About Adam Hess
Stand-up comedian, actor, TV writer and general cheeky-guy from London, Adam Hess, is known for his incredibly high joke rate, surreal one liners and proving himself as an accomplished narrative and sketch writer.
Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nominee Adam Hess has previously taken four celebrated shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Salmon earning him a Best Newcomer nomination in 2015. His 2016 show Feathers enjoyed a sold out run at the Fringe, while his subsequent shows Cactus and Seahorse generated critical praise across the board. As well as the Edinburgh Fringe, Adam has performed at festivals around the world including Melbourne International Comedy Festival, New Zealand Comedy Festival and Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival.On TV and radio, Adam has appeared on Tonight at the Palladium (ITV), Count Arthur Strong (BBC One), Live from the BBC (BBC Two), The Chris Ramsey Show (Comedy Central), Don’t Make Me Laugh (BBC Radio 4), Comedy Up Late (ABC), and was a staff writer on Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC Two). He also filmed an episode of Drunk History, which didn’t make it to air because he got too drunk (even for Comedy Central). Adam also had his own segment in the Award Winning Dave Podcast and is one of the creators of the cult hit Bearpit Podcast.
WATCH ADAM HESS: SEAHORSE
See the world through the comedy kaleidoscope of Adam’s mind – there’s much mirth to be mined from moving back in with your parents ’cause you’re broke. Adam Hess presents a frivolous, rapid fire display of freaky family findings and sexual awakening with hyperactive hilarity. Watch out for those skeletons in the closet (or attic).
Reviews and Awards
Adam Hess was nominated for Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer for his 2015 show, Salmon. He was also nominated for Chortle Best Circuit Comedian, Chortle Best Newcomer and was a Fosters Best Newcomer 2015 Nominee.
‘For good quality gags per minute, there is no better comedian’
The Independent
‘Relentlessly entertaining, full of beautiful imagery’
Time Out
‘One of the most out and out hilarious shows on the fringe’
Chortle
‘I’ve seen few shows that are funnier’
The Times
‘A breathless race through some of the Fringe’s strongest punchlines’
Skinny
Adam Hess Tickets
Information on upcoming gigs and live shows for Adam Hess can be found here
Can’t wait to see him live? Stream his full show now
Biography
Adam Hess knew from the age of 10 he wanted to be a comedian and started his stand up career on the Brighton circuit at the age of 22. A gigging comic for the last eight years, Adam Hess recently spoke to Entertainment Focus about how it all began:
“From age 15 I became weirdly obsessed with writing jokes. To the point where, when I was about 19 I had 1,500 A4 hand-written pages of stand up….My mum would give me money for the bus home and I’d choose to walk home and use the money in charity shops to buy old VHS tapes of Eddie Izzard or Vic and Bob. There was nothing on the internet before YouTube. There was some rubbish but nothing I could really watch. Which is why it was all crap that I was writing. I’ve still got most of those pages and I read over it sometimes, and the earlier stuff is absolute tiffle. The most hack, rubbish stuff. What’s funny though is that every so often there’s a joke in it that I’ll take and use in a current show. There’s jokes I wrote when I was 16/17 that I do still do. But they’re one in 100 pages. I knew I wanted to be a comedian but I was very scared. I started at 22 and I had to subsidise doing it because you have to. I did every job under the sun.”
To keep the wolf from the door, those sideline money earners ranged from medical trials, to selling vacuums in Currys, as well as losing a small fortune on Bitcoin investments. But Adam has always used his life experiences to fuel his comedy writing and performance. He told GQ magazine about one of the worst jobs he’s ever had: “I used to have to get up at 4am every day to work in the duty free of ‘a well known airport’ giving out free samples of stuff dressed in a variety of peculiar outfits. For about a month I had to dress as Willy Wonka and hand out sweets, which was rather embarrassing, but made even worse by the fact that other comedians who I knew – yes, I was also a ‘comedian’ at the time – would come through duty free on their way to their international gigs so I would try to hide from them. They caught me hiding almost every time which looked even weirder.”
After winning the Chortle Student Comedian award back in 2011, and receiving praise for his “convulsive delivery” making him “at once vulnerable and energetic” comedian Adam Hess made his first venture to the Edinburgh Festival in 2012. Performing in a double bill in the fringe favourite AAA Batteries showcase, he also returned to perform in show there the following year, this time alongside fellow comics David Elms and Chris Turner. After landing an enviable gig as tour support for David Baddiel, Adam went solo in 2014 with his own 40 minute show, Mustard. Continuing to hone his craft as a comedy writer on numerous TV shows over the next year, it was his highly anticipated debut hour, Salmon, that made waves on the circuit and at the fringe festival. A litany of adolescent highs and humiliations, his vibrant ‘coming of age’ comedy special won him the recognition he deserved and an Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nomination.
Returning to the fringe every year since with his solo shows Feathers (2016) Cactus (2017) and Seahorse, 2018 also saw him on a double headed UK tour with fellow comic Glen Moore (Mock The Week, BBC Two). His 2019 solo show, My Granddad Has A Fringe will no doubt be on many people’s ‘one to watch’ list. So what’s his secret? Speaking to Metro, Adam Hess explains – ‘I’m obsessed with laughs per minute…I really enjoy the silly stuff. The comedy I like is escapism — stuff that doesn’t really matter. I don’t think I’ve got anything new to say about anything important, but I do have opinions on pineapples…”
Get More Adam Hess
Want more of Adam Hess? You’re in luck – his full stand-up comedy special is available to watch on NextUp – a digital comedy club where you can stream instantly over 120 comedy specials from some of the exciting names in comedy. Oh, and there’s a 7 day free trial.