Christophe Locatelli
There are many people we come across in life who we feel should receive a big hug. The kind of people who need to be wrapped up in bubble wrap, as they are simply terrible in social situations. The Tasmanian comedian Luke McGregor definitely comes across as one of these people in his stand-up show My Soul Mate Is Out Of My League and I am not sure if it is only an act.
The lights went down, and we heard his voice tell us that he would be performing from back stage for us, giving us the first taste of what we are to expect for the rest of the show, hilariously awkward tales of his life. He takes us from his preteen years of being a choir boy with braces and a huge messy ginger afro, to a 15-year-old who cannot make it to the toilet on time, and then to the present as a man who doesn’t know how many texts it’s acceptable to send a girl when she is not replying.
McGregor may make out in his act that he has no social skills, but he has the an undeniable skill of making everyone in the room laugh with him and not at him. Much of the time he does not even have to give a perfect punch line, only a simple abnormal facial expression. This comedian takes rather large unusual scenarios to shock and leave many in hysterics, but also has the great talent that many of the best mainstream comedians have of taking tiny details of everyday life that many of us do not really notice or think about anymore, and tearing them apart to make them seem completely ridiculous.
Being completely aware of life to the point of over-analysis seems to be the key to being a successful comedian: McGregor has this. From pretending to have stooges in the audience, telling people they will only be allowed to heckle him if they pay a certain amount of money, trying to make his act a group discussion throughout and making forgetting his lines as funny as his actual words, Luke McGregor has ato be huge. If you are a fan of Russell Howard or Michael McIntyre, you should give McGregor a chance.