Adam Hills - Live in the Suburbs [M]

When he isn’t hosting ABC’s Spicks & Specks, comedian and all around nice guy Adam Hills is travelling the world, bringing classic comedy and laughs to a myriad of audiences. This is his debut stand-up show, filmed in the outer Melbourne suburb of Pakenham, and shows Adam regaling a great audience with tales of personal philosophies, anecdotes, and general observations about everything from language to the real problems with women’s magazines. 

My family and I absolutely adore Adam Hills for a number of reasons: 1) he is not only very clever, but he’s very observant and does not rely on swearing, screaming, or sexual innuendo to get the laughs. 2) He’s genuinely a really nice guy. Now it’s an awful thing to say that someone is nice; it’s not a word that I prefer to use very often, but when I attribute it to Adam Hills, I mean that he is wonderfully caring, down to earth, and someone that seems really approachable. He makes one feel completely at ease. And finally, 3) he’s very big on audience participation and I really love that. What I love most about his audience participation is that it doesn’t necessarily assist in the success of the show, he just has a genuine interest in what people make up his audiences, so he asks them; what they do, are they there with someone, and other little questions that might pop into his head. He’s just lovely and a joy to watch any and every time. 

When he isn’t hosting ABC’s Spicks & Specks, comedian and all around nice guy, Adam Hills is travelling the world, bringing classic comedy and laughs to a myriad of audiences. Live In the Suburbs is his debut stand-up show, filmed in the Melbourne outer suburb of Pakenham, and shows Adam regaling the audience with personal philosophies, anecdotes, opinions, and general observations about everything from language to why women’s magazines are so truly evil. 

Being his first show, it’s sort of weird coming back to it after having seen him doing other and some would say better or more evolved shows. But that’s what’s really lovely about Adam; you can come back to his earlier stuff and still be charmed and in fits of laughter. Live in the Suburbs first sees Adam break the ice with a memorable bit of audience participation and I particularly loved that because it grabbed your attention straight away, but also opened the doorway for original and spontaneous ad-libbing. There is something really great about watching comedians ad-lib because it really shows you how clever they are… or some of them are. Adam would have to be the cleverest of the comedians I love, mainly because much of his material is based on personal observations and experiences and points out things about ourselves that even we aren’t aware of. Seriously, watching this show, you spend most of it in hysterics and then the other portion going “oh yeah we do!”. I think that Adam and this show can be summed up in two words: genuine and charming. 

Filled with rants and exclamations about language, Australian geography, Steve Irwin, male strippers, women’s magazines, James Brown, real jobs, and anecdotes containing prosthetic limbs, Live in the Suburbs is a wonderfully original and entertaining show that I can always come back to and enjoy again and again. I LOVE HIM!