Zack Adams: Awkward
Shane Adamczak’s alter-ego Zack Adams @ The Tuxedo Cat
9:15pm, Wed 18 Mar 2009
As my fourth consecutive show at The Tuxedo Cat this evening (and still sober), I wouldn’t have been surprised if malaise had kicked in and meant that I remained unimpressed by Zack Adams, and henceforth plonked some ordinary words on the page after moping about for weeks thinking about something to write.
Happily, though, Adams was ace.
Appearing in his black “rock” clothes & sporting his trademark scruffy beard, Adams made plenty of self-denigrating comparisons between himself and state-mate Tim Minchin; he then pushed on to stories based around his WAAPA years, relating the academy to Fame and recounting his WAAPA stalking experiences. He occasionally whips a guitar out for a bit of a song, too – his “Awkward Pause” song, in particular, was genius.
In general, though, Adams is a relatively gentle comedian – he doesn’t place himself on a pedestal, he’s audience friendly, and it’s only moments where he reveals his mannequin fetish or exposes his black thoughts in the form of cartoons (as he closes the show out) that things get a little nasty… and in that regard, the title of the show is spot-on. But, above all, he’s funny – whilst Adams lacks Minchin’s refinement at the moment, he’s got his own unique style that should polish up a treat in a year or two.
(I bumped into Shane on the way to my next show, and got to buy him a drink in the Garden whilst chatting with a circle of Fringe regulars; artists take note! I have no qualms supporting your Fringe drinking if I like your show! ;)