Those capable of breaking the door down draw from either innate resolve or stinging curiosity. A succeeding example of a treadmill running rampant is comedic young gun Luka Muller. Dashing into the 2017 Melbourne International Comedy Festival with 22 affirmed slots and another 21 potential appearances, there won’t be a fleeter fellow flying through the streets during the four-week extravaganza.
Peering into the mental sponge – the shortcomings of others first whet a since-unrelenting appetite. “I was always a huge comedy fan from a young age, but I was pretty shy, and the idea of getting involved never occurred to me,” says Muller. “Then I found out about this thing called Class Clowns – a comedy competition for people in high school. I started watching it on YouTube and thought, ‘These people suck. I should do comedy instead of these people’. So I did, and I sucked, no doubt, but spite was a good motivator.”
Headlining his own show Lucky, Muller will also appear alongside good friends Blake Freeman and Taco in three-way show Triple Dippers. The buck doesn’t stop there either, as he joins the likes of Michael Shafar and Sam Taunton among others in the hysterical rotating conveyor belt that is 3 Course Comedy.
It’ll be pillar to post for an Echuca-raised talent who knows no other way – amounting kilometre after kilometre in his debut showing in 2016. “The best take away from the 2016 MICF was the hours of stage time,” says Muller. “It’s so good to have that under my belt. I did 17 one-hour shows in a row – you just don’t get that outside of the festival. I was very lucky. No pun intended.”
His opening foray was primarily seamless – crowds laughed and jibed jovially, all in good fun – but when a guest decided to roll out it quickly became newsworthy. “One woman got up and left five minutes into my show, so I asked if she didn’t like it or what the deal was and she said she was just getting a drink. Then she came back 45 minutes later and saw the last five minutes. Afterwards she told me it was her favourite show of the festival.”
Lucky brings Muller’s trademark spontaneous riffing and a less centralised show than previous venture Be Like Water. “Last year’s show was lots of fun, but it was also about a bad thing from my life, and reliving that night after night was tiring,” he says. “Lucky is a bit lighter and less of just one story for the whole show. It’s more a collection of different things.”
Fresh-faced, amicable and equally hilarious, Muller brings an understated determination into this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival – poised to make him a graduate of practice makes perfect.
By Tom Parker
Venue: Belleville
Dates: Wednesday March 29 – Saturday April 8 (bar Sunday April 2)
Duration: 50 minutes
Tickets: $8.30 – $16.30
