Local comic Tom Hester is back in Montreal this week for his third appearance in the big Just for Laughs international comedy festival. Unlike his 1995 and 2001 visits, though, he won’t be doing stand-up – live, at least. But one of his routines serves as the soundtrack for the 10-minute film “A Fist Full of Pills,” showing in the fest’s Eat My Twisted Shorts program of short films. Hester and fellow Texas comic Slade Ham co-directed “Pills,” using trippy visuals to illustrate Hester’s hilarious account of being called to mother a bunch of hallucinogenically challenged individuals at a party. (The distinctive look also helps gloss over the film’s bare-bones production quality; it was shot over a weekend in Beaumont with friends, including comic Tom Rhodes.) Hester and company hope the screening will lead to meetings with industry types, where they can pitch more such comedy videos and comedy projects for TV.
This article appears in July 22 • 2005.