Comedy Festival 2018: Luke Heggie a star on the rise in Tiprat ★★★★½

RELENTLESSLY funny — an hour of non-stop laughs — Heggie’s show is polished and refreshingly blue-collar stand-up. Catch this star on the rise.

LUKE Heggie is a man in a hurry. It’s just one of the reasons you should catch him.

Most comedians like to warm people into their sets: interacting with the front row, finding out if there’s anyone in the crowd who has ever patted a wallaby or worked in a warehouse, welcoming latecomers with a joke about their tardiness.

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Heggie does not: striding on to stage, spitting a gag at the audience and barely taking breath for an hour from there.

It is relentless, a steam train of a show that powers on and through.

Luke Heggie sticks a steel-capped boot into middle-class Australiain in Tiprat.

His densely worded jokes, sticking a steel-capped boot into middle-class Australia, take the crowd to a place few others in the festival travel, skewering the vanities and contradictions of the majority of the audience. It’s brilliant stuff.

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You don’t see Heggie on TV panel shows, yet. He notes that, and for a few seconds you wonder if the rest of the hour will be filled with similar introspection. Most comedians would wallow there.

Nup. A swear word, a new gag and away.

The winner of last year’s Piece of Wood award — chosen by comedians — has a compelling energy and a winning confidence. Catch it.

Luke Heggie, Tiprat

Mantra of Russell, 222 Russell St, until April 22.

comedyfestival.com.au