Adam Hills Tonight (formerly Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight) is an ABC television variety program which focuses on Adam Hills, a stand-up comedian and host, talking with interesting guests and a lot of fun with both them and the audience. Hills talks with a sequence of guests over the course of the program and the earlier guests stay on the stage (as on Parkinson) so that they interact with the later guests. And often the audience. Did I mention the Audience Interaction?
There are also musical acts who often perform live (and mixed to a very good stereo mix, too).
The name of the show comes from the fact that it is one of the ABC's older studio complexes, in Gordon Street in inner Melbourne. The show is currently in its third season.
Adam Hills rose to fame hosting Spicks and Specks, also on the ABC.
Adam Hills Tonight provides examples of the following tropes:
- Audience Interaction: The show very much includes the audience, and thrives on putting individuals in embarrassing situations of various degrees. To everyone's amusement. There has even been a marriage proposal.
- Deadpan Snarker: Hannah Gadsby, who has said "she is paid to be a smartarse". She has her own corner of the set from where she watches the show and occasionally interjects to great effect. Sometimes she gets involved with the audience antics. (About halfway through season two, Adam made a seemingly snap-decision to have Hannah included in the main stage in the otherwise empty chairs.)
- Painful Body Waxing: Host Adam Hills underwent a 'boyzilian' (a male Brazilian waxing) - and had it filmed for the programme - after receiving a gift voucher for the procedure from an audience member as a 'show warming gift' on the first episode. It was hilarious.
- Sammy's Glass Eye - alternatively, Adam's (prosthetic) right foot.
- This Is Gonna Suck - One audience member has "Naked Tuesdays" where he takes naked photos of himself (and others generally join in) based on iconic photos (think the famous Beatles Abbey Road shot) as part of coping with throat cancer. Adam sets up a photoshoot for him to do multiple iconic photos. At one point there are three of them naked and Adam reveals the last photo - "Raising the Flag on Iwo Gima." The photographer looks at it and says, "Great - but we only have three people." Two of the guys put their hands on the photographer's shoulders and look at him expectantly. The brief glimpse we have of the photographer's face screams this and a bit of Oh, Crap! [1]
. - William Telling: In one of the "Hannah Has a Go" segments, Hannah had a go at learning archery. To demonstrate what she had learned, she offered to shoot an apple off Adam's head. Adam asked her to shoot an apple of the head of his cut-out to prove she could do it first. She ended up shooting the head off the cut-out.
