Seems Heggie likes comedy and comedy, at least those who hand out awards, like him right back. A lifetime of lurching between different jobs culminated in his debut stand-up show, Master of None, which earned him a nomination for Best Newcomer at the 2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
His itinerant lifestyle forms the basis of his third solo show, Bush Week, which he will be performing as part of the 2014 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Last year’s show, Mega Dry, was about another job he had. “It was nearly an hour of me complaining vigorously about the general public from the standpoint of a bottle shop assistant. Every night after the show I’d have someone approach me who also hates the general public and agree with my sentiments,” he recalls.
Bush Week, however, is not about work but travel. Heggie, who is 39 and lives in Coogee, NSW, says he travelled a lot in his youth. “Probably for about 10 years, and a chunk of that was on a pushbike, some in cars, hiking, camping and backpacking,” he says. The show is not about one specific trip, but rather a collection of tales. “It is a show about travel, with an emphasis on the annoying people I’ve met while doing so. I also reserve my right to crowbar in whatever unrelated jokes I feel compelled to include,” he says.
With travel comes the obligatory snaps to go with it, but there’ll be none of those, nor video, in Bush Week. “There’s no AV component. If people want to watch telly, they may have to stay at home,” says Heggie. “It’s stand up”.
Since winning RAW back in 2010, Heggie has travelled with his comedy. Part of his prize was “a free flight to Edinburgh, where I learned that audiences of five or six burly Scottish drunks at midnight hate me as a general rule,” he says. He’s also performed at the New York Comedy Festival and in New Zealand. “Other than that, around Australia a bit, but I spend most of my time in Sydney,” he says. He’s not quite a full-time comedian just yet, working these days as a builder’s labourer, a job (and “super cool boss”) that gives him the flexibility he needs to pursue comedy. “I can’t hold down a full time good job, because I keep leaving to go interstate for shows,” he says.
He’ll be taking this next month off the job site, because he’s doing a full run of Bush Week in Melbourne. He decided to call the show that because “it would offend some people to call a show Dickheads I’ve Met in Hostels.” So why should audiences come see this show? Because they may want to spend an hour not learning anything at all, and enjoy listening to a surly man relaying his prejudices in the form of some casually aggressive jokes and stories”.
