You have probably seen Adam Hess before, you just might not realise it.
Adam Hess is one of Twitter’s most prolific comedians. Boasting nearly 50,000 followers, Adam Hess’ brand of bizarre anecdotes and jokes have earned him a reputation as one of the most up and coming comedians on the circuit. As well as his Twitter presence, Hess has an eccentric live style that brings his stand up haphazardly to life. It is absurd and silly, and astoundingly funny.
Critically acclaimed and the winner of Chortle Comedy award in 2011, it is no surprise that Hess was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards last year. Hess has also won The Telegraph’s Tweet of the year award, cementing his reputation as one of the most exciting comedians in Britain at the moment.
Adam’s live show revolves around stories from his childhood, as well as his struggle to be a fully functioning adult person in an adult world. And with Edinburgh Fringe fast approaching, Adam is busy rehearsing and touring his live show ‘Feathers’ ahead of his appearance at the festival. Despite his busy stand up schedule and writing duties for the BBC, we managed to have a quick chat with Adam ahead of his Komedia show this week about Brighton, University and more….
Hi Adam, how are you? I’m fine thanks. Just had a red bull. I’m feeling quite itchy.
So, to start off, as a former economics student in Brighton can tell us a bit about your time at the University of Sussex? Everyone at Sussex uni had really cool clothes. Sometimes people would wear dungarees but with one of the straps intentionally not over their shoulder. To this day it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I’d look at them and nod as if to say ‘I like what you’re doing but I respect the fact that you will never want to talk to me’. Sadly, all of my clothes were strapless. Doing economics as a degree was the hardest and stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I hardly understood any of it. I only chose it because I enjoyed the book Freakonomics, which is like choosing to become an engineer because you liked Funhouse.
So, How much has Brighton changed since you were a student? Since moving away from Brighton there is now a shop where you can pay to have photo-booth photographs taken of yourself. What a world we live in.
What other comics do you like at the moment, aside from Rhys James? I like Rhys James but only on a professional level. He has my phone charger and is pretending that it’s his charger even though I know it’s mine because my one had a blue stain on it from when I once had it in my pocket with a Biro that leaked. My other favourite comedians are the late Mitch Hedberg, Brighton’s very own Sean Mcloughlin, Tim Hankerplank, Warren Sporren (character act) and Mat Ewins. I’m not sure if Warren Sporren is intentionally funny but last time I saw him he had the hiccups and each hiccup came directly before each punchline, and as such, ruining it. He was saying on stage how he was going through a particularly messy divorce at the time and the whole audience found it hilarious. This made him hiccup more, it seems. I haven’t heard much about him since that night but I hope he’s doing well.
What has been your worst experience as a stand up comedian? My worst experience as a stand up comedian was once when I got some wee on my beige trousers just before I went on stage so I had to pull them all the way up so that my un-tucked shirt would cover it. This just resulted in me looking like some weird character called ‘short trousers man’ or something. I hated it.
Every comedy fan has their own favourite skits but what’s your own personal favourite joke that you’ve come up with? The joke of mine that most people quote back to me is ‘Surely every car is a people carrier’. It has appeared on a bunch of ‘best jokes of the fringe’ list and stuff like that but I’ve said it so many times that I don’t even understand it anymore. Like when you overthink a word. I kind of get it. I know it’s about cars but I have absolutely no idea why it’s funny. Cars simply aren’t funny.
What’s next for you? Up next for me is that I’m the comedy co-host of a new TV show called ‘Giggle Wiggle’ where two members of the public put their life savings (in pound coins) in a box, which is attached to a pulley system which is attached to their head. They have to make each other laugh (and therefore, wiggle) and any money that falls out of your opponent’s box due to the wiggling is yours to keep. There is also a boxing and hopefully a contravercial telekinesis round.
And finally Adam, what has been the funniest heckle you’ve had? I’ve never had a funny heckle.
Ok then.
Follow Adam on Twitter here and get tickets for his upcoming show at Komedia here.
Words by Tom Bull and Matt Cowdock.
