Fringe World: Melbourne comedian Aidan Jones brings show about going sober to Perth

How many of us have thought “my life will be better when …”?

Whether it’s earning a certain amount of money, gaining abs of steel or landing a sweet beachside pad, that idea that one thing has the power to change our lives is a common myth.

For Aidan Jones, it was quitting drinking.

But the Melbourne comedian soon found going sober was only the beginning of things.

Jones is back at Fringe World with the world premiere of his third solo stand-up show The Morning After, which chronicles what happened after he turned his back on alcohol in 2019.

“I thought it would solve all my problems,” he says.

“It was something I had avoided doing for a long time and I decided to finally bite the bullet. I knew it was going to be hard but I thought it would fix my life — but it didn’t, it just showed me what all my other problems were.

“I thought it was the end of something, but really it was just the start of me having to take responsibility for my stuff.”

It is a stark contrast to the first show Jones brought to Perth, 52 Days, which also charted an attempt to cut down on booze but instead resulted in him going hell for leather on the one day a week he was permitted to drink.

His questionable adventures led to a second show, Taco, which toured internationally and is available as a special on Amazon Prime.

Now sober, Jones has uncovered new avenues to find his thrills.

“I thought I was done making bad decisions, and here I am, still making bad decisions,” he laughs.

“Last year I recorded the special of Taco and put it on TikTok, and the opening joke where I say ‘I am half Colombian, is anyone else a cocaine baby?’ got half a million views.

“About 2 per cent of those were Colombian people telling me to go f… myself. In trying to connect with the Colombian community, I actually made a bunch of them hate me. In the past I would have drunk to get over that bad feeling, but I didn’t have that anymore, so I went to a salsa class.”

After salsa came therapy, where Jones admits to pondering what would be “the worst thing” he could say to break the tension, rather than confront his feelings.

And then there’s chatting with his mother, who fell pregnant with him while backpacking through South America in her early 20s.

“Having scary conversations with my mum about my childhood leads to just as many outlandish outcomes as drinking a bag of goon and getting arrested,” Jones says.

“They are both as frightening as each other.”

What Jones ultimately realised was that he had been using alcohol as a way to engage with people.

He chose Fringe World as the place to debut The Morning After as “Perth audiences are really up for trying something new”, and hopes it may encourage others to give up grog and see what happens.

“I feel like someone who quits drinking isn’t someone who is just walking around doing things without thinking,” Jones says.

“Drinking is such a default mode in society, to not do it you need to be someone who thinks outside the box a little bit.”

The Morning After is on at Belgian Beer Cafe from February 3-5 and 8-12.

Jones has partnered with alcohol-free brands NON and Big Drop Brewing to offer prizes and discounts on tickets for the first two dates of his Perth season. Use code NON for $5 off tickets for February 3, and code BIGDROP for $5 off for February 4 via fringeworld.com.au.