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:
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 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 via The Rubber Chicken Comedy Pub
Comedy show of Brad Oakes via The Rubber Chicken Official Facebook
Singing Performance
Singing performance via The Rubber Chicken Official Facebook
Singing performance via The Rubber Chicken Official Facebook
Band performance via Jody Wattle
Food
Wrap of salad and meat
Hamburger via The Rubber Chicken Offical Facebook
Fried chicken via The Rubber Chicken Offical Facebook
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.
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.