★★★★½: Justin Hamilton brings back sprawling narratives in three-part story at Melbourne comedy festival

Most comedians would be happy if they got a punter showing up to their show once a festival, but Justin Hamilton isn’t most comedians. READ OUR REVIEW.

Most comedians would be happy if they got a punter showing up to their show once a festival, but Justin Hamilton isn’t most comedians.

He was a man ahead of his time when he first performed a three-part comedy show in 2007. Twelve years later, he reckons Marvel has done the hard work of teaching audiences how to keep up with a multi-part story and he’s giving the concept another crack.

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John Tilt Animus is made up of three stand-alone shows, which, seen together, tell the tale of the rise and fall of the eponymous hero.

It is perhaps a logical endeavour from a man who counts the late, great David Bowie and his endless re-invention or comic book legend Grant Morrison among his inspirations.

Hamilton is comfortable with shifting perspectives and sprawling narratives.

Justin Hamilton in The Ballad of John Tilt Animus.

“I like ambiguous comedy, I like surrealist comedy, I like plays, I like being quite experimental with audio music,” he says. “I very much wear my heart on my sleeve, my direct influences don’t come from other comedians, they come from other art forms.”

The preparation for writing his shows starts with a long list of the story-telling moments he loves — from the return of Twin Peaks to the final cut of The Sopranos — and the memory of first setting his wide, 11-year-old eyes on Bowie live at the Adelaide Oval and recognising the power of performance.

In a time when world-weariness can be king, Hamilton takes delight in willingly embracing his love of the artists and work that move or inspire him.

“Those things that bring you joy … I think it’s really easy (to be dismissive) in these times when we are very cynical and we feel we’re on edge,” he says.

“It’s as if there’s almost a bravery in just being quite verbose about saying ‘I love this, I just love it. You know what? You can point out all the flaws to me but I don’t care, because this instigated a feeling in me’.”

With his list in one hand and a pen in the other, Hamilton found himself with an unfinished story when he got to the end of what became Part 1: Three Dances. So he added Part 2: In a Dark Wood and Part 3: The Girl in the Song, each one appearing in a different week of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Unsurprisingly for a man who nods to pioneering psychoanalyst Carl Jung in the title of his comedy show, Hamilton isn’t against a little bit of retrospective collaboration when it comes to analysing his work.

It’s all part of making comedy a conversation, and that extends to relishing the insights he’s still getting from fans in Adelaide, where he took home a Best Comedy Award from the Fringe.

“When it goes from sitting in my room being all Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind trying to put everything together so I can put it out there, and then someone gives you a new interpretation back, it’s a real privilege and it’s really exciting.”

For the long-term fans, there are even some hidden Easter eggs referencing a simpler time, back when he was breaking ground for the Marvel Universe.

REVIEW: JUSTIN HAMILTON, THE BALLAD OF JOHN TILT ANIMUS (PART I)

Rating: ★★★★½

Reviewer: Kate Rose

Justin Hamilton’s alter-ego, John Tilt Animus, is stuck in a postmodern nightmare but his pain is the audience’s pleasure.

This self-referential, quasi-autobiographical and resoundingly rapid-fire award-winning show is a masterpiece of modern angst.

Part stand-up, part pathos-imbued narrative, this is part one of a three-part show that sees our pigeon-loving protagonist wrestling with the absolutism of everyday life.

Animus is surrounded by opinions, social media feeds and unsympathetic talk-show hosts, which make navigating life alone slightly more brutal than it needs to be. Undeterred, he tries to remain true to himself despite all the opposition.

Hamilton has taken existential angst and turned it into comedy gold, while still keeping a large heart beating at the centre of a show that is for Jung and old alike.

Justin Hamilton, The Ballad of John Tilt Animus, selected dates until April 16, The Toff in Town.