I was initially put off young Ms. Hill because of the rather scary photo she uses in her Fringe magazine advertising and flyers (which is the one attached to this article). I'm very glad I changed my mind because she was brilliant.
Adelaide-born Ms. Hill is a pretty decent definition of the word "kooky", although that's not to suggest she isn't a serious talent. Her USP is something she calls paper-puppetry - using very well drawn flipcharts complete with moving parts to talk through a particular routine or set of gags. There are examples of her doing this on YouTube. Combined with a very engaging and energetic stand-up style makes her a very attractive proposition.
The show started with us filing in and Ms. H greeting us all at the door and handing us a little plastic ball - its purpose would become apparent later on. Onstage she presented a board with a matrix of Post-It notes stuck to it, each with a topic written on it. She explained she wanted us to shout out whatever topic we wanted and that way each performance would be unique and different. Hopefully the order in which we shouted out topics would also provide some interesting segues and links.
There then followed 50 minutes so of hugely engaging, slightly eccentric stand-up. Topics ranged from flying (people cheering when a plane successfully lands), to how not to make a DVD (a charming tale about how badly her one and only recorded gig went - she cheerfully showed us a copy and said it's still available on Amazon) to Elon Musk (she's quite a fan) to ultimately winding up the show (with an encore). Many funny and touching tales, including one about how her boyfriend had proposed to her during a show (at this same venue, the Gilded Balloon), how they had got married (at the Gilded Balloon) and how the following day was the couple's first anniversary (cue lots of 'awwws' from the audience, and me mentally ticking off yet another comic I will never be able to get with).
The balls? One of the topics was Wear A Silly Hat. She put on a hat with a net on top, knelt in front of the audience, held out her hands and we all pelted her with them. It very much worked in context.
She was great fun. A genuinely charismatic and engaging comic with huge amounts of energy and charm. the flip chart and paper work were excellent and I would have happily listened to her for hours more. Thoroughly recommended.
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