What Happened to The Rubber Chicken in South Melbourne?

The Rubber Chicken South Melbourne Comedy

I’ve worked in South Melbourne for a few years now and only since working at my current company which is near Albert Park have I been aware of The Rubber Chicken Comedy Pub. If you’ve been following my restaurant reviews, you’ve noticed I’ve done a few South Melbourne pubs recently, and The Rubber Chicken was definitely on my radar for a team lunch one day.

This morning though, driving down Park Street I almost crashed into the back of a car as I was trying to read the graffiti in the windows out the front. I thought vandals had trashed the place, which I wouldn’t have been too surprised about, as I think they had been robbed in the past (or maybe that was another pub nearby, I recall somewhere got robbed right before the Comedy Festival and had to move their shows it could have also been the Limerick Arms). But it was graffiti targeting the landlord rather than targeting the club itself which is now sadly closed.

The text says Comedy Dead, but the C is backwards so I guess that’s why it was so hard for me to read. On my lunch break, my coworker Sam and I went to take a look and see if we could figure out what exactly was going on here.

We saw this note on the door:

Notice of Termination of Lease and Re-Entry

It is sad to see that The Rubber Chicken somehow survived COVID-19 and finally got behind in their bills now in 2023. I’ve now found a series of videos from the owner of The Rubber Chicken, Morry. The first one gives the most information about what happened and you can see it here:

https://fb.watch/mhDw7uuA7k/

Since I’m not sure if I’ve ever been here before (they were home to School of Hard Knock Knocks, which one of my friends participated in a few years ago, but I think this was before this venue opened) I looked through the windows and saw that there was more graffiti inside. The spray paint from the windows had a very ominous shadow on the empty floors.

There was a pile of old posters that had been torn down.

Another side of the room had another “You Killed Comedy” sprayed on the wall. I guess the new tenants will be able to paint over that pretty easily.

I’m surprised to see all these comedy card games and board games left behind. Someone should donate them to the op shop around the corner.

Is The Rubber Chicken Closed Forever?

One of the videos by Morry mentioned that there’s already a new tenant coming soon. I guess that’s why the landlord and owner had no interest in working with him to get back on track with payments, another tenant had already been secured. I’m hoping Morry and much of his 20 staff members can try and find a new venue soon to help keep the Melbourne comedy scene alive.

The Rubber Chicken Menu

Just for fun, I’m uploading the menu from The Rubber Chicken.

I’m actually quite impressed with the cheap prices and the volume of vegetarian options I’m pretty sad I missed out on trying this place. I haven’t had buffalo wings with blue cheese dip in a very long time. I hope somewhere nearby does them.

History of 256 Moray Street, South Melbourne

Formerly known as the Freemasons Hotel, then the Druids, then the Water Rat and was founded in 1858. It became The Rubber Chicken in 2021 and closed in July 2023. I guess I’ll update this bit when the new tenant moves in.

Events & Food of The Rubber Chicken

Comedy Show

Comedy School Poster from The Rubber Chicken

Comedy show poster of comedians – Arwin Kraze, Sarah Bliss, Paul Preugschat, Jenny Lauren, and Cameron Muratore via The Rubber Chicken Official Facebook

Simon Taylor dropping in at The Rubber Chicken

Simon Taylor dropping in via The Rubber Chicken Comedy Pub

Comedy show by a man in the colourful T-shirt in The Rubber Chicken comedy pub

Comedy show of Brad Oakes via The Rubber Chicken Official Facebook

Singing Performance

A singer playing guitar and singing under purple pink light in The Rubber Chicken pub

Singing performance via The Rubber Chicken Official Facebook

A band perform under purple pink light in The Rubber Chicken pub

Singing performance via The Rubber Chicken Official Facebook

Band performance under purple pink light in The Rubber Chicken pub

Band performance via Jody Wattle

Food

close-up of wrap of salad and meat from The Rubber Chicken

Wrap of salad and meat

close-up of hamburger from The Rubber Chicken

Hamburger via The Rubber Chicken Offical Facebook

close-up of fried chicken from The Rubber Chicken

Fried chicken via The Rubber Chicken Offical Facebook

  • Comment (2)
  • Hi Keith. The short story is, the Real Estate agent mislead us as we had Covid debt that we were paying back. In fact, we were paying 50% on top of our rent, then without notice we received an eviction notice from the landlord giving us 14 days. However, by the time it was slipped under our door, there was only 10 days remaining. The landlord wanted all Covid backpay consisting of around $25,000, and an increase in the bond to comply with the increase in rent, and a ridiculous amount of legal fees that they had occurred in the process of trying to throw us out previously as well as this time. Over $4000 for two section 146 notices. Unfortunately this 1954 law means that any legal costs incurred by the landlord can be passed to the tenant. What makes the story worse is that the new tenants that were supposedly coming in reneged when they saw that we had taken all of our audio and visual equipment, furniture and stock. The landlord had misled this new tenant into thinking that they were getting the pub, as is, meaning all of our property. So now the venue is empty, the landlord isn’t getting any rent and we have lost a valuable live performance venue in South Melbourne. All because of greed.

    • George says:
      Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
      Thank you both gents for providing details. It had been a while and I was actually thinking of popping my head back in. Great shows and the Jamaican jerk chicken was to die for. RIP Rubber chicken
    • Hi Morry, wow thanks for the update. I had noticed the new tenant had not moved in yet and was wondering what was happening there. I enjoy the karma of it now sitting empty and the landlord is now worse off.

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