The Needle and the Damage Done (Comedy)
» Mata & Must / Class A - Alley Cat, The, Sat, December 6
» Class A (Vic) with Mata & Must - Alley Cat, The, Sat, December 6
Fiona Scott-Norman was, in a not-so-previous life, a reviewer of comedy shows for this newspaper, so the concept of her doing a show of her own was intriguing to say the least. She also used to present a radio show on Triple R some time back called Trash Is My Life. There, she would play some of the most cringeworthy music she'd had the pleasure of finding.
She shares that pleasure here, a jolly skip through her childhood and adolescence via really bad music and vinyl LPs. To the jaw-dropping disbelief of the audience, she unleashes such treats as Tony Barber, Bernard King, VFL footballers, and Abigail. She takes us back to a more "innocent" time, when it was OK to be racist, sexist, or intolerant - or all three if you were a Christian recording artist.
Scott-Norman delivers this collection of artistic and sociological gaffes with deadpan irony, and glee at the audience's horror of albums like Let My People Come: A Sexual Musical. Even then, she saves the best until last, but you'll have to see the show to experience that first-hand. I urge you to. This is one of the funniest, and most awkwardly embarrassing nights you'll have.
THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE
Green Room Award Winner 2007
REVIEWS
The Age - ****1/2 stars - “Fiona Scott-Norman…used to present a radio show on Triple R some time back called Trash Is My Life. There, she would play some of the most cringeworthy music she’d had the pleasure of finding.
She shares that pleasure here, a jolly skip through her childhood and adolescence via really bad music and vinyl LPs. To the jaw-dropping disbelief of the audience, she unleashes such treats as Tony Barber, Bernard King, VFL footballers, and Abigail. She takes us back to a more “innocent” time, when it was OK to be racist, sexist, or intolerant – or all three if you were a Christian recording artist.
Scott-Norman delivers this collection of artistic and sociological gaffes with deadpan irony, and glee at the audience’s horror of album like Let My People Come: A Sexual Musical. Even then she saves the best until last, but you’ll have to see the show to experience that first-hand. I urge you to. This is one of the funniest, and most awkwardly embarrassing nights you’ll have” - Tim Hunter
and Tim Hunter's No 1 pick of the festival - “It’s embarrassing, horrifying and hilarious, and a great demonstration of how far we’ve come in the last 25 years, musically, morally, and sociologically”.
MEAP online - “Perfect timing...If you could remember just one of Scott-Norman’s scathing one line gags, you would be the funniest person at the water cooler” - Helen Renwick.
Beat - “Hilarious...Witty, incisive, a little bit wrong” - Natalie Book
The Age online - “A hoot. When I wasn’t laughing, I was gasping in shock” - Craig Platt
A2 – “A rollicking odyssey” - Lily Bragge
Funny Tonne – 8/10 – “She is the Glenn A Baker of obscure vinyl, but much easier on the eye” - Sam Stafford.
Funny Tonne – 9/10 - “Amazingly in depth and well written, her show is very funny.” - Nathanael Scott
Adelaide Advertiser – “Razor-sharp witticisms”.
The Geelong Times – “Needle is a perfectly timed emotional rollercoaster, with roaring laugher giving way to shock, embarrassment, horror and back to laughter again. Horrifically embarrassing, infinitely uncomfortable and one of the funniest things I've ever seen”.
