Adam Hess: Salmon is an hour of almost non-stop jokes, spoken at breakneck speeds by a guy who is going places. Although there are plenty of new venues opening up around town for the Fringe period Adam Hess’ show is a pretty good reason to return to the Hive. The rows are cramped, and the floor is still sticky, but the intimate atmosphere of the place seems to be just right for the freshman comedian.
Hess has the mind and sense of comedic timing to make a name for himself. His observations are sharp, his intonation hilarious and his energy relentless.
His jokes are based around a bond with the audience. You either like him or you don’t, but if you do then almost every joke is going to work. Hess retains a childish playfulness in his humour which draws you in. You can easily tell that he is truly trying his best to make you laugh. His passion comes across quite quickly through the speed of his talking. Hess seems to shoot out a hundred words a minute, sometimes mincing words but never ruining a punch line. His energy is so infectious that soon the joke doesn’t matter: you just laugh because he finds it funny.
The majority of Hess’ material comes from the usual comedian’s well – his childhood and past girlfriend experiences. Yet he also has an impressive ability to build links between his life and the common experience of others. His jokes soar highest when he tackles experiences familiar to everyone, as with his spot-on descriptions of the way people have began to communicate through noises in social situations.
Hess’ show works in large part because he is an amiable guy. The audience comes to like him so much that halfway through when he, for reasons best left a surprise, puts on a cardboard mask and starts playing bongos, there is nothing awkward about it. That’s just Adam! Some work can go into his pacing. Sometimes he talks so fast that parts of the joke become blurred and the general arc of the show becomes hard to follow. At other times themes are given too much time to develop. Nonetheless Hess has the mind and sense of comedic timing to make a name for himself. His observations are sharp, his intonation hilarious and his energy relentless.
He draws full houses and loud laughs because he is not just a funny guy but because he puts so much passion into the show. If you’re wondering whether you will hear about this comedian wonder no longer. He simply has too much energy to stop.
