By Daniel Paproth 
I’m a huge fan of hip-hop. So I knew from the second the Melbourne Fringe program was released I wanted to see Hewy and Taunts Go H.A.M. – a reference to the song of the same name by Jay-Z and Kanye West. Unfortunately, the hip-hop is largely restricted to the show’s title and intro and outro music, but you seen forget about all that as you watch two talented young comedians and friends hit out about 25 minutes of their best material.
Sam Taunton is up first, asking provocative questions of the audience’s drug-taking habits “there’s always one person who’s tried ice” and talking about how afraid he is that he will turn into his father. Some of the material misses, some of it hits – especially the highs and lows of living in a share-house and what that teaches you about economics – before he hands over to Tim Hewitt.
Hewitt’s set delves deeper into impressions than Taunton’s, and it works wonderfully well. There is an extended insight into an old man starring in an insurance commercial, positive and upbeat in seeking donations for “the price of a cup of coffee” before an elongated meltdown. His set finishes very, very strongly with a vivid recreation of the Brisbane bogan’s borderline sexual love for utes and V8 Holden Commodores.
Plenty of great moments in this show, which we’ll hopefully see sharpened and fleshed-out in the years to come.
Hewy and Taunts Go H.A.M. is on at The Imperial Hotel til October 2
https://www.melbournefringe.com.au/program/event/view/169d64f3-4f92-46fc-beaa-220cfb0623b8