Dating, Daddydom, & Delirium (The Best Things In Life Aren’t Free)
Luke Holt @ Butterfly House
2:00pm, Fri 25 Feb 2011
Comedy with a curious title, a new venue, and matinée timing? Ticket booked.
And then I notice – too late – the phrase tucked away on the right side of his posters… “clean comedy”. And I’m suddenly a little bit wary.
The Butterfly House is a good sized venue: a proper, old-fashioned dance hall, raised stage and wooden floors decked out for cocktail seating. But there’s not much of a crowd on this steamy Friday afternoon – maybe only a dozen punters in all.
An ex-pastor (and current radio host), Holt’s stage presence is really quite affable; he’s comfortable talking to the small crowd in a wide room. And, befitting his “clean comedy” tag, his is a pleasant, inoffensive style; unfortunately, he doesn’t have much quality material.
Opening with a Justin Bieber “weed forever” dig, he awkwardly transitions into his “dating” material – there’s a couple of odd tales regarding stalkers, followed by some requisite audience interaction with a German girl that led to clumsy recollections of his Hahndorf experiences. But the bulk of Holt’s routine is based around his marriage – and it’s largely familiar fare.
But there’s a lull in the room when he discusses the miscarriage suffered by his wife while they were both on-air during a radio broadcast – it’s a touching story, to be sure, but in a comedy show? Subsequent material, mainly around the birth (and introduction) of his son, are pitched more as feel-good, rather than comedy, pieces.
To his credit, Holt doesn’t use his stage as a pulpit, and his set was well-intentioned and delivered with enthusiasm. It’s just that it was incredibly patchy content, and the highs weren’t that high.