Nick Abrahams Will Debut THE ACCIDENTAL LAWYER at Melbourne Comedy Festival

At this stage of life, many people are invited to give inspirational speeches at graduation ceremonies. Nick Abrahams has not been invited. So instead, he wrote a comedy show about giving a terrible one. He will debut The Accidental Lawyer for Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Sydney Comedy Festival and has already sold out both shows! The Accidental Lawyer is a sharp, fast-paced stand-up show that takes aim at the graduation speech and, the comforting illusion that anyone really knows what they're doing with their career. Nick has some insights here; he's gone from stand-up to TV presenter to Hollywood producer to lawyer to tech entrepreneur to Professor to keynote speaker and back again! 

In the show, Nick plays the last-minute replacement keynote speaker at the fictional Wangaratta Community College & Squash Centre graduation ceremony. Unfortunately for the graduates, the original speaker has cancelled and Nick has some very different advice. “I'm the inspirational speaker you get when the inspirational speaker cancels.” Says Nick.  “Most people don't choose their careers. Their careers slowly trap them like a possum in a wheelie bin. You go to one networking event in your twenties, then wake up, and you're in middle management with a mortgage.”

Instead of urging audiences to follow their dreams, Nick explores the more common reality: careers are often about finding something that works for you, frequently by accident. Nick's own career path has been anything but linear. Before law, he was a successful stand-up comedian in Japan, hosting his own television show and billed as the “Seinfeld of Japan.” He later worked as a creative executive at Warner Bros in Los Angeles on ER and The West Wing and produced and appeared in a film with Woody Allen.

Returning to Australia, Nick spent 25 years as a senior partner at a global law firm and also founded the legal AI company Lawpath, now with over 600,000 customers. Drawing on that experience, The Accidental Lawyer reflects on how careers unfold, often unpredictably and tackles the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the future of work. “We'll know the tipping point has arrived when robots start posting on LinkedIn about how ‘humbled and honoured' they are to share their career updates.” Says Nick.

The show is for anyone whose career hasn't quite gone quite according to plan. It also finds plenty of humour in the contradictions of legal life. [NA1] “Being a lawyer is a dream job if your dream is working sixteen hours a day arguing over commas.” Says Nick. “It's like being a poet—you write thousands of words nobody will ever read. But ultimately, lawyers are just trying to make the world a better place… six minutes at a time.”

This is a brilliantly structured send-up of the graduation speech - dry, insightful and packed with laughs. The Accidental Lawyer premieres at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this April. 

Show Details

Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2026
VENUE: Crowne Plaza, Studio 2, 1 Spencer Street, Docklands, Melbourne
DATE: Friday 17 April: 7:30pm

DURATION: 45 minutes
TICKETS: $15 (inc GST)