Luke Heggie brings his 11th solo stand-up show to Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Luke is known for a deadpan delivery, and has toured (and sold out) the biggest comedy and arts festivals around Australia. Plus, he's got a fanbase in the UK where he has played London's Soho Theatre.
He's appeared on television too in two stand-up specials, as well as guest slots on 'The Project', 'Comedy Next Gen', and 'Comedy Up Late'. In 2020, Luke started a podcast with fellow comedian Nick Cody called 'Flight Brawl', cataloguing the best all-time 'air rage' incidents.
Luke's new show 'Grot' follows the likes of 'Your Stupid' and 'Lowbreed', and is not for people who have more than one middle name, think sweet potato fries were a good invention, or who know their own I.Q.
Does this sound like you? Read on. We chat to Luke ahead of the show.
How would you define 'actual stand-up'?
Saying whatever you like without regard, not so much for consequences, but for the ire of the sensitive. Obviously it can be anything, but in my instance it is at least attempting to be funny. I always aim to produce an hour of stand-up comedy that would belong in a club. Always searching for a laugh. Not at all costs, but definitely in lieu of a long story about my difficult upbringing, involving loss, heartache, the time I killed someone just to see what it felt like, and most importantly triumph over adversity. It’s just jokes and I don’t care if I’m agreed with.
When did you realise stand-up was something you’d be doing for a living?
I still haven’t really. It’s a difficult task in Australia. It’s considered the lowest of all the arts, and yet to those doing a good job of it, it’s the only one worth it. The reward for being competent at stand-up is that you don’t have to do it anymore. Phew. Time to start doling out icy cold cans of Coke to scabby radio listeners. That’s not an option for me, making it easy to thumb my nose at. Paying the rent from just stand-up without a strong mass media presence is nearly impossible here. Having other projects is the only thing that brings people to stand-up. I co-host a podcast that has given me a bump up to being able to earn a living, just.
For newbies, what’s a lowbreed?
Technically it’s inferior stock. This is open to interpretation. It’s an insult from my youth. I get called it from time to time. I don’t use the term as poking fun at the lower classes. It’s anyone performing a low act.
Describe the perfect person your stand-up is designed for?
When I started it was disgruntled people my age and older. Mostly men. More women are coming now of their own volition which is a good sign. Younger people have started to turn up too. Time will tell if they come back more than once. If I had to pick a median demographic, it’d be a self-educated 40-year-old who enjoys poking fun at others as well as themselves.
And what are you most looking forward to about presenting it to Melbourne audiences?
I’m looking forward to getting it right. That’s not going to happen every night. Some people will hate it and walk out. Melbourne can be a bit special. Overall though, they’re great at coming out and taking things in the spirit they’re intended. I don’t change anything for a different city. I just stand there and take my medicine.
What would you say is the ratio of lowbreeds to non-lowbreed crowds in Melbourne?
Roughly half each. For a city priding themselves on being at the coalface of tolerance and progression, there are a lot of people hooning around the joint in their cars, and rallying down Bourke Street on foot demanding (from what I can gather from the paraphernalia and attire) gold miner rights during the Eureka Rebellion.
Luke Heggie plays Morris House (previously known as European Bier Cafe) (Melbourne International Comedy Festival) 29 March-23 April.
