Review: Luke McGregor at The Comedy Theatre

Review by Greg Gorton

Luke McGregor is a known name in Australian comedy, which meant that in the large Comedy Theatre, the man with anxiety was able to survive a packed house who were mostly excited to see him. This was my first experience of McGregor live, despite being a massive fan of the country comedy, Rosehaven (which he wrote and starred in). During his early career, I had made the mistake of seeing him as a one-trick pony, not fully appreciating how he turned his very real personality into a compelling comedic character.

It has been eight years, by Luke’s count, since he had previously played for the festival, and the content of his work had changed dramatically, even if the type of comedy hasn’t. His show is still about a man, extremely anxious about the world he lives in, using self-deprecating humour to find his way through. There is, however, far less fatalism, and recently turning into a family man has found him hundreds of new experiences to stress over. While the opening of the night might be jokes about flat-earthers and other low-hanging fruit, it quickly transitions to the struggles of being a step-dad, especially to children who face the same struggles as himself. Jokes about sharing OCD with his son, being in a family where everyone is autistic, and suffering through the choice of living in Newcastle all are offered with light-hearted enthusiasm, and there is a large sense of optimism that I was not expecting.

It is worth mentioning, however, the mixed audience. It shines such a positive light on McGregor while simultaneously sharing a negative on our society. See, the audience for this show had a significantly larger proportion of boomers than most at the comedy festival and, well, it showed. A joke about keeping a car made by a Nazi because the carseat was installed received a lot of laughter, but only from those who agreed Musk is a Nazi (he is). And when McGregor advocated for his non-binary wife and daughter, I saw far too many gray-haired viewers tense up. Some were so turned off that they even refused to clap at the end of the show.

I think it is absolutely amazing that McGregor has been using his platform (and always has) to highlight what is wrong with the world. He was one of the biggest voices in the recent referendum, and insists on our country being better than those who are going down very dark paths. You have to praise a man who knowingly risks his career doing so. And you have to recognise with heartache the disturbingly large number of people who were offended by what he said.

It took me a long time to respect Luke McGregor’s comedy, and until tonight I still only knew he was great as a comedic actor. His show at the comedy festival really shows why he is a marquee name in this town. He might very well be the best of the big local names right now, and it would be a shame to miss him.