Clown Heart is a tricky one to review because, truth be told, the best part of the show on its media night was the improvised* beginning. Within seconds of arriving on stage, Hills had relieved an older man of his eyeglasses and smartphone, brainstormed an inappropriate text message with the audience and sent it to the man’s fellow church elder, heckled a pair of latecomers and organised all involved a free drink of their choice (even when the drink was chocolate milk).
It was absolutely hilarious. However it also serves as a reminder not to peak too early, because the remainder of the show, while great fun, didn’t nearly reach the heights of those early improvised minutes.
This is no surprise, really – Hills admits on stage that he gets bored of performing the same material over and over again, and much prefers just wandering around and interacting with the audience. This effortless charm and quick wit made him such a desirable commodity for television, where he helmed Spicks and Specks with confidence for several years, and it delivers for him again in Clown Heart.
Much of Hills’s material is inspired by his family – a statement that could be said of nearly every male comedian of a certain age – but Hills takes it to a darker, franker, more bitingly funny place than most can manage. He speaks honestly about the pressures of holding a marriage together while raising young children, and about how his kids are keeping him on his toes. In the hands of many performers, this would be tired material, but Hills makes it sing.
Hills also reaches for his audience’s better nature, welcoming his friend Craig Coombs to the stage. Coombs is suffering from cancer and has been sticking it to the disease by posting his naked photos on the internet. You’ve probably now got a reasonably accurate idea of what happens next. Make sure you have some spare change for the worthy cause these two gents are supporting.
Clown Heart is a very good show, and Hills is a very, very good performer. The only sticking point is that he’s so good on his feet that a show consisting simply of his own improvisation would likely trump the written material. Perhaps next time around he’ll skip the torturous writing process and just give various audience members a bit of stick for an hour. It’d be brilliant.
*If the beginning wasn’t improvised, those were some amazing audience plants.
Rating: 3.5 out fo 5 stars
Clown Heart
Performed by Adam Hills, Craig Coombs
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Athenaeum Theatre
Until 19 April 2015
