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Adam Hills 'The Last Leg' interview: 'Comedy shouldn't aim to offend'

The Last Leg - Alex Brooker, Adam Hills and Josh Widdecombe

© Channel 4

Adam Hills's comedy accompaniment to the London Paralympics, The Last Leg, was so good that Channel 4 couldn't wait another four years to bring it back. The infectious and likeable Aussie stand-up returns tonight (January 25) with another series of his comic review, alongside show regulars Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe.

Digital Spy caught up with Adam ahead of the show's return to talk about whether the Paralympics really had a lasting legacy, his worst ever heckles, and if he finds Frankie Boyle offensive.

How is the show going to work now that the Paralympics aren't taking place?
"Basically, we'll do for the week what we did for the Paralympics. We'll cover the things that people have been talking about in the last week. Alex [Brooker] still has one foot and two hands deformative. I've got one foot. So disability will be in there somewhere - it's only natural, it's where we come from.

"The thing that really worked in the Paralympics was the 'Is it OK' segment. Where people asked questions about what they could or couldn't say with the Paralympics. We'll expand that question now and we'll ask questions like, 'Is it okay to kick a ball boy?'! We'll try ask questions that are not always disability-based, but might be quite touchy."

Does the awkwardness of British people make joking about disability easier?
"It's not just British people. It just happens around disability. In fact, I think there was more openness around British people last year. The head of the international Paralympic committee was asked about The Last Leg and he said that he thought it was great and that it did great things. But he also said that he didn't think there was any way Brazilians were ready to make jokes about disability yet. In many ways, Britain is a little bit forward and advanced in that way.

The Last Leg - Johnny Peacock, Alex Brooker, Jamie Oliver, Adam Hills, Josh Widdecombe and Nicola Adams

© Channel 4

"Awkwardness from disability always comes from politeness. I always think if someone is going out of their way not to offend me, no matter how awkward or funny or ill-advised it might be, it comes from politeness. It comes from not wanting to upset another person and that's okay. What we tried to do on the show was say that this won't offend us, upset us, and it's okay to talk about it."

Do you think the Paralympics has genuinely had any sort of lasting impact on the public's perception of disability?
"At first I thought yes. But I'm really starting to wonder. It's only three months afterwards, but I haven't seen any Paralympians on any adverts endorsing any products. The Government has made massive cuts to disability benefits. I understand cracking down on fraudsters, but how many people have illegally claimed a modified car? I'm sure that everything we achieved, whether it was in London, Sydney or Beijing, you always fall back a little bit. But hopefully we don't fall back to where we were before the Paralympics."

Where do you stand on the debate over offensive comedy? Should comedians be allowed to be offensive on TV?
"It's okay for people to be offended by comedy. There was a really interesting speech from Sir Jeremy Isaacs, he was basically the person who started Channel 4. He said that not everything is going to appeal to everyone. What a 17-year-old finds funny, a grandmother might not find funny - they might even find it offensive. And that's okay. So I think it's okay for people to be offended by comedy. But I honestly don't think comedy should set out to offend. If that's all you're trying to do with your comedy, then what's the point? Offending people should be a by-product of what you do, not the main goal."

Channel 4 Paralympic Presenters: Adam Hills

© Channel 4

Frankie Boyle

© Rex Features

Frankie Boyle

And what did you think about Frankie Boyle's jokes during the Paralympic opening ceremony on Twitter?
"I defended Frankie one night on our show. I read out the tweets on our show. There was one joke that I thought went over the line, but not because it was about disabilities, but because I think it was something to do with the Taliban. But on the original point, Frankie pointed out that he would make the same jokes about Olympians and Paralympians. He's an equal opportunity offender.

"The other thing with Frankie is that he has occasionally pushed the boundary a bit too far. If you do that too often then people just presume you're doing it to just be offensive.

"The main thing is about where it all comes from. It's a very vague system of measurement, but it's about whether it comes from a good place. If you are simply mocking disabled people during the Paralympics, that's not going to be funny. But if you're celebrating them, while trying to find the humor in it, that hopefully will be funny."

Do you get worse heckling because you have a disability?
"I've actually talked about this on stage, I don't get that many. And I've done gigs in Edinburgh at 1am with a supposedly rowdy crowd. There was one night in particular in Edinburgh where this one guy kept heckling me until I said that I had an artificial foot. Then he went, 'Oh s**t'. He turned around to the rest of the crowd and said, 'Give him a round of applause, he's very brave'. I've had really rough audiences that have all heckled me, but they actually go quiet when I mention the foot. That makes it hilarious. It's like they're thinking, 'We can't heckle him now, he's only got one leg, how would he deal with it!'"

Robin Williams
The Graham Norton Show

© PA Images

Bill Cosby


Who were your comedy heroes growing up?
"The three biggies for me as a kid were Billy Connolly, Bill Cosby and Robin Williams. I'd love to be the middle of those three. I'd love to have the spontaneity of Robin Williams, the stage presence and unpredictability of Billy and the storytelling of Bill Cosby, that would be it for me. That would be perfect. Those three had more influence on me than anyone else."

The Last Leg returns tonight (Friday, January 25) on Channel 4 at 9.30pm.

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