Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight
Charming, spontaneous, intimate. Adam Hills' new show reminded us all why he is so beloved.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Programming, Reviews
Likeable.
So darned likeable….
Adam Hills’ new show reminded us all why he is so beloved. Charming, spontaneous, a bloke you could take home to mum.
His long overdue chat show In Gordon Street Tonight was a breath of fresh air.
Hillsy’s true skill is in making the show look so effortless. From the opening credits in which he strolls through the streets of Melbourne with greetings from locals to being welcomed by a clearly devoted audience, he had them eating out of the palm of his hands. Nice place to start your first show.
In his opening monologue, Hills launched straight into self-deprecation, with an old TV commercial in which he looked terribly youthful. Awwww. Instantly we were not laughing at Hills, but with him.
Sidekick Hannah Gadsby talked us through some of the “set-warming” gifts he had been given for his first show: a naked portait of himself (including one foot), a dancing cat, and a gift voucher for a ‘boy-zillian’ or as described by an audience member a “back, sack and crack.”
Hillsy has accepted the challenge.
By interacting the audience, this most affable host had won over the studio audience, and as a result, the viewers at home before even introducing his first guest.
Arj Barker, who had appeared on Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth the night before, was first guest. Barker sang for his host, made jokes about Canberra, Americans and our accent, and seemed far more relaxed than his routine the night before.
Hills chatted more with his audience, including to a guy who was an “Underwater Crockery Maintainance Officer” or Dishpig if you prefer, a sci-fi loving minister and a girl who once buried some money in her yard in a Perth suburb. Then via the magic of television Peter Rowsthorn was found in her yard ready to dig up that very hole. Shades of Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush…
2011 Australian of the Year Simon McKeon kept up the gift-giving with some iced coffee, before talking about winning the award, his health, and our crazy summer weather.
A surprise inclusion was Ross Noble “phoning in” his stand-up act via an iPhone.
The show also reunited Hills with an old school pal he couldn’t remember (they celebrated with a handstand) and Twitter-submitted photos of people frowning in front of famous places.
James Reyne performed Dragon’s April Sun in Cuba (a nod to the studio’s Countdown history) and Dan Sultan sang.
Actress Melissa George spoke about returning home to Oz to film The Slap before some priceless footage of her watching the Australian Open with an awestruck Bruce McAvaney. Special.
Seated in a chic lounge set, Hills glided through this first episode surrounded by mutual admirers. The format was closer to Rove and The Graham Norton Show than Parkinson or Enough Rope. Whilst it doesn’t allow enough time to dig deep with guests, it strikes a good balance between conversation and spontaneity.
Comparisons with Ben Elton’s effort this week are hard to avoid, but Nine’s bar was set a lot higher with punchline sketches on a vast, spartan stage before live cameras. Hills has aimed more within his means with amiable chat in a more intimate environment. Save for some Twitter interaction with the audience, the pre-recording of the show was barely noticeable.
The credits also indicate Hills had a team of writers to support him, contrasting the Elton vehicle for which he is solely responsible for the creative.
In a perfect world, the audience would end up with two terrific shows, but that remains to be seen. Adam Hills wins Round One in a knockout blow.
Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight airs 8:30pm Wednesday on ABC1.
45 Responses
Yeah, I wasn’t totally taken by it. I thought it was a tad boring and Arj Barker’s jokes about Canberra – Fyshwick (fireworks/adult vids) – it’s an old joke. I can remember Matthew Johns saying the same thing on the Footy Show years ago – surely that tells you something. I think anything coming after the painful Ben Elton show (how bad was that Fat Chef skit) was always going to look pretty good.
Agree totally. Watched both shows. Sometimes less is more. Can’t wait for Adam Hills next week (Don’t think I could endure another hour of Ben Elton unless they move it to later on Friday or Saturday night)
I thought that this was a really great, polished first show. A couple of thoughts from me:
– I think the show would work a lot better with a shorter running length; 30, or 45 minutes would be much more suitable. It really seemed, at many points throughout the show, that they were really stretching for ideas, and time fillers (eg. a huge reliance on audience interation, that often verged on awkwardness)
– I really hope that the ABC stick with this show, and that it continues for many years. Given th echance, it could definitley fill that big hole ft by Rove.
– Saying that, I really do think the show would benifit from being live to air. Obviously Q&A has had a lot of success with this, mostly due to audience interaction from social networking, I believe this could work really well for AHIGST.
– I really do hope they continue with having a dedication to having live bands on the show, both live performances were really great, and it would be really great to finally have a show on TV again the can showcase Australian bands and artists.
@ Steve have to love the irony of someone calling people stupid when they use the wrong spelling of you’re.
