We’re following up with Andrew Hamilton, the 2013 Winner of the B&T 30 Under 30 Marketing and PR Award. He’s now a full-time comedian, but it has not been a straightforward path to get there. We’re finding out how working in PR and a B&T 30 Under 30 Award helped him navigate the criminal justice system and time in the Long Bay Correctional Complex!
Articles written by Catherine de Clare, contributing literary editor at B&T
In 2021, the forces that were carving out Andrew Hamilton’s life – a successful career in PR, a serious drug habit that had led to even more serious dealing, and the trendy Brooklyn Crispy pizza joint in Potts Point that even served pizza to dogs – collided in spectacular fashion when the police raided his home and put him away in one of Australia’s most notorious prisons.
The cops found enough evidence of his ‘working life’ to put him on the wrong side of the law (hint: it wasn’t the pizza boxes.)
The NSW Courts found that a stint in Long Bay Jail was required, and while he toughed it out inside, a dream of a career in comedy was forming in his mind, and he was trying out bits of material on his cellmates.
When asked how his background and the B&T 30 Under 30 award helped him inside, Andrew told us he was shocked to find out nobody at Long Bay even knew about it: “Sadly there weren’t many guys in prison who were aware of the B&T 30 Under 30 Awards, but if I had had the award with me, I’m sure someone would have found a way to use it as a weapon.” (Caveat: B&T did not design the pointy 30 Under 30 trophy with prison violence in mind).
Prison isn’t the best place to test out new material, survival generally depending more on keeping your head down. A joke that doesn’t go down well could have serious ramifications out in the yard, but Andrew did find some sympathetic cellmates who were happy to let him try out jokes, and even gave him a couple of good stories that he used in his shows. He did zone in on prison food and kept a detailed log of everything he ate while inside, turning the records into pointed prison food reviews on TikTok once he was outside. (1.2/10 for a beef salad rates as “tough, even for jail.”)
Public Relations did come into play more when persuading the Courts that his party days were far behind him while he was being considered for release, and the judge did find that his career history in the industry gave him stronger rehabilitation prospects, and after two years he was allowed out on conditional bail to live with his parents, who had to accompany him at all times.
He initially started doing open mic nights with his mum in the audience and made sure he was early on the set list, as he had a curfew of 10pm.
His 2023 show “jokes about the time I went to prison”, saw him nominated for best newcomer at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This year his show “Shit Bloke” had sold out runs at Melbourne and Sydney comedy festivals and has proved so popular he’s just added an extra show on 31st May at the iD comedy club, Darlinghurst.
His audience is broad but it is not uncommon for the room to be filled with lawyers (his own included), court staff and judges as well as police officers and prison staff on a work night out. He’s pretty sure he’s had quite a few criminals in the crowd as well (they laugh that much harder at some of the jokes ). He’s even been doing shows for current prisoners in jails , but here the audiences have to be small as prison gangs can start fighting if they’re in the same room.
While he can be out late now without his mum, he still has travel restrictions, but plans to tour overseas as soon as he’s allowed to jump on a plane.
It’s possible that he might be heading towards some different kinds of awards, but he’s definitely still making a splash. B&T 30 Under 30 really can take you places you never dreamed of!
