When Tawi got a text the next morning asking if he was still prepared to perform, he tried to pull out.
“I got that text when I was sober and thought, ‘Oh, nah’, but my missus pushed me to do it.”
Tawi said he filled up his seven-minute set with stories of his life.
“I’ve always just been a bit of a clown, and I take the funny side of things out of my life experiences.
“Every day, I’ll just rehearse two or three jokes until I add on another one, and then I’ll keep going over them.
“By the time it comes to the gig, my missus and all my kids know my set off by heart as well because I’m walking around the house saying it all day.”
He said he ran all his jokes past Wiari-Wroe to work out if they were funny enough to include in his sets.
“At the Manawatū [Raw Comedy] competition, I had my seven-year-old in the crowd and he was cracking up the whole time - my sister was sitting next to him and said he was finishing off all my jokes for me.”
Tawi has performed seven shows so far in his stand-up career.
Before the Wellington triumph, he placed second in the Palmerston North round of the comedy quest.
“I’m always nervous until I’ve had a few beers before I get on, then I’m all good. The old Dutch courage.”
DIY Comedy producer Ben Caldwell said Tawi took out second place at the Palmerston North Raw Comedy Quest Final and competed against 10 other “really high-quality comedians” in Wellington.
“This is the first time that we’ve had one of our comedians [from the central North Island] actually win the Wellington show. It’s an unbelievable achievement,” Caldwell said.
“Wellington humour is very different to what you experience in the regions, so I think it shows how good Luke was, to go down there and shine the way that he did.”
Caldwell said Tawi had a natural stage presence as a performer.
“I think there’s just a real authenticity about who he is as a person and that just resonates on stage, particularly with people that have similar backgrounds to him or come from Māori culture.
“He’s also got really well-crafted jokes, and the comic timing of it is awesome.
“I think that I can see really big things for him if he carries on with it.”
Tawi said he hoped to see the Whanganui stand-up scene grow even stronger.
“It’s a good little crowd. The scene’s not really massive, but with a bit more exposure we’d probably get a few more people keen.”
Caldwell said regional comedy was becoming more prominent throughout the country.
“There’s a real wealth of talent that’s coming through now, particularly from Whanganui.
“It seems to be a bit of a hotbed at the moment with comedians.”
DIY Comedy has been running monthly shows in Whanganui for the past three years.
“We always try to keep it fresh with a rotating line-up, and ideally, we want to cultivate a regular audience to come along every month,” Caldwell said.
“People look at some of the fees comedians get and think it’s a lot of money, but they forget you’re not actually getting paid for just that performance; it’s all the work happening offstage to get yourself to that level.
“During the shows, we have a few rookie spots which we give to people who are just starting out or have new material they want to try, or who want to work on a particular skill like crowd work.”
The Raw Comedy Quest Grand Final is on October 28 at The Classic in Auckland.
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
