Troy Hawke is known to be quick-witted and kind. A man of manners. A connoisseur of charm. A hero for the social-media age. His superpower? Creating moments of unexpected delight.
In his videos, he trawls the cobble-stoned lanes of Cork, Ireland, the balmy boardwalk in Cannes, France, or the bustling streets of London, disarming often-guarded passers-by with genuine interest and guiding them into his net of positivity.
Dressed in a colorful smoking jacket, an accentuating cravat and pencil-thin mustache, his get-up is almost as refined as his compliments, which are so detailed and nimbly assembled that even the politest group of word-spitters would be thoroughly impressed.
“You’re an aquamarine, blue-jean, field of dreams.”
“You have the poise of an apex predator, but the eyes of a kindly woodland creature. It’s a devastating combination.”
“You’re like a plucky hero in an animal-based Disney adventure.”
“Your ponytail gives you the aura of a silken, elven hero.”
Troy Hawke is a character created by Milo McCabe, a 48-year-old, self-taught comedian from Kingston, a city southwest of London. “If I’ve got the smoking jacket on, I’m Troy. If I don’t, I’m whatever else I am,” Mr. McCabe said in an interview from Brisbane, Australia, where he was performing as part of a world tour that arrives stateside in April.
The Troy Hawke videos Mr. McCabe creates deliver a tinge of humanity and are a reminder that a genuine compliment can be at worst, a balm on a tough day and, at best, a heartwarming core memory.
The popularity of Troy Hawke — 1.2 million followers on both Instagram and TikTok — is relatively recent, but the character is more than a decade in the making. Mr. McCabe first conceived of the posh, mustachioed persona as part of his multicharacter, experimental set at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe, one of the world’s premier comedy festivals. In 2014, he performed his first hourlong show solely as Troy Hawke, and hasn’t looked back.
Even though he’s greeted Formula One drivers before a race, and the soccer stars of Manchester City outside their training ground, Mr. McCabe, sans costume, doesn’t often get recognized. “One of my friends says he believes in Clark Kent now,” he said.
In a recent interview, Mr. McCabe discussed complimenting others, his favorite memories from the street and tips on how to make someone’s day.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
When I first saw your videos, I got inspired and started handing out compliments to people — for maybe two days. What holds us back from complimenting more often?
I remember like 20 years ago, I was walking down the street and some bloke just went, “I like your trainers.” I was so made up and I still remember it now. There is some science behind it. The person giving the compliment feels better. You know you’ve put a smile on someone’s face, so you feel better about yourself. They obviously feel better and they’ve potentially got a core memory that lasts for a very long time, like I do.
Is there any of Troy Hawke’s personality that bleeds into your real life?
I think the reason I can write so much for this character — I’ve had other characters I haven’t been able to so easily — is that this one is probably closest to a part of what I’m actually really like. So yeah, there is. I’ll be walking down the street as me, off-duty, and I’ll see something about a person and think, “That’s cool.” And then I’ll go, “Hang on a minute, you have to tell them.” And then I’ll make myself do it.
People are impressed by how specific and quick you are with your compliments. Where does that come from?
Have you heard of the Meisner Technique? It’s this type of acting where you try to be as in the moment, as real as possible. And the exercise that you do is get two actors and they put 100 percent of their attention on each other. What I’ll try to do is when I’m walking down the street, I’ll put 100 percent focus on someone, with no inner monologue, and then something will come up.
Do you have any favorite memories from the street?
I was in Amsterdam and I was filming at night. There was this late-night snack stand in a park, and there was this guy there and I was just standing next to a bike lane shouting out compliments at people as they passed. And then at a certain point, he said to me, “I know English but I don’t know every word. What is that word you keep saying — cyclist?”
I said, “Cyclist, sir? That’s someone on a bicycle.” And he absolutely lost his mind. He’s got this lovely organic reaction where he genuinely was throwing his head back and laughing like a medieval king. What happened was that he’d put the word in the same family as ‘sexist’ or ‘racist’ and he’d thought I was standing outside his fruit stall accusing people of being cyclists.
What are tips for those who want to start genuinely complimenting people?
Nothing genetic. Nothing obvious. Something they’ve spent time on or worked on. Something natural or organic about them. Don’t say, “Excuse me …” Just say it and go. “You got a really good walk” or “You walk very confidently.” Whatever it is, just blurt it out and then go.
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