“Melinda Hill uses laughter as medicine in this comedy special about moving from trauma bonding to trauma mending. Imparting insights and crushing confessions punctuated by punchlines in a soul-baring storytelling style, she reflects on transformation, transcendence and triumph of the human spirit. Inappropriate is its own genre where healing meets comedy; it’s heal-arious.”
run time: 1 hr.
melinda hill is funny—she clearly knows how to make her audience laugh. she knows how to walk an audience through a scenario for maximum humor, and she does that several times throughout her special “inappropriate.” but what i struggled with here was the uneven tone of the special. there are plenty of moments that i liked, and her use of voices was a part of that, but i was also getting lost in between the moments of comedy and the moments where i felt like i was at a motivational talk. so while i appreciated her comments on louis c.k. and the wage gap and all of her motivational moments, they didn’t particularly mesh with the rest of the act.
overall, the special was fun to watch. hill is great on stage and engages with the audience just enough to make the show feel more personal. but the unevenness of the show as a whole confused me a bit, and i wish there would have been a clearer mood to focus on and showcase the humor, which she does so well.
earth to julia 