Luke McGregor will be bringing his third comedy show, Almost Fixed It, to the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2017. But for McGregor a national tour comes as a relaxing change of pace compared to last year, when he premiered two original TV series on ABC. Recently I caught up with the kind-hearted, anxious mannered comedian.
Tongue-in-cheek documentary Luke Warm Sex aired in March 2016. It follows McGregor’s tentative journey of sexual self-discovery. McGregor recounts the feedback he has received from fans: “I had a couple people message saying ‘I’m not going to watch it. How dare you put this on TV?’ But the majority was just really positive. And it was the first time I started getting approached in the street. It was great. It’s a little weird, because I’ve had a couple people approach me and just start talking about their sex life. Just random people I’ve never met before. And it’s a bit out of my league. I think there’s a lot of people out there who feel the same way I do, but don’t necessarily have the opportunity to do a documentary about it. It’s been good. It’s probably the most positive response I gotten for anything, which is a relief because I really wasn’t sure how it would go. I was worried people would hate it and I’d never have sex ever. So it was good.”
Comedy-drama Rosehaven, co-written with friend Celia Pacquola, aired in October. Rosehaven is somewhat inspired by real life, being set in McGregor’s home-state of Tasmania and featuring a family-owned real estate business akin to his parents’. How did McGregor juggle these creative projects? “It was tricky,” he admits. “Stand-up, you just sort of write it as it comes to you. Maybe something will happen, it’s not as structured… The tricky part about Rosehaven, I guess, was I had to dedicate certain time to it. You know, so I could balance it with Luke Warm Sex. But sometimes you’ll just be writing and you won’t come up with any ideas. So you might have eight hours on this, and then eight hours on the other thing, but if you don’t think of anything good in those eight hours then you’re kind of stuck. It was tough. In the past my only other experience with balancing was at uni trying to get assignments done. But you can at least write something. Whereas with Rosehaven, you know, I might write for eight hours but I might not be happy with any of it. It was weird, it was the first time I had creative deadlines all working together. Sometimes it felt a bit like homework, even though I loved doing it. But I would do it all again.”
Coming off the professional success of these two shows, and the personal success of finding a “real, actual girlfriend” McGregor is feeling positive about the upcoming tour. “I hope that the more I do comedy the more fun I have on stage… In the end sometimes I get so anxious that I’m not enjoying myself, you know I’m too nervous about performing. I hope this year I enjoy it more. I think it’s been the dream for a while now, and most of the stuff that I kept secret or I’m really scared of I’ve talked about in a documentary,” he admits with a laugh. “I think it’s good to feel nervous before a show because it shows you care about it. I think it’s like dating, you know, there’s like an excitement when you go on a date with a new person, and also some nerves. But you still want to enjoy the date, you don’t want to be pouring with sweat the whole time.”
Adelaide is looking forward to welcoming back our favourite self-deprecating comedian in Almost Fixed It. We hope to see a more confident and comfortable McGregor as he discusses his recent successes and looming anxieties. But how does McGregor plan on spending his time in Adelaide? He will indulge in wine tours, test local restaurants, and “double in size before I come home”.
Interviewed by Nicola Woolford
Show: Almost Fixed It
Presented by: Token Events
Venue: Corona Theatre @ The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Season: 27th Feb – 5th Mar
Duration: 60 mins
Tickets: $24.00 – $35.00
Bookings: Adelaide Fringe
@LukeWMcGregor
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