The Shelf – Justin Hamilton & Adam Richard

HAVING done no prior research bar a sneaky google image search, it’s safe to say my expectations were pretty much non-existent, but if your only complaint is that intermission went a tad too long and the air-conditioning was set a little too low, it’s also safe to say the show itself was rather spectacular.

I went in to see Justin Hamilton, not realising I would also be privy to a preview of The Shelf, a comedy show run every Monday night at The Toff, this in itself was quite a treat.

Our compare was the incomparable Adam Richard, who got more and more outlandish as the night progressed, perhaps due to his self proclaimed love of alcohol and the inability to say no to people, once even coming on stage shirtless to announce the next act!

He started us off with Tegan Higginbotham, who is doing a solo show about boxing , ‘essentially it’s about being boxed in the box, if you will’ for The Festival. The first thing I noticed was how great her voice was, she had excellent flow and I don’t think she took a breath for the entire 15 minutes she was on but I could have listened to her talk all night! She has the kind of humour where you don’t even notice she’s told a joke until you realise you can’t stop laughing.

Next up was Adam Rosenberg, who was also really funny. He successfully managed to do that thing, that so many comedians attempt (and fail), transitioning into a new story like it’s a thought out of thin air. Highlights included his ideas on scamming free stuff from the self serve check-outs at supermarkets, ‘Yes, I can feed the family for under ten buck, thanks Curtis Stone’. His solo show is called The Good Stuff and runs at the Town Hall throughout The Festival.

Our final supporting act was Kate McLennan, who talked about the year she moved home to her parents house in Geelong. She exuded confidence on stage and perfected the balance between self-deprecation and viscous insults.

The performance was also peppered with the European Guy, an act so bad he was actually kinda good. It was a combination of bad wig, bad accent, bizarre ramblings, ‘If my cat got a job, he’s spend all his money on Snappy Tom’, that left me wondering ‘What the hell is going on?!’… but in a good way.

I have to say, with such a stellar pre-curser to the main event I was left a little underwhelmed with Justin’s intro. It started off with a voice-over recording while he typed on his computer and when he did get up to the mic, it felt very rehearsed and scripted, like he was reading from a book. Although the rest of the audience appeared to be in fits (perhaps he had the advantage of people having had more than one drink by this stage), I felt he was trying a bit too hard and I needed to see more before I was won over. But win me over he did. His humour was dry and biting, the kind that perhaps takes a while to warm up to, but once you do, you feel an affinity with the person. I also grew to love Jason, his hipster, pseudo political editor. As Hamilton relaxed a bit more, the show developed a lovely flow. I also really liked the circular narrative. He also brought something different to a live comedy act, talking about the death of a close friend which was surprisingly touching, there was empathy and emotion and it was weird but in a strangely cathartic way.

All in all, The Shelf seems like a great place to sample the next Will Andersons of the world at four for the price of one!

Heckler recommends this show for dates rather than mates.