The former Swan View Senior High School student said a career in comedy was always on his radar and he had used his experiences of growing up in Midland as fodder for his first solo show.
“I was disappointed Fringe didn’t come to Midland this year so I am stoked to finally be able to bring this show to my hometown,” he said.
“I think Midland is a great place, but it has a bad reputation.
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McLaren said his one-man, stand-up show took out the award for the Best WA Comedy at the recent Fringe World Festival.
“I was incredibly humbled at how well my show was received at Fringe and it’s really opened some doors for me,” he said.
“Next up I will be taking my show to the Perth Comedy Festival and hopefully Darwin Fringe as well.”
McLaren said comedy was always on his radar.
“I always wanted to do stand up comedy and even used to tell my friends that I was heading to the Melbourne Comedy Festival as an excuse to wag school,” he said.
“My dream is to do a Tonight Show style TV program here in Australia because there really needs to be more Australian comedy on TV, particularly in Perth.”
Also featured on the Midlandia line up are comedy heavyweights Peter Helliar, Tom Gleeson, Charlie Pickering and Dave Callan as well as Comedy Hypnotist Matt Hale, magician Matt Tarrant and Bingay.
Midlandia runs from March 23 to April 4 at the events space on the corner of Cale Street and The Crescent and Midland Oval.
Visit www.midlandia.com.au.