Adam Hills has a reputation as one of the kindest stand-ups currently working – and it’s fair to say this is well deserved. His latest Fringe show does an excellent job of demonstrating how one can tell jokes that court controversy without ever punching down. Basic respect for the subjects of your jokes doesn’t need to remove any of the comedy – in Hills’ extremely skilled and experienced hands, it only removes the cruelty.

The show is a loose amalgamation of aspects and anecdotes from Hills’ family life, coupled with being part of the disabled community – the latter of which gets closest to the bone and also gets the biggest laughs. Highlights include the levels of insane competitiveness that can exist within a disabled rugby club and how to explain to a club bouncer that your friend has cerebral palsy, rather than has had far too many drinks.

If there is a unifying theme – and it is not a show that is especially working towards one – the theme is ‘don’t be a dick’. Hills applies this to other people when they consider (or more often ignore) the disabled community, and also to himself when he admits to being spectacularly ignorant of trans issues, but extremely willing to listen and learn. If that makes things sound like a lecture, don’t be fooled – Hills never lets things get even close to dry and includes several jokes that get pretty close to the bone. The difference is the kindness with which he continues to approach things and a complete lack of the very dull ‘you can’t say anything anymore’ attitude.

Hills is easily distracted from his own show, spending a full 1o minutes digging into why members of a rock choir aren’t all sitting together in the front row, before inevitably asking them to sing for the rest of the crowd and recording it. He goes online to ask Twitter/X what their group should be – a somewhat old-fashioned trick at a comedy show these days, but one that still works and which delights the crowd. The singing of the choir ties in nicely with a surprise that Hills has at the end of his set – showing that, even though there are shows out there with much stronger themes, a looser set can still throw up bonus moments of harmony.