Home-grown talent Luka Muller has landed the gig of a lifetime, gracing the radio waves nationwide.
The newly welcomed triple j Breakfast presenter, Luka grew up in Echuca and attended Moama Anglican Grammar School before relocating to Melbourne to pursue a career in stand-up comedy.
This career really began while he was in Year 12 through the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Class Clowns initiative.
“They send a comedian and you do a workshop,” he said.
“It was me and one other guy from my school and a couple of girls from Bendigo.
“It’s a one-day workshop to learn a bit about stand-up, and then you perform that night.
“I got through the first few rounds of that, so I was always interested in doing stand-up and it was my door into that.”
Luka has since hit the ground running, headlining across Australia, Europe and Asia, as well as selling out shows at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and Adelaide Fringe.
His radio journey began less than two years ago after getting in touch with the triple j team and working his way up from the graveyard shifts.
“In November of 2022 I got linked up with some triple j people, some boss people, and recorded demos for them,” he said.
“Then I started doing Late Nights, where you’re on from 11pm to 2am, more of a training-type shift.
“Eventually I started covering some lunches and some weekend shifts and stuff like that.
“Then at the start of this year, my friend Jordan Barr and I, we got Weekend Arvos as a regular job on triple j.
“A few shuffles within the station this year, and here I am on Breakfast!”
One big change for Luka is working with a big production team, as well as with co-host Concetta Caristo.
“Stand-up is so individual, it’s just you,” Luka said.
“You’re the one coming up with the ideas, writing the material, booking the shows, doing the shows.
“Any sort of feedback is all you listening back to your sets ... but this is so collaborative.
“Obviously the aspect of it being with Concetta, and we’re a duo together, but just the bigger thing.
“It’s definitely a new thing ... I’m getting used it.”
For Luka, growing up as a triple j listener drew him into stand-up, particularly in a time where hosts with comedy backgrounds were gracing the airwaves.
“Listening to triple j, and especially the era that I was listening to when I was a teenager with Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson and Matt Okine, sort of got me interested in the idea of doing stand-up, and that if you do stand-up, jobs like radio can come along with that,” he said.
“It’s weird how it all sort of led me to stand-up, which then led me back to radio.
“It’s a cool sort of full-circle moment.”
During his time in Echuca, Luka was part of the second group of Year 7 students at the then-newly opened Moama Anglican Grammar School in 2006.
Around this time, he also graced the sports pages of The Riv, making his editorial debut during a soccer game for the Moama-Echuca Junior Soccer Club.
“I think someone told us, ‘someone from The Riv is around taking photos’, so I thought that was cool and exciting, I didn’t think that much about it,” Luka said.
“Then I go to school on Monday and somebody shows me, or maybe my parents show me, and I couldn’t believe it.
“Me at 13 or something just pulling the dumbest face of all time while I had the ball.
“I’ll always resent the person who wrote the caption for that because it says something like, ‘maybe not all the players were ready for the ball’ ... I was so ready!”
While Luka doesn’t spend much time in the area now, particularly due to his relocation to Sydney for the triple j Breakfast gig, he gets a big reception when he mentions Echuca on the air.
“Anytime I mention Echuca, we’ll get a flood of messages like, ‘yes Echuca represent! 3564 for life’,” he said.
“I love it, it’s very sweet.”