Award-winning comedian John Robertson is hosting a 50 hour interactive comedy marathon from this Friday 28th May until Sunday 30th May, and will be joined by an army of comics and game streamers, including Mark Watson. The comedian has appeared on BBC Two’s panel show Mock the Week, BBC’s Never Mind the Buzzcocks and long-running current affairs show Have I got News For You.
‘The Dark Room’ is a live action videogame event, held at games bar Rule Zero in Hackney, pitting participants against an unforgiving dungeon master in an interactive attempt to escape a room full of hilarious death traps.
Participants can get involved in-person by visiting Rule Zero during its opening hours or get involved in the action via Twitch (twitch.tv/robbotron).
The show features an army of special guests joining via video call, including comedian Mark Watson, comedian and co-host of Nobody Panic Podcast Stevie Martin, Australian comedian Alice Fraser, TikTok singer Natidreddd , Jordan Raskopolous from Australian sketch show The Ronnie Johns Half Hour, Minecraft streamer Button, D&D professional Nanokim, Twitch streamer Knightenator, Bouphe from The Yogscast, with more being added in the lead-up to the show. Prize sponsors include Razer, Bethesda and Overclockers.
Comedian and host John Robertson said,
“It started as a parody of the text-based adventures from the 80s, but it morphed into something between stand-up, heavy metal and one of those sadistic Japanese gameshows”.
“For every £1000 we raise, I’ll dance around like an anime catboy. The Pope’s going to show up. If we raise an absolute tonne, I’m going to fill a bathtub with Pepsi Max and do a show from that. We’ve got an amazing Dutch painter painting a big canvas of whatever donors request, and a company that’s going to sell t-shirts with whatever ends up on there, and all funds from everything go to the charities. I intend to finish this broken and happy. The goal is to wear me out, because nothing is as exhausting as what we’re raising money for.”
John Robertson’s show is in aid of three major charities who support individuals badly affected by the pandemic – domestic violence charity Refuge, NHS Charities Together and youth homelessness charity Centrepoint. Donations will be welcomed throughout the event.
‘The Dark Room’ is taking place on the same night as Centrepoint’s fundraising event STAY:UP which challenges participants to go one night without sleep to raise money for homeless young people.
Before the pandemic, youth homelessness was at a crisis point. Centrepoint estimates that over 120,000 young people were facing homelessness between 2019/20, an increase of more than 10,000 on the previous year. Over the past year, calls to the charity’s Helpline from young people worried about homelessness increased by about a third.
The money raised this year will go towards Centrepoint’s hostels providing homeless young people safe and stable accommodation while teaching them the skills needed to live independently, support for homeless young people’s physical and mental health and will provide them access to training and education.
To participate in ‘The Dark Room’ in-person head to Rule Zero in Hackney or stream online twitch.tv/robbotron from this Friday 28th May until Sunday 30th May. Rule Zero’s opening hours: Friday 28th and Saturday 29th 10am – midnight, and Sunday 10am – 10pm. To donate to Centrepoint visit https://centrepoint.org.uk/; Refuge visit https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/; NHS Charities Together https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/.
