The Off Beat: Walker Lukens’ “Good Weird,” Austin-Centric Year-End Revue
Omnipresent producer brings variety show The Last Walt back to Paramount Theatre
By Carys Anderson, Fri., Dec. 6, 2024
“We don’t have a lot of weird shit anymore in this city,” Walker Lukens declares. “We have the vaguely alt-right comedy scene, and I guess that’s weird... I think it’s actually just kind of terrifying.
“We have some old holdover stuff, like Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, Trail of Lights,” he adds. “But this used to be a town that prided itself on being [full of] scrappy, upstart, creative people. And that energy is just so lacking these days.”
Enter The Last Walt, the singer, songwriter, podcaster, and generally omnipresent producer’s self-curated variety show, which returns to the Paramount Theatre for its second year Dec. 6. Complete with musicians, comedians, magicians, and other “scrappy” local creatives, the end-of-year event – not a tribute to Martin Scorsese’s documentary on the Band, but a riff on how people often mistakenly call Lukens “Walter,” he explains – highlights the artists he collaborated with in 2024.
“It’s a little bit of a yearbook for what I’ve been working on offstage for the last year,” Lukens says. That includes Adrian Quesada, who appears on Lukens’ 2023 compilation benefit album Texas Wild; Shinyribs, whose leader Kevin Russell unveiled a new song (that he’ll perform Friday) at a songwriter’s swap the producer also attended earlier this year; and hip-hop duo Geto Gala, among others. Lukens leads the show’s backing band, rounded out by members of the Bright Light Social Hour, pedal steel pro Zack Wiggs, and singer Tricky Jones.
Former Calliope Musicals frontwoman Carrie Fussell plays The Last Walt II under her new moniker BRUCE, for which she’s already recorded three not-yet-released albums (Lukens produced one). He didn’t helm BRUCE’s debut single “Cherry,” but the seductive track still aptly previews the art pop project – and the theatrical quality the artist teases of her Last Walt appearance.
“I never got to be in plays when I was younger, but I am definitely a theatre/drama person at my core,” Fussell shares. “So my performance is gonna be theatrical. And I get to sing a song that I’m pretty sure every singer dreams of singing, and especially at the Paramount. So I’m really, really excited. It’s going to be drama, it’s going to be singing, it’s going to be diva. I can’t wait.”
Lukens has also tapped a slew of heavy hitters across other performing arts mediums, including: Brigitte Bandit, the drag queen who became a political powerhouse when anti-LGBTQ legislation hit a fever pitch; comedian Katie Folger, who will perform a scene from her one-woman show Getting in Bed with the Pizza Man; and the McCuewans, who call themselves a “faith-based musical comedy duo.”
Magician/musician/longtime Lukens collaborator Mortimus Broadshow also returns after performing his sleight of hand last year.
“Performing magic on such a big, historic stage is something I don’t get to do often, and to say it’s a thrill is an understatement,” he messaged the Chronicle. “It’s almost frightening! The energy of a large audience, the beauty and history of the theatre – it’s an experience that’s truly unique, and I’m grateful for the chance to be part of it again.”
Perhaps the weirdest aspect of the show is returning host Jeph, an unknowable (he doesn’t have Instagram!) figure who Lukens says got the gig last year by wandering into the Paramount while the crew was working.
Who is Jeph, exactly? “I mean, who is Jeph not?” Lukens quips.
The producer kept that air of mystery when teeing up differences between The Last Walt II and its inaugural year. He’s trimmed the event’s runtime, he said, and “it’s going to feel more like a classic variety show in that nothing’s onstage for too long or too little.”
“I will say also that we’re utilizing the entire theatre, not just in front of the curtain and behind the curtain, way more than we did last year,” he teased.
Unsurprisingly, the prolific artist said he hopes to host the event across multiple nights in the future, though he doesn’t want to corporatize it. “It’s not about finding a way to scale this up into a massive Live Nation tour. It’s about doing something weird that represents our city and the weird, creative stuff that goes on,” he says.
Not Joe Rogan weird, though. “Good weird. Wholesome weird,” Lukens proclaims. “Too weird for your aunt and uncle from Longview, but not weird enough for their kids who have grown up on the internet.”
