self-diagnose social anxiety, and sneers at friends who accuse him of using jokes as a defence mechanism – as if that’s a bad thing. It’s certainly given him a strong show, if not a whole career.

The story occasionally spins off into more mainstream, relatable stand-up routines such as his hatred of the Happy Birthday song or love of  seeing someone act weird in public, especially if he can share the moment with his girlfriend. 

A couple of sections are weaker. His story of a bad gig in the UK is unremarkable, and the anecdote about an encounter with Jeremy Wells – host of Taskmaster New Zealand and a big star in Aotearoa – doesn’t really resonate if you don’t know who he is. Though it does culminate in a satisfying callback, one of several across the hour. 

Some of his ‘ah, this just occurred to me’ segues don’t entirely convince, but it doesn’t really matter since  most lead to funny segments, and certainly feed into Mathewson’s easy, friendly rapport with the audience.

At the end, he runs through a list of reasons to be grateful, with stand-up among them. We too can be grateful to be on the other end of this conduit.

• Rhys Mathewson: Big Mistake is on at The Motley Warehaus at 9.15pm until April 19. No show Wednesday.

Review date: 10 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival