Justin Hamilton is embracing technology, and encouraging his audience to do the same.
Justin Hamilton is embracing technology, and encouraging his audience to do the same. In his show at this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival, he’ll be asking audiences to turn on their phones during every performance.
“We’ve created an app which allows the show to extrapolate on material that happens in the stage show. The way that the app works is that it can be used before, during or after the show.”
“What I do in this show is, say I talk about the comedy duo I used to be in, rather than spending five to seven minutes doing material on that, if you’ve got the App, you can click on it and you can read about the duo I used to be in. It’s like DVD extras for the show.”
Justin believes that this new technology enhances an audience’s enjoyment of the show, and ultimately gives them more bang for their buck.
“When I write a show I end up editing so much of the material; I’ll end up writing and hour and a half to two hours worth of show, but you only get an hour, and all that stuff kind of goes to waste. So I thought, this will give it an extra life outside of the show, outside of the hour that you see.”
“The theme of the show is about technology and it’s distancing effect, how we can get in touch with anyone, anywhere, anytime, but invariably when we do we’ve got nothing to say. I think through that there is a slight loss of identity, we’re spreading ourselves so thin that we don’t really know who we are anymore.”
“The great thing about stand up is that it is a medium that is only limited by your imagination. It’s such a great opportunity to throw some things around and allow people to engage in a different way.”
Justin Hamilton performs Circular at Vic’s Bar at The Victoria Hotel from March 31 – April 23. It’s at 9.45pm Tuesday – Saturday and 8.45pm on Sundays. Tickets are $20 – $24 from Ticketmaster online, 1300 660 013 and at the door. To download his App hit up circular.justinhamilton.com.au.
