It doesn’t take long into Clown Heart to realise that Adam Hills is a master of charming the audience. Nearly straight away, Hills finds his audience targets for the night and, with a joyful glee, makes them a part of his hilarious show. On this night in question, we got to meet Andrew (a Santa Claus lookalike and a church elder) and Jim (a young man from Frankston with a pregnant girlfriend and a love of Bundy). Hills brings these two together onstage and he honestly could have probably run an entirely successful show just by joking around with these two men.
Hills eventually does move into his scripted show – a heartwarming and goofy discussion about his family and about having the tough talks with kids. Hills tells us about having discussions with his kids about what death is and how that we all need to laugh at death (as it will always have the last laugh). We also get to meet Craig, a cancer survivor, who is a fan of “naked Tuesday”. After performing his own short stand-up routine, Hills and Craig end the show with a hilarious (and slightly raunchy) song entitled In Your Face Cancer that ensures the audience leave with huge grins on their faces.
Giggly and cheeky, Hills is a talented performer who knows how to keep an audience in stitches. Clown Heart is an absolute joy to watch and reminds us to make the most of our lives, no matter how bad they may seem.
BY MYF CLARK