Enjoyed the show. Alot better than Ben Elton.
Quite enjoyed it. Agree it seemed a bit rushed but i am not sure whether that was the host or just ABC editing. Hopefully it will be fine tuned in the coming weeks. Better than Rove.
The photo of the gymnastics class (it wasn’t a school class photo) was rather amusing for me because i was also in the same class (and photo). I didn’t realise i did gymnastics with Adam Hills, but hey, you learning something new every day.
It was okay, but only because of Adam; the quality of guests need to improve if I am to continue watching it. I really like Arj Barker in FOTC and on Spicks & Specks but he wasn’t funny here. Melissa George was funny, but the audience interaction parts were excruciating. It also felt overly long, especially being on no-commercials ABC. I think a half hour show with two guests and a musical number would be better.
haha so bloody good. haha only because it wasnt on channel 7 or 9 or 10. so bloody great. You know what fish cam on abc would get 5 stars because its not mike riley or 9 or 10. Comments your all so stupid.
Man i just don’t get it.Has no appeal for me at all.
Turned off after 15 mins.
As for Ben Elton?What were nine thinking.Did not even bother to watch. BE is so 1980’s & a better writer than someone to watch.Thin Blue Line anyone?
Love Adam but found the show wanting and a little try hard. The plug for the girl with the incredibly lame frowning people website was a pale imitation of Graham Norton’s schtick. It all seemed too rushed, the guests were pretty dull and Hannah Gadsby had less personality than the gift voucher.
When is Spicks and Specks returning?
Huzaar! I wasn’t the only one that thought the Peter Rowsthorn thing seemed a bit “Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush” like.
Felt a bit like the Graham Norton Show (which is brilliant). Loved it. Well done Adam Hills.
Great first show, well done Adam, I’ll be watching them all.
But when Spicks and Specks comes back is that the end of it?
Plainly outstanding. Only question is why he wasn’t given this show 5 years ago. He’s one of those few people born to host a show of this kind.
Very enjoyable hour of television from Melbourne’s last original television studio. Was a bit worried about Gadsby’s role but she seemed to keep it pretty clean and not intrude too much. Arj Barker was much more relaxed and genuine than on Planet Earth the previous night, obviously the comedians will gel Hills well given his background. Ross Noble was so so in my opinion but then again I’m not his biggest fan.
Musically I tought James Reyne’s sound mix was a bit off, too many guitars, not enough vocals, although sometimes with Reyne that can be a good thing, seemed to be ok by the time Dan Sultan closed. I suppose that’s why Countdown and Hey Hey relied so much on lip syncing in the early days.
Hopefully there’s a way this will be extended beyond it’s current short run.
Due to timing conflicts with our Tivo, we watched this program ‘live’ – a most unusual step for us. We thoroughly enjoyed the show and am looking forward to next week 😉
Adams Hill was fantastic totally unpretentious, his interaction with the audience was wonderful. What was really good he didn’t shout at the audience with a rambling monologue like Ben Elton or even Rove.
This was the best hour of Australia Television I had watched in a long long time. Perfect. Actually the one thing that I hoped for? That it would go for two hours!
Hello David,
I think your review is a little generous. I found the ‘studio warming’ gifts entirely indulgent (if not arrogant); and I would have liked a bit more ‘chat’ with the studio guests. By the time James Reyne came on (and I’m no fan of his), I was beyond bored. And what was Hannah Gadsby doing?
I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Always good value with Adam Hills. Loved the audience interaction. It felt like I was watching Hillsy at home, sitting around having a chat and a laugh with some mates. Very relaxed and effortless compared to the try-hardness of Live From Planet Earth.
Melissa George was absolutely wonderful. She should do TV appearances when over-tired more often 🙂
I didn’t dislike the show, but I didn’t find it that entertaining either..Arj Barker I thought was very mediocre…It is very hard now to watch a talk show and not compare it to the energy and wit of Graham Norton..Sadly Adam Hills is no comparison to Norton as I didn’t laugh that much at his comments nor comments from his guests…
Adam Hills was good but the show seemed a bit too jam-packed. Too much was happening and so nothing was done to great depth, especially the interviews. Arj seemed a bit subdued (or star struck, it is Hillsy after all), but warmed up as the show went on.
All in all a good show and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.
I loved Adam’s new show for all the reasons that David has said above. I will be watching every week.
Hills’ show was excellent, he has an uncanny ability to create an engaging atmosphere, much like on Spicks & Specks. It’s like seeing a group of people having a jovial conversation and you just want to join in to see what it’s all about. The set looked really nice too.
Great first show. The set looked alot like one of Rove’s old sets.
Loved it. Better than Rove more personal than Elton.