There’s certain daily microcosms of life that work as perfect fodder for comedy. Airliners, music festivals, nightclubs, trains, public toilets, and especially in Australia, the iconic construction site.
Synonymous with the idea of the blue-collar, everyday Australian bloke, the construction site works as the framing point for eastern states comedian – and certified tradie in his own right – Luke Heggie’s new show, Anythink Is Possible, which will be part of the Sydney Comedy Festival Showcase hitting MPAC on Saturday August 6.
“My show this year’s pretty much about d***heads I’ve worked with on building sites, and there is no shortage of them,” Heggie said.
“It’s pretty easy to get material out of the bulls*** that’s usually talked about on site.”
The conversation that frames Heggie’s new show ranges everywhere from deep, profound philosophy to the redundancy of saying “ATM Machine” – you know, the kinds of conversations you hear every time you pass a group of blokes at a site, or a pub, or basically any other place of conversation.
“It comes from building sites, but it’s not even just building sites that this kind of thing happens,” Heggie said.
“It’s basically every time Australian men gather together. If there’s Aussie men, and eskies, and possibly beers and a barbeque, there will be these types of conversations happening.”
Heggie describes the “high level of abuse” inherent in casual Australian language as a focal point of his shows, since it clearly stands out.
“The amount of s*** that we give each other, the one-upmanship and the mateship, all this tied together, it’s actually pretty confusing,” he said.
“If you’re from another country or whatever, seeing the way Australians talk to each other just blows your mind. Some of the things we say to each other are just appalling.
“You couldn’t tell from writing the words down that people are actually friends; there’s something about the way we talk to each other that makes sense to us, but to nobody else.”
Getting the frustration caused by people saying things like “7AM in the morning” off his chest has pushed Heggie into the spotlight, with rave reviews from recent Sydney and Melbourne Comedy Fest shows labeling him as the new face of deadpan, observational Australian humour. It’s served him well, with a run of sell-out shows prefacing this tour.
“It’s been unreal, I love it,” he said.
“I’m from the country, so I speak from that and to that. Country towns know s***-talking, so I think I should get along with everyone pretty well.”
Luke Heggie heads to Mandurah performing Arts Centre on Thursday August 4, along with Jaques Barrett, Famous Sharron, Sean Conway, Paul Ogata and Michael Workman. Tickets are available by calling 9550 3900 or going to manpac.com.au.
