“I had a Pot Noodle and a dream”: Luke Hamnett joins us in the Pub Corner
The comedian and interviewer heads down to Mr Fogg's Pawnbrokers
If you’ve happened to open Instagram or doomscrolled on TikTok for more than ten minutes, you’ll probably have stumbled across Luke Hamnett. He’s the funny guy behind some of your favourite reels, taking the mic out of everyone from Kim K to the mams who are wine drunk at a hen do.
Like all good comedians, his journey to social stardom is littered with other - less loved - careers, including hungover shifts at Pizza Hut to drama teaching kids who categorically did not want to be doing drama classes. Whilst in London (“for a quick in and out – like a tampon”) we caught up with Luke in the gorgeous Mr Fogg’s Pawnbrokers in Soho for a pint of Rosé (yes, you read that right) to chat about throwbacks, Drag Race, and what social media fame is really like.
A throwback is in order
There are a lot of fantastic things about the 00s that we all miss, and the 2016 nostalgia trend that swept across socials earlier this year got everyone – Luke included – thinking about their favourite things sorely missing from the 2020s.
“I absolutely loved the music in 2010s because I was in uni and I had a pot noodle and a dream. I had my maintenance loan and would go out – I was very much in my Pitbull era, and my 2010s was just very drunk, and uni made it better.”
“2011-2014 I was in uni and it was such good music. That’s when we got introduced to Ariana Grande, then we had Adele with 21 – both fantastic. I probably listened to both crying, drunk… naked. Joking…”
Been there, my friend.
Comedy queens were his ultimate inspiration
Whilst once we watched sitcoms like Not Going Out and panel shows like Mock the Week to get introduced to our favourite funnymen, now a simple scroll through your feed will have you face to face with some comedy legends. But where do they get their inspiration from? Is it the glory days of funny TV or other comedians?
“My idol was Victoria Wood, I loved her. Victoria Wood and Carolina Hern,” Luke revealed.
“Especially Victoria Wood watching Dinner Ladies growing up with her quick innuendos and her brain is just so quick. My sketches are very heavily influenced by her, yeah, I’d say I owe her a lot,” he added.
School was basically his origin story
It’s a fact universally acknowledged that all the funniest people you know were probably bullied at school. Entrepreneurs, comedians, anyone remotely interesting to be honest probably had some kind of childhood trauma as their origin story. Growing up as ‘the gay kid’ in a ‘proper northern working class school’ Luke was no different.
“It was a standard northern working class school; I got bullied and that then became my superpower – it was either get punched in the face or make them laugh. So I made them laugh.” Luke shared.
“I went onto be a teacher then realised I can’t stand kids…” he joked, laughing, recalling the days of teaching Drama GCSE to kids who picked it thinking it was “the easy option”. Spoiler: it was not…
Old school huns would leave him starstruck
Although you may know him from social media, Luke has covered interviews for some of the most prestigious events like the Brits (we’re not jealous at all), chatted up celebs at red carpet events, and hosted several familiar faces on his podcast which he co-hosts with his mum. Despite the seemingly daily run ins with celebrities, there are still a few on his bucket list that would send his nervous system into overdrive.
“I would completely have a breakdown if i met a spice girl, I would be crying, snot, the lot. I think it’s because I idolise them – they’re like my godmothers who don’t know I exist,” Luke reflected.
“Baby Spice is my number one. All five of them are equally brilliant, but when I used to perform with my family when I was younger I was always Baby Spice.I used to put on shows for my mum and dad if I wanted my cousin to stay over.”
There are a couple of TV shows that are still on his bucket list
Whereas back in the depths of 2016 it felt borderline scandalous to have someone from “the internet” on mainstream TV, with any vloggers referred to as ‘internet personalities’, nowadays, there are more influencers gracing our screens than ever before, from guest appearances to big hitting reality shows.
“I’d love to be a guest judge on Drag Race, because everyone is f***king fabulous,” Luke admitted.
“I’d love to do Celeb Traitors, and I feel like I’d be really good because no one would expect me to lie. But I’d also get so invested I’d want to hunt out all the Traitors. I’m up for anything really,” he reflected, before giving a call out to any casting directors or TV execs who may be reading / watching…
“There are certain things I wouldn’t do,” he added. “I’d struggle on I’m a Celeb because I’m scared of everything: snakes, spiders, my shadow, other people, grass, trees, heights. Great TV, but I’d definitely struggle.”
Parasocial relationships have their upsides
Parasocial relationships are on the rise, and it’s easy to see why. Influencers and digital creators increasingly share the intimacy of their personal lives, catalysing the kind of best-friends rapport usually built between numerous nights out and meet ups. Whilst this kind of long-distance support can be a beautiful thing, it can also bring a slew of odd interactions and pressure to big-time influencers. Luckily for Luke, they’ve tended to lean toward the lovely rather than the bizarre – for the most part…
“I’ve had some lovely people but some real weirdos and cranks, where I think: ‘you need to go and touch grass, immediately.’” he laughed, reminiscing.
“I have a lot of huns and they’re my ride or dies, they’re great. I get a lot of people saying ‘my mum loves you.’” he added.
Despite his success, he has a fair few work fails in the bank
Everyone loves a good origin story be it a Marvel superhero or the actor playing a Marvel superhero. Stormzy worked in Screwfix, Simone Ashely served up froyo, and Luke Hamnett was a Pizza Hut Princess.
“I used to be a waiter at Pizza Hut, for three years whilst I was at uni. Hands down one of the best jobs,” he confirmed.
“It taught me so much but I used to go in hungover,” he recalled. “They would know I had a hangover so they would deliberately put me on a table with 30 kids doing a ‘make your own pizza’.” *cue shuddering* “I used to flirt my arse off to get tips,” he laughed. “I also used to get my friend to ring up and order a pizza at half nine, and then they’d obviously never turn up and I’d go ‘Oh no, this double stuff pizza has just been left, aww I guess I’ll take it home’ then I’d feel like the pied piper handing out pizzas to my eight flatmates.”
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