Do Australians have drinking problems, or do we have problems with people drinking? The difference in phrasing is greater than you might think. How many of you – particularly the party animals – have decided to sit out a few rounds one night, only to be treated by friends as a social leper?
You could probably watch hours of pseudo-experts on Q&A or Insight to hear more about Australia’s uncomfortable relationship with drinking, but Adam Rosenbachs has his own tale. And a Melbourne comedian is no more or less an expert on the subject than you might get piping up next to Tony Jones on a Monday night.
Rosenbachs forms his set around his year off the hooch – a decision he made not after a single sobering moment of clarity, but rather a lifetime of them. From his earliest memories of park drinking in his teens – when he mentions a park in Essendon, the girls next to me share a glance and cackle with laughter, suggesting they’re familiar with the venue – to being the only sober guy herding friends to the next pub, to easing back into drinking, Rosenbachs’ story has something for everyone in the audience.
The thematic link of the stories back to drinking is at times tenuous, but the punchlines are strong and land as they should. I see Rosenbachs nursing a beer a short while later, suggesting the sabbatical wasn’t all that traumatic.
BY MITCH ALEXANDER
