The quiet excellence award goes to this little man who would probably spend most of his days staring quizzically at trees if he wasn’t such a busy bee. No matter whether he’s hosting a trivia night or starring in his own shows on the ABC, Lawrence Leung is a full-flung nerd with what seems to be a curious fascination in absolutely everything. For people like him, this crazy, crazy world can sometimes be hard to explain, and his latest stand-up Very Strange Things makes a hilarious experiment of coincidences through comedy and magic.
Lawrence Leung has dorky, witty and loveable as all hell down to a fine knit sweater of an artform. As nerds slowly but surely become the dominant species on planet Earth, he picks away so earnestly at his craft with self-fulfilled joy and enthusiasm, and thankfully invites us along to share in his adventures.
With his best friend, the Rubix cube, once again in hand, Leung is at once familiarly on form for those who know him and delightful as buttons for the uninitiated. He doesn’t hold back with pop culture references—both The X Files and Star Wars Episode VII making big awesome appearances in his set-up – but like a true nerd there’s no risk of spoilers either (this feels like a really important thing to clarify).
A couple of stools, a projector and a neatly arranged table join him on stage, in what he calls his laboratory. Oh Lawrence. You sweet thing. Using some subtly mind-blowing magic tricks as the frame for his show, Lawrence is quietly natural in his delivery although perhaps a little more showman confidence could help to solidify such a contained package. Sometimes his intentions can be hard to follow, although when does he hit the mark it’s fairly fantastic.
The show itself is small in scale, but the character he brings to it makes for a fascinating and too-freakin-endearing investigation into the difference between believers and sceptics. Lawrence Leung has so much damn heart for this stuff – his esoteric nerd interests that are so unashamed it seems impossible to not get swept up. He’s basically your best friend within the space of an hour.