Adam Hills plays Theatre Severn on October 25 as part of a UK tour

by Andy Richardson

Adam Hills knew that he wanted to be a comedian at the age of eight. He was on board an aeroplane, criss-crossing continents, listening to the in-flight comedy channel. “I was captivated. It was exactly what I wanted to do. There were people like Bill Cosby and Billy Connolly. It was like magic.”

Adam Hills is playing Shrewsbury

Adam fuelled his passion at home. His father was a comedy buff who delighted in shows by Benny Hill and Dick Emery. “And we were huge fans of MASH,” says the Australian funnyman. “I remember my dad lent me some of his comedy albums, by people like Peter Sellers.

My comedy grounding was in some of the greats.”Though Adam amused his friends at school, he didn’t consider himself cut out for stand-up. “I loved the idea of it, but didn’t think I could do it.”
His first public performance came on the day he left high school. He gave a speech, poking fun at a number of teachers, and brought the house down. “Somebody turned to my mom and said I should be a comedian,” he says. “So I did.”

After starting university, Adam was introduced to stand-up by one of his friends. “He took me along to the Comedy Store. There was an open-mike night. I realised that you could just do your thing.”

Adam Hills' show is called Inflatable

His first performance was a doddle. He’d taken along 10 mates, who comprised around 20 per cent of the audience. “It was a bit of a cheat,” he says. “But I went down pretty well. That gave me confidence so I went for it again. But next time, without the presence of my friends, I died.”

Adam persevered and won Perrier and Gold Logie nominations. He was asked to host the Australian ABC music trivia show Spicks and Specks. “It’s like ‘Buzzcocks, it’s massive. There’s about a million-and-a-half people who watch it, which is a huge audience for Australia.” Stand-up, however, was a constant.

Hills is hitting the road again for a UK tour this autumn, which arrives at Theatre Severn on October 25. “The show is called Inflatable,” he says. “It’s based on a very loose theme. It’s about getting older and the things that I’d like to teach my kids. It covers all sorts of topics, like deaf people being racist, Dutch people being from Rome, and describes Jon Bon Jovi as the universal constant.”

The show played earlier this year in Edinburgh to 15,000 people and has also thrilled 50,000 Australians. “I’ve done about 70 dates and it’s gone brilliantly well. I have to do stand-up, it’s part of my life. Without it I’d go mental.”

So there you have it: maintaining sanity by telling jokes. It’s what Hills does best, and he’ll be doing more of it in Shrewsbury on October 25.

Tickets for Adam Hills at Theatre Severn are available on (01743) 281281.