The Groggy Squirrel

From the moment that Luke & Wyatt launch in their first musical number, a powerful love song called Sally there are shades of Flight of the Conchords from this young comedy duo. Comparisons such as this are to be expected, such as momentary glimpses of Man Bites God, The Renegades of Folk and even Tripod smattered throughout the show. This is a tribute to Luke and Wyatt rather than a criticism, influences are bound to show this early in the game, but at the same time this young outfit has certainly begun to define it’s own voice.

Luke & Wyatt greet each member of the audience at the door, breaking the fourth wall as they ‘discreetly’ circle back in front of the audience in the tight confines of the tiny venue. This deliberately inept card is played well and with some originality throughout the show, hamming up their ‘character changes’ and employing some very dubious accents (Luke’s ‘Reggae’ voice sounds like something between a Scandinavian accent and a 1970’s Indian accent parody, whilst the less said about Wyatt’s ‘Irish’ accent the better).

The between banter in this show is loose and, though scripted, allows room for a little improvised banter between the boys. Luke & Wyatt are obviously kindred spirits and this showed as some of the less predictable moments came and they interacted freely. These were some of the sweetest moments and it would be nice to see more of this in the future, as the boys become experienced and confident enough to allow themselves improvise more. Their musical material is also strong and shows some real verve and spunk. Often music can be used by inexperienced comedians as an easy option but treating it thus makes it their greatest enemy. It’s always exciting to see young musical comedians who are prepared to put in the work to tread the path of intergrity in this regard, and although these guys aren’t up there with Tim Minchin yet, they’ve certainly got their artistic compass pointed in the right direction.

This is a highly enjoyable, joyous romp by two young comedians who are definately headed for big things. And although they’ve still got a lot of growing to do as comics, the show is worth the ticket price just to find out what goes on between Luke’s Gi Joe’s and his Barbie.

Visit the comedy festival website for bookings and further details